‘The Killing Joke’: A Look Back At The Ambiguous Ending

0
1366

If we had to pick one of the most controversial and famous Batman comics ever, then we will surely choose Batman: The Killing Joke for the way Barbara Gordon was treated for it and its ending. The last panel of that comic left the fans wondering whether the Joker died or not? There have been countless opinions about it, but, probably the most important thing to know is the meaning of the end, rather than the fate of the Joker.




The Joke: A Reflection Of Batman And His Nemesis

Just before the comic ended, Joker told Batman a crazy joke which you might feel was appropriate for a lunatic killer. However, if you think a little deeper, his words had a hidden meaning. The first phrase of the joke was:

 “There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum.”

It is not that difficult to figure out that the two guys are Joker and Batman and this joke is a take on their story. The asylum is a symbolic reference to their world – which is a bit crazy, and they fight incessantly. In fact, this story started with the sequence where Joker arrived at the Arkham Asylum and then the two enemies escaped the asylum.

Batman tried to end the fight without either of them getting killed. He expressed his wish to escape from the fight just the way they had escaped from the asylum. However, that’s not how things were going to be (as Joker further spoke).

“It can’t work because the Joker doesn’t want it to.”

To figure the joke out, let’s say the first guy is the Batman. He wants to help the joker and get him back respectably into the society. The second guy is Joker who believes he is way past the point of return. The intention of the first guy was noble regarding the use of the flashlight, however, unlike him, the other guy can’t jump.

Therefore, he can’t escape. In case, he was crazy enough to try walking on the light, he would fall and die, and this solution was illogical. Thus, the Joker is okay with staying in the asylum of the world of bitterness, and he doesn’t want to resolve things. The leap was only a gesture to fake a return to sanity. In fact, turns out that they both are equally crazy in their peculiar ways.




Let’s revisit the initial sequence when we see Batman in a non-heroic appearance as he was also broken. He was, in fact, a pale shadow of himself at the point where this comic begins. He stayed in the dark with the light focused on the table and not him. That’s a clear non-hero style.

Now, let’s reverse the equation and consider Joker to be the first guy. In this case, the leap will signify embracing the madness. In the Joker’s philosophy, all you need is one bad day to make a person lose his sanity, and the jump was equal to that one bad day. The Joker experienced a bad day and jumped into the mental turmoil. The first guy who suggested using the flashlight was the crazy one who tried convincing the other to join his crazy efforts.

The second guy happens to be the Batman who doesn’t want to lose his sanity. He wanted to make the Joker accountable to the law, but, by the book. If he had killed the Joker, then it would have been the bad day for the Batman. But, he stayed there, and that meant he was stuck in the asylum – stuck in a world where the fight with the Joker will never end because there is no stopping the villain.

The Endless Violence

Now we come to the end panels which show Batman and the laughing Joker. Batman tries to reach out to the laughing Joker and then it all halts with only the rain that could be seen. This was quite a cinematic ending, and you could almost imagine cameras rolling.

The insanity of this fight is what matters at the end.

The opening and closing panels of the comics are the same and show only the ground and the rain. The darkness of the story is quite intriguing in itself. The usage of same panels for a start and the end symbolizes a loop and delivers the message that the story will go on endlessly with the Batman and the Joker continuing their fight. It also validates the first meaning of the end which states that Batman won’t kill the Joker and followed the book just the way Gordon wanted.




Another meaning that can be derived is that Batman killed the Joker by breaking his neck. After the Joker rejected Batman’s last offer of a truce, Batman had no option but to kill him. This made Batman plunge into his maniacal rage. This is quite an appealing idea. However, the loop that represents the opening and closing panels are far more sensible scenario compared to the abrupt killing of the Joker, taking into account Batman’s desire to stick to the book.

The laughter that they shared at the end was just a minor respite from their battle when they both realize how insane it all was. In fact, it is their insanity that defines everything. They have no idea why they fight, but, they fight in a never-ending fashion just because that’s the only thing they can think of.

Introspectively, the relationship between the Joker and the Batman is a mirror to the modern world which is full of mindless violence that often seems to be unnecessary and illogical. The fate of the Joker is not the thing to ponder over, rather, we need to think about what all this violence is for.

 

Leave a reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.