Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE JOKER AND OTHER VILLAINS

Analysis of the Joker and Other Villains

Elena Hood
Kent State University

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The sinister nature behind comic book villains is rooted in psychological abnormalities.
After analyzing a number of popular and real-life comic villains, one recognizes that among
them are sociopaths, psychopaths, individuals with bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia. In recent
popular culture, the Joker from the Batman series has become a controversial figure in both
fictional and real crime. In recent crimes surrounding the mass shooting in Colorado, James
Holmes claimed that the Joker influenced him to take the drastic actions that proceeded in a
movie theatre on a cold dark night. Another controversy surrounding the Batman super-villain
was the suicide of Heath Ledger, who portrayed the Joker in a recent movie. Those who knew
Heath claimed that he took a method acting approach in order to give an outstanding
performance. The psychological turmoil was so great that it lead him to his premature death.
Besides the Joker, comic books and graphic novels have portrayed historical serial killers and
psychopaths such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Hitler. In analyzing these characters, one can conclude
the role that psychology plays in creating the perfect villain.
The Joker was described as, psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic
clown with zero empathy (Camp, Webster, Coverdale, Coverdale & Nairn, 2011,. p 145). The
psychotic description added to the mystery and appeal of the character. Audience members found
themselves mesmerized by the idea of an individual with no regard towards other human life.
Randolph Dreyer (2009) mentions the Batman audiences anguish during the viewing of the Dark
Knight film. In a showing of the film, the audience is described as showing visual signs of stress
towards the pathological violence of the Joker (p. 80). The mixture of a historically jolly clown
face with a killer is rightfully disturbing. With this background information on the film,
audiences can further understand the appeal of this particular villain.

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Another popular subject relating to bad characters is the idea of the anti-hero. The
audience finds themselves in the position of feeling that the villain is somewhat of an underdog
character that can be sympathized with and related to. One such example is the real life story of
Jeffry Dahmer. In, My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf creates a graphic novel character based on
Dahmer when he was a high school student. Before Backderf or any of Dahmers other
schoolmates could predict that he would grow up to be the notorious serial killer that he became,
he was a social outcast full of angst and family problems. Backderf (2012) reflects on Dahmers
school reputation (or lack thereof):
He was a nobody. One of those shy kids who turned into social invalids when that
first blast of adolescence hit, meekly accepted their fate, and became invisible. It
was months into the school year before I noticed him at all. And the kids that did
notice Dahmer. Had little but contempt for him. (p. 30-31)
Jeffrey Dahmers obvious high school alienation is relatable to most individuals. The reader
begins to feel disdain for him, although he will eventually grow up to become one of the most
hated people for his murderous actions. The individuals that Backderf mentions who did notice
Jeffrey Dahmer were vicious bullies. In this way, the graphic novel humanizes Dahmer, showing
that he was once somewhat of a victim as well.
Another difficulty in Dahmers youth was his parents violent and disintegrating
marriage due to his mothers severe mental illness. These factors would affect any individual
who would grow up to have mental illness of their own, so it is no surprise that one of the most
psychotic serial killers are effected by such issues. While Derf Backderf describes his own homelife as somewhat normal with average familial problems, Jeffrey did not have it so easy. One
section of the graphic novel depicts Jeffrey witnessing numerous fights between his parents

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(Backderf, 2012, p 92). This among multiple variables would later attribute to extreme stressors
in Dahmers life. The novel also includes a section where Backderf (2012) describes the first
murder that Jeffrey ever committed: One night while Jeff was driving recklessly under the
influence of alcohol, he got pulled over by the police. Remembering that he had a dead body in
the trunk of the vehicle, Jeffrey put on a straight face (an ability that most psychopaths possess).
He passed the sobriety field test, and as the police officer opened the trunk to find a number of
black plastic bags, Dahmer claimed that they contained garbage, as he was finding a reciprocal to
throw them away. The officer let him go with a warning and the murder would not come to light
until years later after he committed an even greater number of murders (p. 179-183). This
chilling sequence of comic tiles is the closest thing to an actual re-enactment of the situation. To
think that Jeffrey Dahmer was committing murder before he was even 20 is a disturbing fact
which leaves the reader with the mystery of putting his mental function together only to find that
there is no normal function to his mentality. To claim that Jeffrey Dahmer committed his first
murder as an act of anger against his parents leaving him to his own devises after their divorce or
his confusion about his homosexual necrophilia fantasies make sense somewhat, but there must
have been more to the puzzle than just his environment and sexual urges.
Maus explores anther type of real-life villain in Adolf Hitler and Nazis during the
Holocaust. Among other things, the book, building on the obvious precedent of Art
Spiegelmans Maus, shows how far comics have come as a cultural medium taken seriously
here, but also that the Holocaust has come a long way too, as a topic to be freshly considered by
a new generation of German teenagers (Kimmelman, 2008, p. 1). The use of the comic book
medium allows information and narrative about the Holocaust to reach younger readers. As an

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educational form of historical experience, it is an effective way of spreading a realistic story. The
medium also brings softness to an otherwise harsh reality in the history of the world:
Using the comic book form allows Speigelman to approach this difficult topic in ways
unavailable to those recounting their Holocaust experiences in traditional prose, and []
Speigelman uses comic book art to rethink what has become the Holocausts definingand
silencingrepresentational feature: its photographic images (Crutcher, 2011, p. 55). This
fragment explains the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words. Although the images depict
mice instead of humans going through the reality of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, the
interpretation is still effective.
Whether talking about fictional super-villains with violent psychotic tendencies or serial
killers in the history of our world, the comic book medium is a unique match for such serious
psychological problems in society. Deciding whether the medium is an effective form of
edutainment is up to the reader. Some feel that the dark mystery of a serial killer is interesting
and thought provoking, while others would never consider reading such material for leisure
reading. In understanding the mental processes of psychotic killers and villains, perhaps we can
better understand the problems within society and gain a step closer to becoming a better world.
Or maybe it would be more sensible to write off psychotic individuals as a threat and
abnormality to human existence. No matter what the reader believes, both fictional and nonfictional villains are necessary as foils to our heroic good guys and historical peace makers. They
are a part of our world whether we accept it or not, and unfortunately, they are not always
unstoppable.

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6
References

Backderf, D. (2012). My friend dahmer. New York, NY: Abrams ComicArts.

Camp, M. E., Webster, C. R., Coverdale, T. R., Coverdale, J. R., & Nairn, R. (2012). The joker:
A dark night for depictions of mental illness. Academic Psychiatry, 34(2), 145-149. doi:
02100054c
Crutcher, P. A. (2011). Complexity in the comic and graphic novel medium: Inquiry through
bestselling batman stories. The Journal of Popular Culture, 44(1), 53-72. doi:
10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00819.x
Dreyer, R. (2009). Clap if you believe in batman The Dark Knight. Perspectives In Psychiatric
Care, 45(1), 80-81. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6163.2009.00206.x
Kimmelman, M. (2008). No laughs, no thrills, and villains all too real. The New York Times, 27.