Batman is my favorite superhero.
There are way too many reasons for that.
But one of them is that he is not actually a superhero.
He is super rich who also happens to be broken inside which makes up for some of the most
interesting and humane stories.
That's the exact same reason why The Batman series has some of the most interesting villains.
The hero is only as interesting as the villain and the Batman is always interesting as he
is threatened constantly and the odds are stacked up against him with every single villain.
Today I am going to talk about the pairing of The Batman and The Joker
who is one of the most powerful villains, in my opinion, in the history of storytelling.
Much of the references in this video would be from Nolan’s Dark Knight.
The Joker is not powerful because he is evil and definitely not because of his destructions.
The Joker is powerful because of his philosophical implications.
He questions the very morality of the Batman; he sets out to destroy the very thing that
makes the Batman, Batman.
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight is actually the crescendo of film adaptations of comics.
Nolan proves that he truly understands the philosophy of the Batman and the Joker and
he isn't afraid to show that the Batman is not fun and games but is actually an epic
tragedy.
To me the Batman and the Joker represent the duality of nature.
Light and Dark, Hot and Cold, Order and Chaos and Batman and Joker.
One cannot exist if not for the other.
You wouldn't even have the concept of light if you didn't experience the darkness.
Batman and the Joker are the perfect hero-villain pair.
Batman doesn’t kill and the Joker desperately needs Batman to kill.
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
They dance.
They perfectly compliment each other.
There are other iconic hero villain combinations where there is much more at stake.
But none, come close to Batman and the Joker, because Joker sets out to destroy the very
idea and the philosophy of Batman.
They are not simply hero and villain; they are actually two opposing forces of nature.
In Chinese philosophy Yin Yang represents how seemingly opposite forces may actually
be interconnected and one may even give rise to the other force.
In Taoism or Daoism, the essence of life is expressed through the Yin Yang.
Duality and the absence of it or non-duality is the core of many religions from around
the world, especially the religions from the eastern part of the world.
They all have different versions of Yin-Yang.
Every aspect of our reality contains Yin-Yang.
They are completely opposite to each other yet they are complimentary.
Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other.
Yin Yang has two parts.
One is black and the other is white.
Black part is Yin and the white part is Yang.
But you might be wondering about the tiny white dot in the black part and the tiny black
dot in the white part.
It represents the fact that no half is absolute.
Even the darkest of things has something bright about it and even the brightest of things
has something dark about it.
You can find the Yin in the Yang and vice versa.
When both of it is combined and the when the balance is achieved, that’s when it becomes
a whole.
They complete each other.
Yin can transform into Yang under some conditions and similarly Yang can transform into Yin
because they both have the seeds of the other part in them.
According to Taoism, the forces of nature are in constant motion.
As the motion continues the forces of energy slowly but surely transforms into the other.
Yin changes to Yang and Yang changes to Yin.
The Batman and the Joker are the same, even to the point that they actually throw out
their drinks but pretend to drink anyways.
On a much larger scale Batman believes in the basic goodness of people.
Batman wants to establish order and justice in Gotham city.
But the Joker believes that there is no inherent goodness in people.
The Joker wants to establish chaos and anarchy in Gotham city.
Batman takes law into his own hands and even breaks it frequently in the process of establishing
order and justice.
Joker takes law into his own hands and breaks it much frequently in the process of establishing
chaos and anarchy.
Batman and Joker are equal and opposite.
But the idea of Batman is not absolutely good and the idea of Joker is not completely bad.
Batman because of his actions hurt people that are close to him and Joker because of
his actions cleaned up the mafia and the corrupt cops in Gotham city.
Batman as a Yang has a seed of Yin in him and the Joker as a Yin has a seed of Yang
in him.
Criminals like the Joker give rise to the idea of a masked vigilante like the Batman
and a masked vigilante who is set out to establish the order in the streets actually give rise
to disturbing anarchists like the Joker.
In Yin-Yang, Yin is not actually bad and Yang is not actually good.
Good and bad stems from your own perspective.
In that way with the Batman and the Joker, the dance between the Yin and Yang has to
continue forever much like our own reality and every single thing in it.
That’s it for today’s episode.
I am a big fan of Batman, especially Nolan’s Dark Knight with all of its philosophical
implications and thought experiments.
I would love to know who is your favorite superhero and why?
Let me know in the comments below.
I also have a lot of reading materials on this topic in the description below.
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