DARK ART

"Gentlemen! Let's broaden our minds." - Joker (Jack Nicholson)

Recently, on the popular film podcast Unspooled, there was a minor criticism regarding the inconsistency in the characterization of the Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, particularly about how he suddenly seems fascinated by art in several scenes. Hosts Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer argued that this detail felt implausible in the context of the Joker's overall character arc, as he transforms from gangster Jack Napier to the clown-faced villain.

Personally, I found the scene in which the Joker (Nicholson) and his goons take a tour of the Flugelheim Art Museum in Gotham City to be an interesting development. I believe the Joker's defacing of art aligns perfectly with his urban terrorist modus operandi, as he seeks to destroy things traditionally regarded as valuable by 'normal' society, much like he was "spoiled" after being disfigured by falling into a vat of toxic chemicals. In some ways it's not dissimilar to recent acts of art terrorism we've seen committed by eco activists in national galleries across Europe. This theme of destroying beauty is further compounded later in the scene, when the Joker reveals the gruesome, half-mutilated face of his girlfriend, Alicia Hunt (Jerry Hall), to Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), confessing that he has "experimented" on her face in a manner similar to how he desecrates the artwork in the museum.

But perhaps most telling is the one work of art the Joker spares in the Flugelheim: Figure with Meat by Francis Bacon. This piece (recalling works by both Velázquez and Rembrandt) is overtly grotesque, depicting a figure resembling Pope Innocent X seated between two bisected halves of a cow’s carcass. The artwork’s dark aesthetics clearly mirror the Joker’s own artistic sensibility and love of the macabre, as well as his twisted and anarchic personality, which has been hyper-accelerated by his accidental mutilation.

Far from being inconsistent with his character, to me it makes perfect sense that Jack Napier, now the Joker, would wish to make beautiful things ugly, so that he can transform the society around him to reflect his own broken state. As he famously says to Bruce Wayne/Batman (Michael Keaton) later in the movie: "You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs."

Besides, I think more comic book villains should show an interest in high art. Personally, I would have loved a scene where the Joker attends a performance of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at the Gotham City Opera House.