Harley and Joker’s love is not #relationshipgoals
- Sep 9, 2016
- 2 min read
DC’s movie, “Suicide Squad,” is the biggest event in pop culture of 2016. Since Harley Quinn first appeared as the Joker’s sidekick in “Batman: The Animated Series,” she has taken the superhero world by storm with her bright personality and penchant for crime. However, her obsession with the Joker, which has been just as fundamental to her character as her signature black and red color scheme, complicates things.
This opinion article was originally featured in PantherNOW and argues why females should not look up to Harley Quinn and Joker's relationship.
Check out the article’s excerpt below and click the link if you want to read the full story!
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Maytinee Kramer/Contributing Writer
DC’s movie, “Suicide Squad,” is the biggest event in pop culture of 2016. Since Harley Quinn first appeared as the Joker’s sidekick in “Batman: The Animated Series,” she has taken the superhero world by storm with her bright personality and penchant for crime. However, her obsession with the Joker, which has been just as fundamental to her character as her signature black and red color scheme, complicates things. Harley Quinn’s story is relentlessly tied to relationship abuse and mental illness, which makes her a textbook example of a victim to emotional manipulation ― a hallmark of abusive relationships.
As her background story goes, Harleen Quinzel, a gymnast and psychiatry student working in Arkham Asylum, volunteered to analyze the Joker in a number of one-on-one sessions meant to help rehabilitate him. Over the course of their time together, however, Quinzel finds herself charmed by the Joker and swayed by his story of being a misunderstood outcast. Quinzel eventually becomes sympathetic to the Joker’s causes, decides to break him out of the asylum, then joins in his life of crime as the newly minted Harley Quinn.
Throughout her life of crime and murder, Harley, blinded by love, would follow the Joker into danger only to have him risk her life or even go so far as to physically hurt her. Harley’s devotion to the Clown Prince of Crime was once thought to be built from both character’s mental instability, but as Harley’s popularity as an individual character grew, many began exploring the idea that perhaps she was struggling with a toxic relationship.
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Photo Credit: Flickr
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