Harley Quinn's Insanity

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Love can drive people to do the craziest of things. For the bubbly Harley Quinn, that includes changing her appearance, transforming into a supervillain, carrying gag-themed weaponry, and murdering countless civilians. All just to put a smile on her “puddin's” face, the Joker. Prior to her descent into madness, Dr. Harleen Quinzel was a promising psychiatrist. After her sessions with the Joker, the young doctor became obsessed with the crazed criminal's warped mind. Sensing opportunity, the Joker manipulated her. He drove his therapist into such a deep madness that he was able to manipulate her. Harleen fell in love with the villain, broke him out of Arkham, and devoted her life to making him happy. All while spreading his bloody brand of mayhem.…show more content…
Harley Quinn is his therapist, and he is talking about his obsession with Batman, using those same terms that cast it as a twisted version of romance. He describes his obsession with his perfect match that he knows he will be with forever. All while Harley is getting flustered because she believes he is confessing his love for her, and she is more than willing to accept. Harley asks who this person he is talking about is, and the Joker says, “Someone very, very special. But whose real name I don’t even know yet!” To which Harley responds with, “My name’s Harleen.”…show more content…
It is that obsession that motivates her, an obsession that is operating at a superheroic level, that once she reinvents herself, there is no going back. She is too far gone to ever fully pull herself back. When Harley reinvents herself for the Joker, she dresses herself in a way that is explicitly designed to be for him, and that fits with the way he presents himself. The classic Bruce Timm costume with the vivid, blocked colors look like they fit next to Timm’s Joker. One clearly follows from the other. If, however, Harley was reinventing herself to fit in with a version of the Joker, who cuts his own face off, wanders around for a year with no face, and then ties his disembodied face skin to his head with a pair of belts; she is going to end up with something more extreme which is highlighted in the New 52 series (Snyder). She can not quit loving the Joker, no more than Batman can stop fighting crime, or Superman can stop helping people who need him. It is stitched into the fabric of who she

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