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Talking Pictures: This Joker's for you
Life coach suggests people be more like psychotic, murdering clown...

by David Templeton

"There's a simple reason that people are so attracted to the character of the Joker," suggests author and therapist Edward Mills, shortly after catching a late-afternoon screening of the insanely popular Batman movie The Dark Knight, featuring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. "Audiences, critics, comic book fans, everybody loves Heath Ledger's Joker," says Mills, "because, as he plays him, the Joker is simply having a better time than anyone else in the film."

Mills is a teacher, author, "Laws of Attraction" coach and very busy lecturer whose work focuses on exposing the beliefs that limit human potential, encouraging an evolution toward aliveness and greatness. His writing appears many places, including the award-winning book Healing the Heart of the World (Elite Books, 2005), which contains Mills's essay "The Evolutionary Warrior" alongside the writings of Caroline Myss, Fritjof Capra, John Gray and others. His popular blog site, Evolving Times (evolvingtimes.com ), is an online mecca of positive messages, esteem boosting how-to postings and other stuff of a spiritual (but not too spiritual) nature.

His popular Awakening to Greatness seminars (next one Oct. 10 to 12 in Lake Tahoe) are three-day immersions into Mills's understanding of the limiting beliefs that hold human beings back—and ways to encourage more aliveness in our everyday lives.

Or something like that.

One thing's for sure: He talks a lot about "aliveness" and, in person, Mills is clearly 100 percent alive.

Engaging and energetic, he throws himself into conversation with the same kind of joyful glee with which the Joker throws bombs and tosses people off buildings. It is our hunger for "aliveness," believes Mills, that makes the Joker such an appealing figure. What Mills enjoyed most about the latest installment in the shadowy Batman series by director Christopher Nolan, are the ideas that lie beneath the movie's surface—savvy explorations of the human psyche, subtle messages about power and strength, an inherent sense of humanity that ultimately affirms goodness while recognizing the allure of evil—rather than what glimmers on its cinematic surface: people in cool costumes, slickly paced action, hilariously offbeat dialogue, lots of stuff blowing up.

"There's a lot of depth and darkness in this film," I suggest.

"Exactly, and that did take me by surprise a bit," Mills replies over a cup of coffee and a crepe shortly after the film. "I guess I was expecting more along the lines of the comic book, a movie that goes into the usual comic book themes but never goes into much of the human detail. The depth to which they went into the Joker's psyche—really showing his psychosis in close-up, the chaos within him and also the brilliance vying to come out—that was amazing."

In this version of the iconic Joker-Batman feud, the Joker arrives with little backstory. He's just a crazy guy with bad facial scars hidden beneath messy clown makeup, killing people for the hell of it, devising elaborate ways of testing Gotham City's patience.

"I see the Joker as being a kind of a scientist, exploring the heart of darkness in the human soul and the human psyche," says Mills. "That's all he wants, really—to mess around with people's heads. I do think there was a part of him that craved some sort of validation, some recognition, but I think the scriptwriter, and Heath Ledger, really made it clear that validation and recognition were secondary goals. For the Joker, it was all about being an agent of chaos."

"Which made him scarier than the average comic book villain," I remark.

"Yes, for sure, exactly," Mills says. "Because there was no rhyme or reason to his madness. He didn't have a motive, really. At first we think his goal is to rob banks, but then we see that's just a means to another end. By the conclusion, we think his goal is to kill Batman, but then he says, 'I don't want to kill you, Batman! You're too much fun!' It's kind of like the Joker is living the life of passion most of us never can, living more fully than most people ever do. Yes, it's a twisted, psychotic, murderous way of being in the moment, and that's horrendous and troubling, but still, most people never touch the Joker's level of aliveness. As bizarre as he is, and as twisted as he is, he is living in a place of passion, and that's attractive."

"Maybe a little too attractive," I say, reminding Mills of the moment in the film where the Joker blows up a hospital. In the theater where we saw the film, the audience burst into applause as the hospital went up in flames.

"That was a little scary, wasn't it?" Mills affirms.

"So how alive is Batman?"

