View source for The Psychology of the Batman and Joker

=='''Psychology behind The Joker:''' == 


Joker is the ultimate creator of conflict. But he is more than chaotic, in the true sense of the word "chaotic." He aims to obliterate structure. He does so by attacking integrity (literal integrity here - the structural variety) wherever he sees it. This is apparent in Joker's own personality. You can see that he doesn't care about money, people, or even his own life. He even seeks to constantly re-shuffle his personal identity, repeatedly inventing new stories about how he got his scars. His primary goal is to trap batman into violating his core values. If he does this, he will "break" him. Joker attacks Harvey Dent (Gothem's heroic DA) in the same way - trying to break him. 
One of the greatest theory used to explain Joker’s chaotic nature is the use of Dr. Freud’s theory of Super-ego. Freud is the father of the psychoanalytic theory. He suggests that childhood experiences shape our personalities. To explore his theory, there are Four Questions that will be asked about a personality theory. The first question regards the structure of the theory. Freud developed a topographical model to explain personality with three separate parts that interact with one another; the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is carnal in nature and embodies our natural drives. They are like our instincts in that we do not consciously think about them. The superego is like our conscious; internalizing social norms and values and our superego is the partially conscious part of our mind that monitors our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The ego is our mostly conscious awareness that is in the middle of a tug of war between the id and the superego. The second question asks for the motivation in his theory. Freud introduces the pleasure principle; a hedonistic notion that we are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain. At the root of the id is a primitive energy to seek pleasure (usually of a sexual nature) called the libido. However, lest we become animals, we also have a counterweight in the superego. The superego, according to Freud, has a paternal authority that brings up feelings of guilt and a sensitivity toward consequences. This brings us to the third question we ask of Freud; can the structure of one’s personality change over time? As stated above, Freud believed that childhood experiences with these conflicts mold the personality. Personality development is to be seen as psychosexual stages. Each stage presents the crossroads of a biological drive (id) and the learning of opposing social norms (superego). To successfully continue on to the next level one must learn to problem solve and cope with these frustrations in a healthy manner. The last question asks for an explanation of the differences between individuals according to the theory. Freud has argued that different people develop in differing environments and had different childhood experiences. The Joker is a pathological liar, with reactive attachment issues, scars he credits to either childhood abuse or self-mutilation and presents with suicidal ideation. First we look at the structure of the Joker’s id, ego, and superego. Being a sociopath, he presents with a surgically precise id. He can masterfully calculate how he can steal the most money, kill the most people, and as he explains to the bed-ridden Harvey Dent, how he can “introduce [the most] chaos”. He is able to temporarily delay fulfilling the desire to kill in order to cause more anxiety in others and achieve a thrill in seeing innocent people kill each other.


 
=='''Psychology Behind Batman:''' ==


Batman is one most loved comic book characters and arguable the best superhero creation coming from DC comics. However, he is different from most “textbook” superheroes because he is not super. He has no superhuman abilities. Batman has to rely on wit, cunning and planning to defeat his foes, rather than just invincibility and super human strength. Many people find Batman appealing because he is just a man. He may have had special training and has achieved physical perfection and have cool looking gadgets, but all of things he does is technically possible (most of it). What is so great about the comic is that is about a regular man fighting off extraordinary evil, which pertains to the fantasy of many people.  
	
