Degrees of Love:
Is “love” too strong a word to assign to the emotion Joker feels for Harley? Many fans believe so, although they do agree that there is some sort of tenderness for her there.
For someone like Joker, just having “feelings” at all is in actuality very strong. Paul Dini has stated: "Somewhere deep down in whatever shrivelled up little nut he [The Joker] has for a heart, there might be a little bit of affection for her."
Perhaps when we use the word ‘love’ we use it in the sense we understand it, but for Joker it would be something quite different. A school of philosophical thought claims that everyone will do what they perceive as good, and no one will do something because it is bad for them. For example, a masochist will seek pain and self-harm because they see the harm they do themselves as something that is good for them, or something that they need. Joker has often claimed he is doing the world a favour with his acts and perceives his destructiveness as good. He makes sense of humanity by seeing life as one big joke that he alone comprehensively understands. In this way, Joker could very well see his behaviour towards Harley as love, as he considers it to be, complete with the abuse and manipulation. (1)
In Joker’s relationships there is no kinship, no mercy and no full understanding. Does his mind even hold the capacity for love anymore, as the emotion is commonly understood, or is the only thing left the overwhelming indifference of madness? Perhaps in actuality Harley serves as a surreal and sometimes painful reminder of his previous life and the normalcy of it, of himself, and of his relationships. Maybe, out of this, the closest he can get to loving her is something she stirs up in him as obscure and faint memories of his deceased wife, brought back to life in a disjointed and ghostly fashion by her presence in his reality. For Joker, the character of the universe is chaos, not harmony, so the point in establishing a bond of love with Harley could well be beyond his understanding. (2)
Perhaps love is the wrong word, if we use it in the way we understand it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he cares for her, or regards her fondly, has affection or a degree of tenderness for her. It’s possible he does not even theoretically object to love or the idea of loving someone, but rather it is something he is literally incapable of.
But perhaps again, ‘love’ is actually something Joker is gradually beginning to understand once more the longer he engages with Harley. That previous to her becoming part of his life, the emotion was something he was no longer capable of but the more she persists the more it is awakened. It would probably be something that Joker did not anticipate when he first permitted the strange relationship to begin, and crept up on him unexpectedly, reminding him of the discomfiture it can cause, providing him with fuel to want her out of his life, and so put a stop to it going any further.
Paul Dini has also stated: “He loves her as much as he can.” It is quite clear that the sort of love most of us are accustomed to – love that consumes us, love for which we make sacrifices and compromises, love which makes us treasure things and hold them sacred – is not a love within Joker’s capacity. For this reason, the sort of love Joker shows Harley seems inadequate to many. However, “as much as he can” is a significant statement. Joker may not be capable of love the same way most people are – but Harley gets as much as what he is capable of. It might not seem like much from our perspective – but from Joker’s, it is everything he has to give.
Is “love” too strong a word to assign to the emotion Joker feels for Harley? Many fans believe so, although they do agree that there is some sort of tenderness for her there.
For someone like Joker, just having “feelings” at all is in actuality very strong. Paul Dini has stated: "Somewhere deep down in whatever shrivelled up little nut he [The Joker] has for a heart, there might be a little bit of affection for her."
Perhaps when we use the word ‘love’ we use it in the sense we understand it, but for Joker it would be something quite different. A school of philosophical thought claims that everyone will do what they perceive as good, and no one will do something because it is bad for them. For example, a masochist will seek pain and self-harm because they see the harm they do themselves as something that is good for them, or something that they need. Joker has often claimed he is doing the world a favour with his acts and perceives his destructiveness as good. He makes sense of humanity by seeing life as one big joke that he alone comprehensively understands. In this way, Joker could very well see his behaviour towards Harley as love, as he considers it to be, complete with the abuse and manipulation. (1)
In Joker’s relationships there is no kinship, no mercy and no full understanding. Does his mind even hold the capacity for love anymore, as the emotion is commonly understood, or is the only thing left the overwhelming indifference of madness? Perhaps in actuality Harley serves as a surreal and sometimes painful reminder of his previous life and the normalcy of it, of himself, and of his relationships. Maybe, out of this, the closest he can get to loving her is something she stirs up in him as obscure and faint memories of his deceased wife, brought back to life in a disjointed and ghostly fashion by her presence in his reality. For Joker, the character of the universe is chaos, not harmony, so the point in establishing a bond of love with Harley could well be beyond his understanding. (2)
Perhaps love is the wrong word, if we use it in the way we understand it. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he cares for her, or regards her fondly, has affection or a degree of tenderness for her. It’s possible he does not even theoretically object to love or the idea of loving someone, but rather it is something he is literally incapable of.
But perhaps again, ‘love’ is actually something Joker is gradually beginning to understand once more the longer he engages with Harley. That previous to her becoming part of his life, the emotion was something he was no longer capable of but the more she persists the more it is awakened. It would probably be something that Joker did not anticipate when he first permitted the strange relationship to begin, and crept up on him unexpectedly, reminding him of the discomfiture it can cause, providing him with fuel to want her out of his life, and so put a stop to it going any further.
Paul Dini has also stated: “He loves her as much as he can.” It is quite clear that the sort of love most of us are accustomed to – love that consumes us, love for which we make sacrifices and compromises, love which makes us treasure things and hold them sacred – is not a love within Joker’s capacity. For this reason, the sort of love Joker shows Harley seems inadequate to many. However, “as much as he can” is a significant statement. Joker may not be capable of love the same way most people are – but Harley gets as much as what he is capable of. It might not seem like much from our perspective – but from Joker’s, it is everything he has to give.