"Not very, at least not in this movie. Batman is a very strange superhero. He's not very alive most of the time. He's so closed in. He believes he's responsible for the death of his parents. He kind of hates himself, even when, as Bruce Wayne, he's doing the playboy millionaire thing. As Batman, there's a lot of self-loathing and caution in how he behaves. He follows the rules. The scene in the jail where he's beating the crap out of the Joker, I think that was his one opportunity to come alive a little bit, though like the Joker, it was a negative aliveness. The Joker tells him so, right to his face. Batman feels constrained by the rules. He isn't free. The Joker never feels any of those constraints. Even when things go against his plan, he loves it, because he loves chaos."

"So," I ask, "setting aside the fact that the Joker is insane, a murderer and a guy with bad dental hygiene, what can we learn from the Joker that can help the rest of us law-abiding, sane people get in touch with our aliveness?"

"The most important thing we can learn from the Joker is what I just mentioned, to embrace chaos," Mills says. "Not only does the Joker embrace it, he becomes an agent of chaos, trying to bring more chaos into the world. I don't think we need to bring chaos into the world, but there's a big lesson to be learned here about embracing chaos, letting go of control. In our culture, we're far too focused on trying to be in control, and that control is an illusion. The Joker's embracing of chaos awakened him to that life force, and I think that's what makes him so attractive, He's got a lot of life force coursing through him, and it's palpable. We want that for ourselves—spontaneity, passion, connection with life, not worrying about what people think. We all want that, because that's what it takes to embrace greatness."

"That's risky, though, isn't it?" I ask. "When we stop caring about how the world sees us, don't we take the chance of being sloppy and messy and hurting people?"

"Yep," he says. "And according to our cultural rules, we're not supposed to do that. But in my experience, the people who have the passion for life aren't intentionally going out there to hurt people, but they are also not going out of their way to not hurt people. They are doing what their heart tells them, knowing in some cases that people won't like what they're doing, people won't be pleased with their choices."

Asked for an example from real life, Mills immediately says, "Oprah Winfrey! There are a lot of people who don't like Oprah because they resent her achievements. She has a lot of power, and that hurts people. Barack Obama is another one. Obama is an example of someone who is bringing passion into an arena that doesn't typically embrace that aliveness. A lot of people are being attracted and engaged by Obama, and others are totally afraid and threatened by him."

"Oprah and Obama are attractive because they have embraced a kind of Joker nature?" I say.

"Yes, a positive version of Joker nature," Mills laughs. "And people are divided about them. That's normal. That's the kind of polarity and dynamism that happens when people step into their power like that."

Posted by Sharyn, a resident of another community, on Aug 1, 2008 at 10:23 pm

"When we stop caring about how the world sees us, don't we take the chance of being sloppy and messy and hurting people?"

Interesting thought, but how about we can work from within and not let exterior issues dictate our well being? Becoming sloppy is a matter of choice, whether one cares of others opinions or not!

But truly knowing that other's opinions don't amount to a drop of water in the scheme of universal law, that's freedom!

Sharyn

www.CreateYours2.com

Posted by Stephen Hopson, a resident of another community, on Aug 2, 2008 at 5:58 am

I found this analysis of the joker in the latest "Batman" movie to be rather fascinating. It was well written and conveyed the reason why people are attracted to it, particularly the Joker.

You and Edward are right - deep down inside we want to live a life of freedom, not caring what others think of us and to live life with a sense of "aliveness." But like Batman, we tend to "play by the rules" for fear of rocking the boat and angering others when we try to move forward. Excellent and very true.

I am waiting for this to come out on video so I can catch the closed captioning.

Posted by Arthur, a resident of another community, on Aug 2, 2008 at 12:58 pm

Reading this article, I finally get why I was simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the Joker when watching Dark Knight.

Posted by Jeannette, a resident of another community, on Aug 3, 2008 at 7:52 am

I hadn't seen Dark Knight from the perspective that Joker had something on Batman, but as I read Ed's analysis, I realized that's incredibly accurate. Being closely connected to what makes him tick and designing his life in such a way that he gets enormous enjoyment from it - there is much for us to gain from Joker's example.

In reference to Stephen's comment (which I agree with completely), I believe when most of us are living a life of freedom and sense of "aliveness," it wouldn't look anything like Joker's version of a good time. :)

Nice article, David, and enlightening insights as always, Ed!

