My take on the Joker's "private time" musings
In responding to several comments below, I've touched on my thoughts about what I think would arouse the Joker. So I'll provide a summary of my own take on his character's sexual fantasies in a new post, only because the previous one had gotten so long.
The Joker is a game-player, one who takes his greatest pleasures in manipulating people. To manipulate is to control, and in some ways, to subjugate. Fear is the best tool for manipulation, and pain is fastest route when the destination is fear. Hurt someone, and they'll fear you much faster than from verbal threats. Hurting someone subjugates them very quickly, leaving the Joker in the dominant position.
And boy oh boy, does this boy love to dominate.
Even when projecting a position of apparent physical submissiveness (as in TDK's interrogation scene, letting Batman throw him around), he's still the one in control.
He's definitely a sadist, as he gets off on the fear he inspires, which usually comes from inflicting pain. But is he a masochist?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a masochist enjoys being hurt. I see the Joker as enjoying being hurt, not for the pain itself, but because SHOWING THAT YOU CAN TAKE EXTREME PAIN IS YET ANOTHER WAY TO DOMINATE ANOTHER PERSON. Every time he laughs after being hit, it's a show of dominance, evidence that the very measures he uses to control other people don't work on him. I'm sure he *feels* pain, but he doesn't process it like "normal" people. I think that he gets off on the fact that he can TAKE the pain, probably not on the pain itself.
We all know the stereotype about men loving the thrill of the hunt; I see this taken to an extreme with the Joker. I see him becoming bored with his conquests very quickly, so he'd be off onto another target, or need to have multiple "irons in the fire", so to speak, providing several avenues of fun.
How many men would dare take on the Mob single-handedly? Aside from Batman, you've got the Joker. That takes BALLS. Yet even that grew dull for the Joker. He needs to move on to bigger challenges, something that will test him.
Getting back to his arousal -- I see him getting turned on by thinking of past conquests that were of a particularly complicated degree to orchestrate, because it's a testament to his own accomplishments. The Joker is the epitome of the egomaniac, and any memory or vision that supports his god-like self-perception would feed his sexual appetite. Pleasuring himself to video of himself on television probably is at the top of his list, and hell, maybe even while looking at himself in a mirror. He's like Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection in a stream.
Therefore, I see "conquests" as the ultimate aphrodisiac for the Joker. Not a naked woman's body, not the vision of the Batman's naked body. It's not flesh that arouses him, it's validation of his own the idea of ultimate power. True, he may feel sexual attraction to someone, as animal as the instinct is, and perhaps he does act on it when there's nothing else do to (ie, he's bored). But ultimately, there has to be an agenda of conquest, for a purpose. Batman symbolizes the ultimate challenge for him. Envisioning himself "besting" Batman, thereby underscoring his own dominance, is likely at the top of his list.
The Joker is a game-player, one who takes his greatest pleasures in manipulating people. To manipulate is to control, and in some ways, to subjugate. Fear is the best tool for manipulation, and pain is fastest route when the destination is fear. Hurt someone, and they'll fear you much faster than from verbal threats. Hurting someone subjugates them very quickly, leaving the Joker in the dominant position.
And boy oh boy, does this boy love to dominate.
Even when projecting a position of apparent physical submissiveness (as in TDK's interrogation scene, letting Batman throw him around), he's still the one in control.
He's definitely a sadist, as he gets off on the fear he inspires, which usually comes from inflicting pain. But is he a masochist?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a masochist enjoys being hurt. I see the Joker as enjoying being hurt, not for the pain itself, but because SHOWING THAT YOU CAN TAKE EXTREME PAIN IS YET ANOTHER WAY TO DOMINATE ANOTHER PERSON. Every time he laughs after being hit, it's a show of dominance, evidence that the very measures he uses to control other people don't work on him. I'm sure he *feels* pain, but he doesn't process it like "normal" people. I think that he gets off on the fact that he can TAKE the pain, probably not on the pain itself.
We all know the stereotype about men loving the thrill of the hunt; I see this taken to an extreme with the Joker. I see him becoming bored with his conquests very quickly, so he'd be off onto another target, or need to have multiple "irons in the fire", so to speak, providing several avenues of fun.
How many men would dare take on the Mob single-handedly? Aside from Batman, you've got the Joker. That takes BALLS. Yet even that grew dull for the Joker. He needs to move on to bigger challenges, something that will test him.
Getting back to his arousal -- I see him getting turned on by thinking of past conquests that were of a particularly complicated degree to orchestrate, because it's a testament to his own accomplishments. The Joker is the epitome of the egomaniac, and any memory or vision that supports his god-like self-perception would feed his sexual appetite. Pleasuring himself to video of himself on television probably is at the top of his list, and hell, maybe even while looking at himself in a mirror. He's like Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection in a stream.
Therefore, I see "conquests" as the ultimate aphrodisiac for the Joker. Not a naked woman's body, not the vision of the Batman's naked body. It's not flesh that arouses him, it's validation of his own the idea of ultimate power. True, he may feel sexual attraction to someone, as animal as the instinct is, and perhaps he does act on it when there's nothing else do to (ie, he's bored). But ultimately, there has to be an agenda of conquest, for a purpose. Batman symbolizes the ultimate challenge for him. Envisioning himself "besting" Batman, thereby underscoring his own dominance, is likely at the top of his list.