Batman: The Killing Joke has always been a highly controversial superhero comic book of it’s time. When it was made into a full-length animated feature it stirred up feelings in batman fans alike. Reactions to this DC Animated feature ranged from joy to horror of how much it lived up to the comics. This rated R film, the first for DC Animated, is an adaptation of a comic from the 80’s written by Alan Moore, famous for his darker work in comics. The dark themes explored in film are quite explicit and well earned of the R-rating. The film starts with Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl, and her battle to maintain her equal status of Gotham’s hero alongside Batman. While she fights to be more independent and seen as her own hero, Batman chastises her for
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Barbara’s story takes up the first 30-45 mins of the movie and is added in for the audience to sympathize more with Batgirl. Sex with Batman isn’t in the comics at all, it just gives Batman a more personal reason to go after the Joker later on in the plot. The issue with this is that it put Barbara into a troupe found throughout comics, the women in refrigerators trope. Her plot doesn’t humanize her but makes her out to be a cliche: “The female character that feigns complexity, but, when given an expanded role, is only viewed through a sexual lens.” (Travers, …show more content…
The film doesn’t stray from its literary predecessor, it added to it and, in turn, added to the horrible reasons why Barbara is on the list. Her whole plot that plays in the first 45 minutes of the film was only tossed aside in act 2 for Joker’s backstory, Her father’s torture, and Batman being the hero. We never see her reaction to being paralyzed or raped. Batgirl never deals with her grief on screen. First time wakes up she says “oh god, I remember...He’s got my dad.” While it’s understandable she’s fearful for her father, she doesn’t portray any other emotion after this. The next time she’s seen is in a mid-credits scene where she seems perfectly okay, in a wheelchair, but fine. A character that the movie spent a good portion on doesn’t have an resolution on screen. Her father is saved but we never see the repercussions of Bat-duo having relations or how she’s dealing with everything after Joker’s attack. Thus further proving that Barbara was just an object used to drive Batman’s plot
Barbara’s story takes up the first 30-45 mins of the movie and is added in for the audience to sympathize more with Batgirl. Sex with Batman isn’t in the comics at all, it just gives Batman a more personal reason to go after the Joker later on in the plot. The issue with this is that it put Barbara into a troupe found throughout comics, the women in refrigerators trope. Her plot doesn’t humanize her but makes her out to be a cliche: “The female character that feigns complexity, but, when given an expanded role, is only viewed through a sexual lens.” (Travers, …show more content…
The film doesn’t stray from its literary predecessor, it added to it and, in turn, added to the horrible reasons why Barbara is on the list. Her whole plot that plays in the first 45 minutes of the film was only tossed aside in act 2 for Joker’s backstory, Her father’s torture, and Batman being the hero. We never see her reaction to being paralyzed or raped. Batgirl never deals with her grief on screen. First time wakes up she says “oh god, I remember...He’s got my dad.” While it’s understandable she’s fearful for her father, she doesn’t portray any other emotion after this. The next time she’s seen is in a mid-credits scene where she seems perfectly okay, in a wheelchair, but fine. A character that the movie spent a good portion on doesn’t have an resolution on screen. Her father is saved but we never see the repercussions of Bat-duo having relations or how she’s dealing with everything after Joker’s attack. Thus further proving that Barbara was just an object used to drive Batman’s plot