Joker Memes and Living in a Society

Joker memes originated from the DC Comics Batman and the Joker movies. Created in the 1940s, the Joker is the antihero and villain of villains in Gotham city that Batman must confront. This complex study of the super intelligent, unpredictable, cunning, manipulative sociopath played over the years by award winning actors like Joaquin Phoenix (Joker 2019), Jared Leto (Suicide Squad 2016), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight 2008), Jack Nicholson (Batman 1989), Cesar Romero (The Batman Series 1966), and other legendary actors in various formats like video games, voice overs among others. The Joker character is beloved by millions of meme creators and users across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, to name a few. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker firmly established the already popular notion of the character as society's most unlikely truth-teller. In the absurd world of memes why are memes based on this character controversial?

## Recognizable Features

The distinct features of the Joker meme includes the flamboyant suit, iconic exaggerated red lips on white face paint, green hair, and sinister smile. The Joker image also depends on the film's version and who is playing the role (Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix, and Zack Galifianakis in LEGO's Batman Series etc.). These memes typically sport the top and bottom text style superimposed on the Joker image of choice or people (men and women) dressed up as the Joker. Other times the texts used are quotes from the different movies featuring the Joker or quotes attributed to the Joker. The memes may feature the Joker and another person (or actor) in a single panel meme. Sometimes, the memes may use a double panel structure.

## Cultural Context

Memes generally tend to be a parody of society and culture using irony and humor, albeit dark. However, when movies do the same thing with a character named the Joker, it creates the perfect combination for a meme. This is what happens with The Dark Knight (2008), Suicide Squad (2016), *Joker* (2019) movie starring Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix and all the other versions spanning 80 years. The Joker character has had time to build itself into a cultural icon. Filled with moral dilemmas, violence, murder, blood and gore, the character raises ethical/moral concerns and those concerns translate into memetic creations and use. When the *Joker* premiered in October 2019, there were rumors of social media posts being monitored by the FBI and mass shooting threats. The Joker movie glorifies acts of violence and mass shootings causing viewers to empathize with the troubled character, spawning a rash of memes that show this antihero emerge as the new icon for the marginalized and isolated. This makes you wonder at the timing of the movie’s premiere in the wake of mass shootings across America.

A meme is a unit of culture. The cultural context of the Joker meme is apparent in the meme known as the “Joker Stairs” which shows the Joker dancing on the stairs after a killing spree. Other iterations of the Joker Stairs includes where Peter Parker dances beside the Joker as well as a template of the stairs which is an actual location for the Joker movie on 1165 Shakespeare Avenue, Bronx, New York. This location attracted fans who took selfies dancing on the steps. KnowYourMeme.com has several examples on its website: “What if we kissed on the Joker Stairs;” “Gamer Mecca, Gamer Mecca;” “Two men standing in a holy place in a society (2019, colorized).” However, this form of meme tourism may have been a scourge to the average New Yorker who had to deal with Instagram users in clowns costumes or deal with a part of their cityscape temporarily becoming a religious site at the time (2019). The Joker Stairs memes raise the ethical concern about meme tourism since this has to do with a location in a remote part of the Bronx noted for its high crime rate.

Behind every meme is some form of humor. People like the Joker character because he makes them laugh even though he does horrible things like destroy parts of the city, go off on a killing spree, stab a criminal in the eye with a pencil in a way that is both horrifying and amusing. Consequently, the character is advertised to children from roller coaster rides at theme parks to comic books and other merchandise. These perceptions find their way into memetic creations whose purpose is to shock, amuse, and horrify. An example of such memes is the sardonic "When a Nice Guy Loses His Patiance, the Devil Shivers" portrays the Joker as a character with a superior IQ only to spell 'patience' incorrectly. and the "Trouble Joker."

