Disturbing the Peace: Why Mad Love = Mad Me.

***TW: Discussions of abuse***

Recently, the enigmatic and infamous THEY announced a new movie in the DCCU, and fan reaction has fallen pretty much on either side of the spectrum: OMGFINALLYWOW and OMGWTFWHY.

I am on the latter end of the spectrum. OMGWTFWHY?

Because there's a Harley/Joker love story in the works.

Please read that again. A Harley. And Joker. Love. Story.

If you know anything about the volatile relationship between these two, then you know why this is in the top ten of Things We Do Not Need.

If you don't, well....I can sum it up in three easy words: Joker abuses Harley.

Physically, verbally, psychologically, mentally. In pretty much every way possible. So much so that I wrote Harley fanfiction to help cope with my own abuse.

I think once someone has had that kind of "mad love" relationship, they view the world through a different lens. While some see the Harley-Joker relationship as something strange and romantic and whatever, others like myself see elements of that abusive relationship in every interaction.

Just after this, Joker lets Harley take the fall, like the uber romantic jagoff he is.

I have a lot of feelings about Leto's Joker, partly because of the theory that this Joker is my DC husband Jason Todd, and if true, that makes this Joker as much a victim as Harley. 

However.

I have a lot of hatred for the actual Joker. Oh yeah, he's entertaining as hell, and my canon Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill, who is impossible to hate as a person. BUT. The character is a manipulative (and this maddening relationship is based on his manipulations), cruel, sadistic, narcissistic sociopath who scapegoats and gaslights Harley to no end. 

Some background: I identify with Harley in so many ways. Like her, I studied psychology with an intent to become a criminal psychologist. Unlike her, I didn't follow through. Like her, I gravitate toward emotionally unavailable people and want to "fix" them. Like her, I wasted a lot of time in a terrible relationship that sucked away everything I was and almost killed every aspiration I had. I was mentally, emotionally, and verbally abused. I was gaslit and blamed for everything wrong in our relationship. Unlike her, I wasn't strong enough to walk away on my own.

With the releases of movies like Arrival, Hidden Figures, Atomic Blonde and Wonder Woman, and with more women-centric movies coming out in the next several years (still waiting for that freaking Black Widow movie), girls and women finally get to see themselves represented as more than lamps, sex objects, and damsels on the big screen. Hell, Harley's role in Suicide Squad was a win in its own way--Robbie plays her with this complex blend of sweetness, coyness, sass, confidence, vulnerability, fear, and cognizance that we don't see a lot outside the comics (and her runs in the comics are PHENOMENAL; do yourself a favor and check out Harley Quinn #25, by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Chad Hardin, Alex Sinclair, and Tom Napolitano and her arc in the Injustice tie-in). 

Needless to say, I am not thrilled about this little movie. I want to trust Margot Robbie's decision to sign on for it, just like I trusted her to bring Harley to life in the way the character deserves. What I don't trust is people who don't understand the nuance and complexity that Harley's writers have developed over the last couple decades. Yes, she's fun. She's weird and not all there (though it's an act and people who understand her know it is because it's a method of survival). She's sexy. She's also grown so much and the threat of not seeing that growth, some of which was exhibited in Suicide Squad, is galling. 

As much as it pains me, I won't be seeing this one. I'll just wait for the Birds of Prey movie.

Sorry, Harl. 

So...about this Harley and Joker thing....

****Fair warning: Spoilers ahoy.****

After my two recent viewings of Suicide Squad and too much time hanging out on Twitter, I developed emotions. Suicide Squad in general gave me emotions. That whole thing with Deadshot and his daughter? ALLLLLLLL THE FEELS. And yes, I know the movie is problematic in so many ways. Adam Beach deserved a whole lot better; the Native community as a whole deserves a whole lot better. Slipknot deserved to be more than a throwaway character. But I digress.

As a Batman fan from a very young age, I actually remember the episode where Harley debuted. Originally, she was a throwaway character herself from a Joker dream sequence, but the writers decided to keep her, gave her a backstory, turned her into the character we all know and love. Before I go any further: Dear Margot Robbie, you KILLT IT.

*Ahem*

There are plenty of people who view the movie as romanticizing Harley and Joker's relationship, but I disagree. A lot, actually. As someone who dated a man with sociopathic tendencies, I probably have a starkly different view, thanks to Robbie's very nuanced portrayal of Harley Quinn.

New 52 origin aside, Harleen Quinzel's transformation into Joker's girlfriend, as she's repeatedly called, isn't a complete transformation. Her time away from Joker has put her into a sort of identity crisis, where bits and pieces of her old life creep through to the surface. There's a lot of uncertainty in her face, where she isn't sure she wants to go back to Joker now that she has something akin to friends in Deadshot and Diablo, and eventually Croc.

One of the most telling parts of the movie is just after the ACE Chemicals flashback: Deadshot startles her and she pulls her gun on him. That kind of reaction does not happen after a happy memory, guys. Regardless of the tense situation, it's the first time up to that point she's truly shown fear. And then, the absolutely brokenhearted way in which she asks Deadshot if he's ever been in love.... She's looking for reassurance, and when she doesn't get it, she calls him a "textbook sociopath."

You see, she already knows Joker doesn't love her.

She knows he's incapable of loving her or anything else.

But here's the problem, and the thing sociopaths are experts at: Harley has no idea who she is away from him.

The Puddin collar (because it is), the jacket, hell, her entire color scheme--all facilitated by Joker. He's created her, given her the identity of Harley Quinn. Even her mannerisms are patterned after his. He's so entrenched in her that the separation has to be jarring for her, which explains why she's desperate to get back to him, because getting back to him means getting back to herself, because what is she without him? She gave up her family (she has a mom and brother, plus a dad who's a career criminal); her occupation, which is grueling YEARS of school plus a continuation of classes after you earn your degree--I actually wanted to go into criminal psychology, too; and her entire identity to be what he made her. Trust me when I say it's really, really difficult to get back to yourself after a relationship with a sociopath. And it's much easier to fill a role than rebuild when you've given everything and gotten nothing in return.

So no, I don't think the movie romanticizes Harley and Joker's relationship. I think it's actually one of the more honest portrayals we've seen. And if they'd kept in the deleted scenes of the physical abuse Harley suffered from him, the honesty would've been brutal.