#thedarknight

One of my personal all time favorite “monsters” in every sense of the meaning is the Joker. More specifically, the Heather Ledger adaptation of the Joker from the 2008 The Dark Knight film directed by Christopher Nolan. To better understand what a monstrous figure in society is, Mary Douglas writes that monsters are “beings out of place” that transgress boundaries in relation to a system of order set in place in which they reside in or are associated with. Within Gotham City, there is a system of order practically ran by organized crime leaders and gangs. Among all these monstrous groups plus the crooked police officers, and even “crime-fighters” that could be viewed as monstrous within Gotham, the Joker for me still stands out as the clear monster detached from any system of order. Throughout this film not only is the Joker the main antagonist due to his repeated and horrific transgressions of civil law, but also for his transgressions in which he causes the other organized crime leaders and gangs’ trouble as well. Joker fits within no system of order on either side of those trying to prevent chaos or cause more chaos, and It is stated all of Joker’s actions are transgressions to further develop his own monstrous tendencies and planning to disrupt all systems of order.

Joker also makes the effort to disrupt to the legal and civil system of order set in place in Gotham by threatening or paying off police officers and judges to secretly work under and for him. Establishing a criminal monstrous figure having forced connections within the very system of order that is supposed to be fighting against and rejecting him as this monster. Which would be another major transgression within the many systems of order he is interrelated with, and a transgression that is not repeated much by many other monsters to this extent.

"IS IT JUST ME OR IS IT GETTING CRAZIER OUT THERE?"