Assertion and Power Exchange:
Over the years Harley was increasingly depicted as lashing back at The Joker, beating him up or threatening his life when he truly offended her. This could be regarded as a natural progression of her increasing insanity and imbalance, but I feel it happened because the writers no longer wanted Harley to be so much the victim. The side-effect is that it created a more complex, multi-layered relationship. It demonstrated that Harley was all too much a consenting partner in the more violent and unpalatable aspects of the relationship, right up until Joker crosses whatever line they have established between them. When Harley feels truly betrayed, she is quick to set things right – and Joker folds to it just as quickly. How disturbing this must be to the Clown Prince! To be in a position where he is not in absolute control but must compromise in order to hold onto this relationship or save his hide. Of course, it never takes much – ultimately her fractured psyche and utter devotion will always have her yield. It requires little more than The Joker putting the right spin on a manipulative gesture. And yet, he does. Coming from Joker, this almost defies belief.
She is his victim, and she is more than willing to be it. Their relationship is highly dysfunctional and yet somehow, it works. Somehow they are in a wonderful symbiosis together, with a great deal of mutuality and understanding. It’s twisted, bent, sick and wrong but there’s also something compelling about it, not least because there is clearly mutual enjoyment had in the relationship.
It is not mere infatuation, but something that goes beyond a normal range of emotion to the absolute extremes of dependency, love, passion and obsession.
Additionally, for a submissive nature the knowledge that you have committed your all to your Dominant, that they are in complete control of you and your life and their power is absolute, is incredibly heady and fulfilling. It is the desire of most submissives to do just this - but Harley takes it to the absolute, fulfils it utterly and without rules, guidelines or negotiations. She embodies it. Once you have reached that level, it begins to feed itself, meaning pleasure and joy continues to heighten the more you commit to such a situation. It is, for a submissive nature, the ultimate expression of love and is done willingly.
Joker's own power is very probably an attraction also for Harley, as well as knowing she is the only person to be so close to him, to have seen the private face the world does not. To have survived so long at the side of so deranged and dangerous an individual, as well as witnessing his power over those around him, probably gives Harley a sense of power of her own, which it very much is. She alone has the power to see him in his vulnerable moments, to be needed to help him keep order in his life, to be entrusted to critical elements of his schemes. To make him apologise. This would be as much a drug as Joker himself or the feeling she has for him, especially to feel that she is the one who is by his side – and the one to have succeeded in getting so close.
Over the years Harley was increasingly depicted as lashing back at The Joker, beating him up or threatening his life when he truly offended her. This could be regarded as a natural progression of her increasing insanity and imbalance, but I feel it happened because the writers no longer wanted Harley to be so much the victim. The side-effect is that it created a more complex, multi-layered relationship. It demonstrated that Harley was all too much a consenting partner in the more violent and unpalatable aspects of the relationship, right up until Joker crosses whatever line they have established between them. When Harley feels truly betrayed, she is quick to set things right – and Joker folds to it just as quickly. How disturbing this must be to the Clown Prince! To be in a position where he is not in absolute control but must compromise in order to hold onto this relationship or save his hide. Of course, it never takes much – ultimately her fractured psyche and utter devotion will always have her yield. It requires little more than The Joker putting the right spin on a manipulative gesture. And yet, he does. Coming from Joker, this almost defies belief.
She is his victim, and she is more than willing to be it. Their relationship is highly dysfunctional and yet somehow, it works. Somehow they are in a wonderful symbiosis together, with a great deal of mutuality and understanding. It’s twisted, bent, sick and wrong but there’s also something compelling about it, not least because there is clearly mutual enjoyment had in the relationship.
It is not mere infatuation, but something that goes beyond a normal range of emotion to the absolute extremes of dependency, love, passion and obsession.
Additionally, for a submissive nature the knowledge that you have committed your all to your Dominant, that they are in complete control of you and your life and their power is absolute, is incredibly heady and fulfilling. It is the desire of most submissives to do just this - but Harley takes it to the absolute, fulfils it utterly and without rules, guidelines or negotiations. She embodies it. Once you have reached that level, it begins to feed itself, meaning pleasure and joy continues to heighten the more you commit to such a situation. It is, for a submissive nature, the ultimate expression of love and is done willingly.
Joker's own power is very probably an attraction also for Harley, as well as knowing she is the only person to be so close to him, to have seen the private face the world does not. To have survived so long at the side of so deranged and dangerous an individual, as well as witnessing his power over those around him, probably gives Harley a sense of power of her own, which it very much is. She alone has the power to see him in his vulnerable moments, to be needed to help him keep order in his life, to be entrusted to critical elements of his schemes. To make him apologise. This would be as much a drug as Joker himself or the feeling she has for him, especially to feel that she is the one who is by his side – and the one to have succeeded in getting so close.