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When it was announced in 2015 that DC Animation would be tackling Alan Moore’s
controversial one-shot graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke, more than a few
eyebrows were raised. While the book has been called the one of the definitive
Batman and Joker stories, it has also received a large amount of criticism for
its treatment of Barbara Gordon, who is paralyzed and sexually assaulted by the
Joker as a means of taunting Batman. It’s an opinion with which Moore seems to
agree, as he has since distanced himself from the story.
In April, a trailer for Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) was released, which
showed Barbara Gordon fighting alongside Batman as Batgirl. Subsequently, the
film’s writer, Brian Azzarello, told fans that the source material wasn’t just
padded out but instead a Batgirl story was included so that viewers could really
get a sense of the character and and her relation to Batman. This would also
help ground the violence against her as something viewers could feel emotionally
invested in. Barbara isn’t just being introduced to be shot, she’s a member of
the Bat Family being targeted. Sounds good, right?
Maybe not. Batman: The Killing Joke starts out with Barbara’s portion of the
story, which primarily focuses on her relationship with Batman and the takedown
of a social-climbing mobster named Paris Franz. An opening sequence showcases
Barbara as Batgirl, but she comes off as incompetent, letting the bad guys
escape and needing Batman to take control of the situation. This is paired with
a glimpse of Barbara’s life out of costume and working at her day job as a
librarian. We briefly see her computer abilities as she mentions that she is
helping build a surveillance network for the Gotham Police Department but this
is overshadowed by a conversation with her co-worker, who keeps badgering her
about her need of a boyfriend. When he mentions to her that there are plenty of
single men in the library for her to choose from, Barbara alludes to having a
relationship with Batman. There’s no sense that Barbara is incredibly competent
and intelligent; instead, because she is a woman without a boyfriend, she’s
portrayed as lacking and incomplete.
Although Batgirl is competent enough to track Paris and his goons to their
hideaway, she is still physically overpowered by him (perplexing, given she
later flips Batman) and is sprayed in the face with a chemical that blurs her
vision and starts putting her to sleep. Before she
stumbles to safety, Paris
leans in and puckers, asking her for a good night kiss. The date rape
implications here are mindboggling, especially given what happens later on in
the actual source material. Paris’s strange fetishization of Batgirl only serves
to enrage Batman, who, rather than saying that Barbara is being targeted, says
that she is being objectified. It was a strange word choice for an animated film
that would go on to show close ups of Barbara’s butt and breasts while she is
jogging through the park. After telling her that she’s no longer working on the
case, Batman tells Batgirl that they are “partners but not equals, not even
close.” He goes on to say that fighting crime is just a fun game for Batgirl
because she hasn’t been taken to the edge yet. And there it was: the
justification for the ugly things that were to come. If Barbara needs to be
driven to the edge, rape would do just that. Was Batman: The Killing Joke
turning into another warped misrepresentation of a rape-revenge narrative? Would
Barbara have to suffer brutalization at the hands of a monster only to come out
stronger and more competent in the end without making any commentary on the lack
of actual justice for rape victims?
Inevitably, the answer is no. Barbara doesn’t get to participate in the revenge
aspect of her narrative at all, this is something left solely up to the men in
her life. But before even getting there, Batgirl goes after Batman for his
statement, telling him that she’s only been donning the costume for him. She
then starts fighting with him before pinning him down, kissing him and, after an
awkward Batman ass grab, Barbara removes her costume and it’s alluded that the
two have sex. Batman avoids Barbara afterwards, which culminates in her
awkwardly pleading with him for things to go back to normal because it was only
sex and she doesn’t have to care about it. In the final showdown with Paris,
Batgirl finally comes to Batman’s aid but this is watered down because of the
romantic implications. As she battles with Paris, she screams at him for ruining
everything with Batman. He retorts by asking her if it is that time of the
month.
As if this wasn’t enough, Barbara’s side of the story ends by completely
stripping her of her agency before the ugly assault even occurs. In the final
scenes, Barbara watches a couple kissing in the street from her apartment window
just to hammer home the incomplete lonely woman theme one last time. She then
turns on the news in time to see Batman get credited for the arrest of Paris.
Here is the perfect opportunity to highlight how men have long taken
credit for
the hard work of their female contemporaries, but instead Barbara says nothing.
The next scene shows her turning in her costume to Batman and walking away from
the Batgirl mantle because she is only doing it to protect Batman and not the
citizens of Gotham. It’s a truly depressing and deflating end to a character
that should have been depicted as the empowering, intelligent and kickass woman
she truly is instead. But the way her character is written in Brian Azzarello’s
script, she becomes a petulant teenage girl with a crush on Batman, who acts
recklessly to the point of defying and then actually seducing Batman, then vents
about it to her gay male friend. Barbara’s dialogue and actions here – not to
mention those of the gay male friend – come off as adolescent clichés, an
all-too straight, young, and male notion of what strong female or gay characters
should be. So while one can appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do
here, the result doesn’t fit tonally with the rest of the story.
After this, the film kicks into the graphic novel storyline, alternating The
Joker’s current actions with sepia-soaked flashbacks to his former life as a
failed standup comedian trying to make ends meet for his pregnant wife, Jeannie.
It’s worth noting that The Joker’s wife is killed in a freak accident, something
that happens off-screen and something that is simply a plot device to make The
Joker’s bad day a little bit worse.
Because it wasn’t shown in the trailer, some wondered if DC Animation would
forgo the notorious rape scene and just have Barbara get shot and paralyzed
instead. Unfortunately, the scene was included and seeing a bloodied, terrified
Barbara begging to know why she’s being targeted is made even worse by watching
The Joker slowly unbutton her blouse and telling her that it’s to prove a point.
The entire scene is jarring, triggering and ugly but most of all, in 2016, it’s
unnecessary. But somehow it’s made even worse by a follow up scene in which
Batman is questioning a group of prostitutes about the whereabouts of The Joker.
The girls tell Batman that The Joker normally comes to see them after he escapes
custody and that he likes a good time. Kind of gross. Sexualizing The Joker
definitely feels weird. But then one of the girls says that The Joker hasn’t
come to see them this time and that maybe he’s found a new girl instead. Let
that sink in for a minute: Barbara is that new girl. Barbara, who has just been
raped.
The brutalization of women isn’t an edgy plot device, it’s cheap, misogynistic
writing that was as unnecessary in 1988 and it is today. If Brian Azzarello felt
that incorporating a fresh Batgirl story, however problematic, into Batman: The
Killing Joke wouldn’t dilute the original material, then he just as easily could
have removed the rape of Barbara Gordon. Not only was this included, but it was
turned into a trivial joke. Because of this, the film feels especially
uncomfortable to watch.
But this isn’t the only reason Batman: The Killing Joke isn’t a good film.
Although it faithfully captures the stunning art style of Brian Bolland, the
source material itself just feels outdated. Moore’s idea of one bad day pushing
a good man over the edge is a strong one, but it’s told to greater effect in
Christopher Nolan’s
The Dark Knight (2008). Heath Ledger’s pockmarked Joker who
lies about his Glasgow grin and who just wants to watch the world burn feels a
lot scarier than a failed standup comedian. And the final tense sequence in The
Dark Knight, where stranded citizens refuse to blow up a boat full of criminals,
is a lot more effective than Commissioner Gordon asking Batman to take The Joker
in “by the book.”
And so, as DC Entertainment forges ahead with their cinematic universe, they can
take one important lesson from Batman: The Killing Joke—the vital need for
women to tell their own stories.
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