Well, the Joker is supposed to be portrayed a sort of an anti-romantic—he doesn’t believe in the nobility of the people, he doesn’t believe in the existence of some transcendent morality—he accepts the world as being without supernatural meaning, and instead imposes his own. So while he’s absolutely bonkers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers put a few pearls of uncommon wisdom in the dialogue, even if it was just to make him seem nuttier.
Also, it might be worth analyzing just for the fun of it. That’s why I visit this thread.
I don’t see the Ledger Joker as irrational, merely insane. It’s just his morality and ethics that are horrible. As far as reaching his goals, he is extremely (unrealistically) competent. You don’t flawlessly account for every move your opponents make, in advance, for 98% of your visible career, by being totally irrational.
Is the Joker’s advice supposed to be sensible enough that it’s worth analyzing?
What he said was proposed as a rationalist quote, which presumes a level of sensibility.
Well, the Joker is supposed to be portrayed a sort of an anti-romantic—he doesn’t believe in the nobility of the people, he doesn’t believe in the existence of some transcendent morality—he accepts the world as being without supernatural meaning, and instead imposes his own. So while he’s absolutely bonkers, I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers put a few pearls of uncommon wisdom in the dialogue, even if it was just to make him seem nuttier.
Also, it might be worth analyzing just for the fun of it. That’s why I visit this thread.
I don’t see the Ledger Joker as irrational, merely insane. It’s just his morality and ethics that are horrible. As far as reaching his goals, he is extremely (unrealistically) competent. You don’t flawlessly account for every move your opponents make, in advance, for 98% of your visible career, by being totally irrational.
Unless you have plot armor.
Since his primary goal is to make Batman kill him, it’s hard to say he has plot armor.
Perhaps we should call it ‘irony armor’?