Jeannette

Web Link

Posted by N I Y A, a resident of another community, on Aug 4, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Brilliant article. Thank you. Very inspiring. Now I'm off to see The Dark Night.

Ed, you crack me up!

Niya Christine

www.niyasplace.com

Chronicle of Life, Love, Rabbits

Posted by Jackie, a resident of another community, on Aug 4, 2008 at 4:01 pm

In response to this bizarre analysis given by Mr. Mills, I quote from an analysis I can embrace and feel enlived with:

"The Dark Knight positively revels in suffering. The Joker is a Nazi death camp guard on overdrive. He savors ...agony wrung from anguished innocents. He's a virtuoso whose instruments are knives, bombs and pencils. He exists to kill, maim, mutilate and inflict psychic pain. Other than creating chaos, he has no motivation -- not greed (he burns a mountain of money) not power, not lust and not revenge."

"It is grimly sadistic. It doesn't fight terror, it embraces it. It is a sick spectacle...celebrating violence and chaos."

Revel in "aliveness" in everything around you that enlightens you.

Posted by Coleone, a resident of the Inverness neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2008 at 4:54 pm

I saw the Joker not only as an agent of chaos but as a twisted individual whose essence was evil. Deep down he wanted to kill and maim people confined by order and seeking control, by killing and tormenting these people he was destroying order and creating chaos.

Posted by Coleone, a resident of the Inverness neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Ooops, I prematurely pushed "Submit" thats never happened to me before I swear.

The Joker being evil at his essence is because he chooses to be evil, and that choice shapes his essence, and overtime that essence he has become evil.

I believe that we all have a choice in everything we do, and those choices we make shape our essences. Sometimes slowly with small choices, sometimes vastly with large choices, but every choice affects who we are.

The Joker tries to proove that all people deep down are just as evil and twisted as he is, but I believe that is false. Our choices determine who we are deep down, and even if a part of us says "get up turn the key blow up the boat full of convicts" it is ultimately our choice to turn the key or not and the decision we make will shape our essence.

Posted by Sammy the Snake, a resident of the Sausalito neighborhood, on Aug 5, 2008 at 11:32 pm

I'd have to disagree with all of you, including Ed's evaluation of the Joker. The Joker is pure innocense, unadulterated by lessons and maturity. He has no empathy, much like a toddler; he only knows what amuses him and pleases him in the instant. There is no future in his thought, only the now. He is a baby in the world.

Posted by The Joker's apprentice, a resident of another community, on Sep 21, 2008 at 4:47 pm

I think that the joker was truly a man of passion. a person who everyone wants to be, but can never be, for we live in a culture where passion defers from the social norm.

Deep down inside,I believe that everyone wants to be able to express themselves without empathy for what the other person thinks, and also not care of what it would do to them. To be able to be truthful with your words and emotions, that is what we all want to become.

But, doing whatever you want and saying whatever you want, is categorized as arrogance in this day and age. Where as being humble and conforming to the socialistic norm is what we "should" do, as to perhaps what we "want" to do. In addition to that, the characteristics that describe the joker, heartless, uncaring, passionate, brutally honest, etc, are the characteristics that many wish to have, but the mere act of having these social traits, turns them into cold heartless monsters.

The Dark Knight is a truly great movie for it not only embodies the cultural aspects that our culture has, but also embodies the culture that we might wish to have. The Batman, an embodiment of us as the world sees, hiding in the darkness, protects the good, has a misplaced sense of justice formed from the experiences that we have encountered. And then there is the Joker, the person we want to be, doing what we want whenever we want, loving every moment, having no regrets, never being held accountable for resulting consequences, passes out judgement without bias, having devoted followers that would do almost anything you would ask.

In short we are all classified as the Batman or the Joker, good or evil, secretive or passionate,sane or psychotic.

I'd like to leave this comment with something i came up with,"When the whole world is watching, when all hopes are pinned on you, will you buckle under the immense pressure, will you crack under the heat, will you run like a coward in fear for what others think, or will you rise to the challenge and become the person who is not bounded by the rules of the dominant society, but will do what it takes to save everyone, to be what, not what the people need, but what the people need, be a diamond in this world of dirt and scum, become great,become the knight, not of shing armor, but of the knight of justice, become the Dark Knight!"