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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 19.0477  Monday, 18 August 2008

[1] From:   Patty Winter <patty1@sonic.net>
     Date:   Friday, 15 Aug 2008 18:07:08 -0700
     Suct:   Re: SHK 19.0474 Iago and the Joker

[2] From:   David Kathman <djk1@ix.netcom.com>
     Date:   Friday, 15 Aug 2008 20:13:06 -0500
     Suct:   Re: SHK 19.0474 Iago and the Joker


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       Patty Winter <patty1@sonic.net>
Date:       Friday, 15 Aug 2008 18:07:08 -0700
Subject: 19.0474 Iago and the Joker
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0474 Iago and the Joker

Virginia Byrne <Drama1564@aol.com>wrote:

   >Except, the Joker gave us some pretty clear motives for his aberrations...
   >Namely his father who cut his mouth into an eternal smile. . .  .

He was lying. In two other places in the movie, he gives two other explanations. 
He makes up stories to suit the circumstances. So we really don't know anything 
about his history or motives.

As Christopher Nolan said in an interview in Wired magazine:

  >He's like the shark in Jaws," Nolan explains. "The Joker
  >cuts through the film, he's incredibly important, but he's
  >not a guy with a backstory. He's a wild card."

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/16-07/ff_darknight

Patty

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:       David Kathman <djk1@ix.netcom.com>
Date:       Friday, 15 Aug 2008 20:13:06 -0500
Subject: 19.0474 Iago and the Joker
Comment:    Re: SHK 19.0474 Iago and the Joker

Virginia Byrne wrote:

 >Except, the Joker gave us some pretty clear motives for his
 >aberrations. . .  . Namely his father who cut his mouth into an
 >eternal smile. . .  . now nowhere do I get ANY reason for Iago's
 >issues. . .  . or am I missing something? . . .  wasn't or isn't . . .
 >that what is so intriguing about Iago?

But later in the movie the Joker tells Rachel Dawes a completely  different 
story about how he got the scars, and later still he starts  to tell Batman yet 
a third version, leading us to assume (as numerous  reviews have pointed out) 
that the Joker is just playing with these  people, making up a motive for what 
is essentially motiveless malice.  For example, see Michael Phillips in the 
Chicago Tribune, who explicitly compares the Joker to Iago and Richard III:

http://chicago.metromix.com/movies/movie_review/movie-review-the-dark/507851/content

See the bottom of this Wikipedia article for a description of the stories he tells:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_smile

Dave Kathman
djk1@ix.netcom.com

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