## Audience

The Joker meme is connected to gamer identity and incel community who perceive themselves to be marginalized, on the fringes of society, without girlfriends, just like their idol the Joker who was misunderstood and driven into crime. Members of these communities are fans of DC Comics' supervillain. And so before the *Joker* movie came out in 2019, memes began to spread speculating about who will be attend the movie premiere. The "Tickets to Joker" meme was born when 4chan, Twitter, and Reddit mocked this communities. A wide range of audience participate in creating and using various iterations of the Joker meme since audiences have always idolized the Joker. Comic readers, superhero fans, gamers, young and old seem to favor the notion of an antihero who laughs at society and represents the anti-establishment and disruption of the status quo that many fans seem to have an apathy for. The Joker is weird and entertaining even to children. They stand behind a character who can say and do something they cannot bring themselves to do openly, such as unleashing mayhem because the Joker character is a sociopath.

## Circulation

Circulation is one of the characteristics of a viral meme. According to **Know Your meme**, the what looks like the first Joker meme showed up in 2006 and 2008 in entries submitted to the Urban Dictionary before the Joker subreddit took off in 2012. The memes began to appear in the side-by-side double meme format of top and bottom text to show society's hypocrisy and double standards. When VariantComics featured a YouTube video about the Joker's backstory in 2013, it was viewed 1.1 million times. In 2014, when another YouTube video compared Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger's performance as Joker, it received 4.5 million views in a year.

## Ethical Issues

The reality of the Joker character is not a joke. A symbol of anarchy, the Joker is a manipulative narcissistic monster who tries to force society to conform to him while refusing to be held accountable. The ethics of care is a major consideration in the development of the Joker character in the movies and some of the memes created and used. In the *Joker* (2019) movie, viewers get to know the Joker’s backstory. Arthur Fleck’s mother raised him as a single mother in poverty. He grew up not knowing who his father was. He was ridiculed as a failed comic. He fell into a nuclear plant that led to severe physical and mental  injuries. His laughing condition makes him a victim of violence from others. Care ethics become questionable when the care/moral actions (or lack of it) in the Joker’s interpersonal relationships could be responsible for the Joker’s gradual transformation from  ordinary man to crime lord and psychopath. The downside of the portrayal of the Joker character is that it could affect viewers' perspective of those with mental psychiatric disorders and perpetuate unfounded stereotypes and misinformation.

In terms of ethical issues related to memetic creation and use, I question the issues that have to do with using and embodying an iconic character such as the Joker who is himself an artistic creation. Are there ethical, privacy, identity, or copyright issues associated with the use of this figure in memetic creations and uses? The Batman series tend to appeal to a certain demographic and the Batman and Joker characters depict misogynistic tendencies and toxic masculinity, these remain as ethical issues related to identity. In Steven T. Wright's 2018 article, "Why the Joker Meme Took Over the Internet," he describes the "'Gamer Joker,' an ostensibly-satirical construct designed to poke fun at the perceived bluster of self-described hardcore gamers. While memes about Ledger’s Joker were more likely to deny the existence of the gender pay gap, or draw spurious conclusions about “the two genders,” this new breed speaks only in the jargon of incels, who describe a hyper-stratified world of virile “Chads” systematically denying them sex and companionship from beautiful women, or “Veronicas.” (They blame this on Veronica, of course.)."

## Impact

One of the memes that has had a lasting impact is the "We live in a society " meme. The image macros mostly features Heath ledger as Joker and the quote, originally attributed to character George Costanza in the sitcom *Seinfeld* in 1991. "We live in a society" was never uttered by the Joker character in the movie, but in Zack Snyder's trailer for *Justice League*, Jared Leto as Joker is heard saying "We live in a society." as Jenae Madden explains evolved from the idea that general opinions of society are wrong to become "a piece of satire. Users on sites like 4chan, Reddit, and […] groups on Facebook poked fun at the ‘woke’ sentiment of the original meme, and cropping most of the accompanying text, they reposted it with the succinct catchphrase. Eventually, it even sheds its “we live in a society” quotation, and can now appear as various forms of the original, such as: “get a load of this society.”

## Gallery

Joker Gamer MemesJoker AntagonistJokerstairs 1Jokerstairs 2Jared Leto as JokerFemales be like We live in a Kitchen.pngFemjoker Females be like we live in a societyTrouble JokerWhen nice guy loses his patiance the devil shiversLet's put a smile on that faceWhy so serious?We live in a societyWhy so serious? 2You get what you deserve
 File:Females be like We live in a Kitchen.png