Harley Quinn: Crazy about love Article by Stafffighter, 12:36 AM 01st Jun Disclaimer: The following opinions are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the other endless crew staff. In fact they all disagree with me and persecute me regularly. Quick overview: Dr. Harleen Quinzel had an emerging career working with Gotham City’s criminally insane but not much else. Both her professional and personal lives would take a sharp turn when she met The Joker. As Harleen would come to define her life by her relationship to The Joker it is only appropriate to take the analysis from such an angle. To say her life before their meeting was unsubstantial would be insulting yet accurate. She is shown to have her job and nothing else. She doesn’t show any fervor or twitch to her work which would imply trauma or overcompensation. Her life is shown as a simple malaise. If one compliment can be given to The Joker it’s that he’s never boring. Harleen, or as she already liked being called, Harley, was a prime candidate for brainwashing. Her rigorous training not only denied her personal fulfillment but also gave her overconfidence common to the inexperienced. For someone with the disposition and intellect to play with someone’s mine she ripe for the picking. Luckily the asylum she worked in was home to a raving lunatic who made a career out of close second places to the world greatest detective. When I say luckily I mean that Joker gave her everything she wanted. He told her stories that garnered sympathy, established small secrets and showed her what someone with no concept of emotional attachment would think was a perfect relationship. All of this came to a head when she donned a costume, the name Harley Quinn, and broke him out to have a life together. In short, they were made for each other, because he made her. One of the keys of brainwashing is isolation from outside life. Social isolation can be accomplished various ways with varying levels of discretion. Her taking on a completely new identity for his sake one of the clearer examples this break that anyone could ask to see. He was her world and the focus through which she viewed the outside. Through her love goggles he was a misunderstood genius whose work happened to be crime. She took to the family business with gusto. Through her new life she has everything a young woman could want, an exciting career, a partner to love and even family and friends. She is known to call their pet hyenas her “babies” but that’s a simple case of someone using pets as a substitute for children. It’s one of the more commonplace insanities. The particulars of the crimes don’t say much about Harley other than who she had chosen to spend her life with. She was a clown as an answer to her clown prince and achieving that which he enjoyed made her feel valuable. Joker never let her believe she was too valuable, regularly trading nurturing with insults and abuse. This method of establishing dominance is a staple of abusive relationships, one of the worst commonplace insanities. There’s conflict in any relationship. In this case the prominent problem is work/life balance. Yes the crime can be fun but the crime fight, Batman, isn’t something to laugh about. Joker is obsessed with defeating Batman both for his obstruction to criminal escapades and his completely conflicting nature. Thus Harley hates Batman both as a reflection of The Joker hating him as well as the fact that he’s competition for the attention of Joker. To liken the situation to one of romantic rivalry wouldn’t be much of stretch. Joker is as crazy about killing Batman as Harley thinks he is of her and when someone’s in love it’s normal to be protective. When one factors in what gauges as normal for these individuals the term “protective” can take on deadly attributes. In summation Dr. Harleen Quinzel was looking for something and the wrong thing found her. Yes Joker is a manipulative and evil genius but the root vulnerability existed before he ever met her. Like any psychoanalyst of her caliber could tell you “You have to want to change.” Disagree? Bring it up on the forum. Suggestions? E mail me. But don’t write an essay. If I use who you suggest I’ll only say what I have to say Back to Rants