One of the things most superheroes struggle with is human emotion. Many heroes think of themselves as invincible regardless of their power, almost above being human. Batman suffers through many challenges throughout his life, which again makes him relatable for many people. His personality and his belief system is shaped strongly by the fears and struggles he has had to go through. Using Freud’s idea that personality is shaped through experience; Bruce Wayne is Batman because of the experiences he went through as a child. At a young age Bruce Wayne’s parents (Batman’s alter ego) were violently murdered in a dark alleyway on their way home. From his point on Bruce suffered from idea of helplessness. He was helpless to defend his parents and blamed himself. This is was part of the reason he left Gotham city to study martial arts at a Shaolin temple in Tibet. He took up the Batman costume to defend the helpless innocent people of Gotham. While Batman does defend the helpless there is a certain amount of satisfaction he gets from avenging his parents. Everything he does is in order to make sure no one has to experience the pain he felt. Batman also suffers from hero complex. The hero complex is a reoccurring theme in almost all comics with most superheroes. It is the complex where a person believes they can save everyone or everything. For example, in the TV series Heroes, Peter Petrelli is a superhero. Peter struggles with the fact what even with all of his power he cannot do everything, be everywhere, and save everyone. He does too much and cannot do everything. In The Dark Knight, Batman struggles with a choice. To save his girlfriend or save Harvey Dent. Saving his girlfriend would grant him personal happiness but saving Harvey Dent is what would be best for Gotham (which is part of the reason he became Batman). Batman knows what he has to do but the fact that he cannot save everyone puts a major dent in his Batman armour, knowing this Batman has to become “more than a hero,” and do what police cannot. He has to make hard choices and the people might not like him but it is what he has to do to protect Gotham city. 
Batman has a rigid code of moral and values and he absolutely will not break.  Most noticeably is his belief of not killing. Many of Batman’s reoccurring problems would be solved if he just killed his enemies, but he vowed to never kill anyone. Doing his allows him to be better than his enemies and it also stems from the fact the he fears he might become like his parents murderer if he kills someone.  It is interesting to propose the question whether Batman is Bruce Wayne or Bruce Wayne is Batman. For the sake of the comics, films and tv shows Batman is showed more than Bruce Wayne. However, it is hard to definitely answer that the person behind the alter ego’s relates to more. Does Batman live to be Bruce Wayne or does Bruce Wayne live to be Batman? How much does Bruce Wayne enjoy being Batman? Or is it just a job? Or does Bruce Wayne get pleasure in being Batman? One interesting piece of Batman history to note is that Batman is afraid of bats. He chose the identity of Batman because he conquered his fear and uses his fear to scare the criminals he battles. For a superhero Batman is a very emotionally developed. 
The Joker proves to be Batman’s greatest enemy for numerous reasons. To many fans of comic books the Batman and Joker are the best superhero and supervillian combination. The Joker is the exact opposite of Batman. Where Batman represents order and justice, the Joker represents evil and chaos. The reason why Joker is Batman’s greatest enemy is that the Joker tries to destroy Batman by making him undermine his values and beliefs, rather than beating him senseless. In The Dark Knight, the Joker pleads Batman to kill him. Knowing that killing the Joker would solve many of Gotham’s problems Batman decides against it knowing that he would have just sunken to Joker’s level. The Joker wants to fully destroy Batman and there is no better way to do that than to corrupt him. Throughout the history of the duo the Joker thinks of new ways to try and destroy Batman. He always leaves Batman an easy way out to save the day that would require undermining his beliefs, always tempting Batman into Darkness. However Batman cannot exist without the Joker. They are ying and yang. One cannot exist without the other. Would there be order and justice if there were no chaos?

=='''Conclusion:''' ==


To this day the Batman franchise remains fresh in terms of content and popularity. Thanks to the recent films new generations have experienced Batman while the older audience finally get to see Batman in the way he was originally portrayed in the comics.


 
=='''Works Cited''' ==
 

The Dark Knight. Dir. Chritopher Nolan. 2008. Warner Bros. Pictures.

DC Database. Joker.. 6 Apr. 2009 <http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Joker_(New_Earth)>.

Pincus, David. “Chaos Theory and Batman: The Dark Knight Part I.” Psychology Today.  16 Apr. 2009 <http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-chaotic-life/200807/chaos-theory-and-batman-the-dark-knight-part-i>.

Wordpress. Psychoanalysis of the Joker. 9 Dec. 2008. 12 Apr. 2009 <http://periginatioanimae.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/psychoanalysis-of-the-joker/>.