Month: November 2019

Everybody knows the character of the Reluctant Hero, the person who didn’t want anything to do with all this hero business but ended up along for the ride due to one or another reason. We see these characters across every genre, popping up in action movies (John McClane in Die Hard), science-fiction (Ellen Ripley from Alien), fantasy (Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings), dystopian fiction (Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games), and even comedies (Deadpool from… Deadpool).

All the trope really requires is that there be a hero or heroes, and that those heroes don’t want to go out adventuring to save the world. They’d much rather stay in their existing lives and live as they had already been living, but are forced to go out into the world and fight X to find Y so they can save Z. There are some deviations to this cliché and the stories around it, but the essence remains the same. It’s a trope, and while opinions on it vary the reluctant hero usually becomes a fan favorite.

There could be any number of reasons that somebody relates to being a reluctant hero or any number of fun scenes that could make them memorable. The important thing is that the writer uses the positives of this trope, at least enough for the pros to outweigh the cons. On to those!

Pros:

– The hero is instantly relatable (who hasn’t wanted to stay home and eat chips instead of doing something harrowing?)

– Built in moments of comic relief (they really don’t want to be there, and they can’t believe they have to deal with such obvious bullshit)

– Drama! (why did they want to stay home? What finally drove them out? Is there something or someone waiting for them when they return?)

– Flexibility (when using the Reluctant Hero as a base, there are nearly endless possibilities for the rest of the character. See the above examples of reluctant heroes, and consider how different each character and story is)

Cons:

– Very common (harder to keep the character interesting when it’s such a common base)

– Might not make sense (why would somebody not want to go on an adventure in a world of swords and sorcery? It takes extra in-world convincing)

– Flexibility (the Reluctant Hero being a universal base is also a drawback; there’s very little to go off of just from there)

In conclusion, the Reluctant Hero is a fun base to use for characters, one that proves both popular and rather common. It takes some difficulty to differentiate itself, but if that can be done, the character will almost invariably become a fan favorite.

Who exactly is the Joker? Obviously he’s the clown prince of Gotham, Batman’s arch-nemesis, and one of, if not the, most famous supervillains of all time. But the question still stands, who in the world is he?

The versions (not to mention origins) of the Joker are many, as is inevitable for comic book characters. Among fans, there are constant debates and quibbles about which is the ‘definitive’ version, which is the best interpretation, and there are always several frontrunners for the position — Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series(1992-1995)”, Heath Ledger’s portrayal in “The Dark Knight(2008)”, Jack Nicholson’s portrayal in “Batman(1989)” and more recently Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal in “Joker(2019)”.

All of these characters have interesting distinctions, but I think one stands well above the others. In Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”, the Joker is a thoroughly evil anarchist, someone who doesn’t play by anybody’s rules, especially not his own. His presence adds both horror and comedy to every scene, and his bizarre crime streak and ruthless ingenuity is… unsettling, to say the least.

The movie opens on a bank robbery, where the robbers turn on and kill each other one by one, until the last man standing reveals himself as the Joker. This intro to insanity is the perfect way to demonstrate the entire rest of the movie — the Joker starts to spread his chaotic influence into every scene, and he stays directly involved in each subplot until the end of the movie. He even gets a lot of good guy blood on his hands, something that never happens in these kinds of movies. This type of villain creates an aura of fear and loathing, yet is so uniquely intriguing that one has to wonder why he has such a draw.

Of course, Heath Ledger himself is responsible for much of this Joker’s success. This actor is still the only person in history to receive a posthumous Oscar for a supporting role, one that was well deserved for this performance. His manic energy and unique tone, not to mention his terrifying laugh, all build up an incredible character, fully mired in mystery.

In the end, as incredible as his writing, character, and acting are, the strongest element that this Joker has to offer is his mystery. He is exclusively a man that wants to watch the world burn, someone whose past doesn’t matter, someone who exists as a perfect, one-dimensional villain. He exists only to be chaos, and exemplifies it perfectly.