Two
Faces of Power
Why does an
unstoppable force meet an immovable object?
Gotham city; soon this infamous city would be tagged by Superman
as a nightmare built out of metal and stone. The city remained in the
control of organised crime and a dark veil remained across its
stratosphere all the time. In this feature, Batman, a brooding young
boy and Joker, a mere reflection of what he would later become,
studied together in 6th grade. Young Bruce was well loved
and respected in school, while his future arch nemesis, a Young Joker
- if you could indulge the whisper - was a brat, always teasing
and pranking his classmates. Joker was too excited most of the time
to remain calm. He hated school and even more so, rules. Tests only
tested his patience but his ingenuity pronounced itself in his flair
to torment students and teachers alike. Only one kid could foil his
plans. Obviously - you guessed it - it was the righteous Bruce.
One such day when Bruce has just foiled the Joker's plan to
douse Vicki in cranberry juice, Batman returned triumphantly back to
Vicki after chasing the Joker away. He bent down to check on Vicki,
offering to help her get up. Something strange happened that day.
Bruce's gesture of kindness was met with a scoff. "Bruce," said
Vicki, "you spoilt my dress, and look - my homework has mud on
it." Bruce was a bit surprised and pleaded, "But I did not do it.
The Joker..."
"Yes, Joker is an irritating nuisance. But you pushed me.
Couldn't you be more gentle, Bruce? You act like a Hero but
honestly I think you both just enjoy chasing each other. Please
understand you are not a Hero I need." She noticed Bruce perplexed
and added, "Don't worry, I am just mad that I lost my homework
and have a messy dress. You are sweet for trying to help me. Thanks.
Now I need to go to the ladies room. Meet you in class? Hmm?"
This was not what was strange about the day for Bruce. He had
noticed that his friends seemed to be tired of Joker's antics but
recently they have been a bit short tempered with him as well after
he saves them from minor misdemeanours. What was strange was that he
no longer wanted to be a beacon of righteousness; he wanted to be
responsible for everyone and have everyone respect him for it.
Little known is what transpired later in a seedy little room.
Well, the room was not really seedy, it was the cafeteria. However,
the conversation and the deal made in that room would be unsavoury. A
lot of unsavoury things have passed through that cafeteria before but
none so vile. Scratch that, vile stuff had passed through that
cafeteria as well. So a very normal thing happened in that room that
day which not many people know about. Bruce called Joker after school
for a te-te.
"Why do you like being the class Joker, dude? Why do you keep
pranking people?" Bruce asked. He had no particular need for an
answer to this question. What he was looking for was to initiate a
dialogue with Joker. Bruce wanted to relate to Joker since it seemed
his classmates were making some connection he did not completely
understand. Indeed, he spent a lot of time thwarting Joker but he was
also the class president, a star student and Most Likely to Succeed.
Then why was Vicki angry at him when he helped her? She should be
angry at Joker, not at him for saving her. Ok, so he did push
her onto the ground. But he pushed her away from the spill as well.
What was he? Hmm? Is he like a super man or something who either knew
the plan from before or gently pushed in the heat of the battle?
Bruce was being taken over by his inner dialogue and realised that
both of them have not spoken for a while now. Clearly Joker seemed
confused with the question, so he added "What joy do you get out of
it?"
Joker, on the other hand, was tired of Bruce
always being onto him. Like any normal teenager, all he wanted was
attention and would even be satisfied with a piece of the pie. He was
brilliant too and smart but just because he is unconventional, he
should not be ignored. What he wanted was to be the Bruce of the
class; however, since that job was already taken, he disrupted
everything to get attention in the next best possible way. He himself
had no plan, didn't stand for anything and would accomplish
nothing, so he just stood for everything that was the opposite of
Bruce. A one-man Bruce opposition party. That also worked for him
really well. He did have a very silent fan-following. Sometimes even
the good kids would covertly discuss with him how nauseating Bruce
is. A lot of them also encouraged and promoted him to be a nuisance,
something that Bruce did not know.
The question, "What joy do you get out of it?" sprang the
Joker back into his surroundings. "Joy? Joy? Ha ha ha.... You are
so clueless, Bruce. Did you know that everyone is tired of YOUR
antics? Always helping others, being nice, obedient and responsible.
You are like an annoying little Bat boy in a baseball match. I want
everyone to acknowledge me too, you know. But nooooo..." The
Joker's inner sassiness revealed itself and he quickly collected
his form. "Ha ha ha. Everyone is tired of Bruce. I will be the
class president soon. Then everyone will recognise me, even if it is
just to reject YOU."
"Ok then", said Bruce.
As we slowly pan out from close frame on the two of them to a wide
shot of the Cafeteria with the Dark Knight theme song playing in the
back and Bruce explaining something to the Joker while he listens
intently, we are not able to fathom the importance of this poignant
movie ending shot. This is because nobody had told us Bruce and the
Joker went to the same school. Or that Vicki Vale also somehow went
the same school and for some reason they were all in the same class -
Vicki playing out the Damsel in Distress, Bruce the Hero and Joker
the Villain. All these seemingly impossible things somehow happened,
but more importantly, nobody told us that Batman and Joker had a
conversation in a seedy cafeteria. Because if we knew, all their
future comical story plots would make sense.
A fog covered metropolis Gotham city which is also the breeding
ground of most super villains. At some point in its timeline, in a
squalid cafeteria, future Batman and Joker hatched a clever plan.
Batman and Joker both wanted power and recognition; one was ready to
accept infamy while the other was not. Batman, however, was tired of
people wanting more and more out of him. Isn't saving someone's
life good enough that they will also complain about how he did it? He
theorised that people do not like stability for too long. As Freud
noted "We are so made, that we can only derive intense enjoyment
from a contrast and only very little from a state of things."
Hence he was convinced that people inherently like to complain. And
since he cannot keep getting better, all he had to do was change
people's condition so that good is always better. That is when
Joker comes in. Joker also wants recognition and power but while
Bruce is around all he can be is the opposition party. So every once
in a while when people start wanting Batman to be better, Joker will
come and rule the populace. He isn't there to do teach anything,
solve anything or change anything. He is there to satisfy the
homo-sapien urge for disruption. Once they get a taste of Joker,
Batman seems better again.
They completely understood each other and never again spoke about
this. The last locution of this meeting was the Joker asking "Why
do you want this?" To which the future dark knight answered "Who
do they think I am? Superman?"
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