Page - 93 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Shadows of the Bat | 93www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 75–104 oversteps his limits and tortures the Joker in order to get information about the whereabouts of his two hostages in a literal ticking-bomb scenario (see fig. 19). in order to beat the Joker, Batman creates an emergency situation, mirroring the extreme measures taken by the Bush administration in the War on terror, with his pure intentions for justice and freedom irrevocably compromised and perverted. By crossing “a line beyond heroic exceptionality”,41 Batman blurs the line between good and evil. “Why so serious?”42 While Burton and Nicholson contrive the Joker in Bat- man (1989) as a postmodern homicidal artist celebrating insanity as freedom, Nolan retraces the archetype of the clown to his anarchistic roots. With twisted bodies, grotesque faces and nonsensical tirades, jesters in the Middle Ages of- fered criticism of the social status quo from the perspective of an outsider, in- verting courtly and ecclesiastical norms with their devilish antics and exposing in their masquerades the duplicity of society. The jester was the ambassador of a netherworld from which humans could find their way back to the chaotic origins of life. Heath Ledger’s Joker joins this tradition. As an agent of chaos he creates disorder and rocks the “schemers” to demonstrate the fragility of ideo- logically shaped worldviews. he inverts everything there is into its opposite. in his last encounter with Batman, the Joker dangles upside down on the Dark Knight’s rope. While he explains his twisted worldview, the camera slowly ro- tates 180 degrees, until he is upright again and Gotham’s night sky upside down. the Joker is a master of deception – with or without make-up, as corpse or as nurse. the fact that he has no secret identity, that his entire appearance func- tions as a whole-body mask links him directly to medieval fools who, according 41 McGowan 2012, 130. 42 The Dark Knight (2008), 00:29:27–00:29:30. Fig. 19: Perfidious power game: even when in the ungentle grip of Batman, the Joker retains the upper hand. Film still, The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, US 2008), 01:26:33.