ABSTRACT

The relationship between Batman and the Joker is usually presented as one of opposites: good vs. evil, justice vs. crime, order vs. chaos. Batman has been described as a fictional agent of hegemony, enforcing societal rules and preserving norms, and this role as a defender of the status quo is never more obvious than when he is battling the Joker’s lethal form of anarchy. The recent Joker movie details his origin in a Gotham City before Batman existed, thus eliminating half of the balance. This article argues that the absence of Gotham’s iconic hero recontextualizes the way ideas of hegemony are presented in Joker. The film inverts the typical narrative of the Batman story and reveals the failings of hegemony set in a more realistic environment. The sympathetic focus on the Joker positions him as an hero for the subaltern, a champion of chaos, rather than the traditional valorization of Batman as a enforcer of the status quo. Joker’s twist on the Batman/Joker relationship introduces a different perspective on the superhero genre that questions (and leads viewers to question) the hegemonic class agenda that lays beneath what is framed as an innocent fantasy of caped crusaders.

摘要

蝙蝠侠与小丑之间的关系通常表现为对立关系：善与恶，正义与犯罪，秩序与混乱。蝙蝠侠被描述为霸权的虚构人物，可以执行社会规则并维护规范，而捍卫现状的作用从未像他与小丑的无政府状态的致命形式作斗争时那样明显。最近的小丑电影详细介绍了他在蝙蝠侠存在之前在哥谭市的起源，从而消除了一半的平衡。本文认为，如果没有纽约的标志性英雄recontextualizes霸权的想法中呈现的方式小丑。这部电影颠覆了蝙蝠侠故事的典型叙述，并揭示了在更为现实的环境中霸权主义的失败。对小丑的同情关注将他定位为副班长的英雄，混乱的拥护者，而不是传统的蝙蝠侠增值服务作为维持现状的执行者。小丑对蝙蝠侠与小丑关系的扭曲为超级英雄流派引入了另一种观点，这种观点质疑（并引起观众质疑）霸权阶级议程，而霸权阶级议程则隐藏在被称为无顶帽十字军的幻想之下。