In typically flippant fashion, my laziness induced hiatus from wrting this blog will now be broken by some thoughts I need to express about a certain character that most people who were born in the 1990s know very well, against this blog's mission statement. This character is none other than Harley Quinn. Originally a simple box-ticking female henchman (henchperson?) for the Joker in the classic and irreplacable Batman: The Animated Series, Harley brought a charming, Animaniacs-esque influence to the dynamic between the most antithetical hero and villain in pop culture. Her popularity grew and grew until she was placed in DC Universe comic continuity proper in the Batman event No Man's Land.
My superficial interest in the character began changing through her appearences in the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City video game series. I watched with increasing apprehension as a comedic character with viciously tragic undertones began being placed in more and more sexualised outfits. From a hideous combination of a nurse's and french maid's uniform and a slightly more forgivable but still unpleasant corset and leggings in each respective game, the connection I felt to Harley began to grow as I felt she was being being done wrong by. This was my first experience of what the comic community often refer to as certain changes 'ruining their childhoods' as spurious a feeling as that was and continues to be.
My dissatisfaction skyrocketed when I saw Harley's 're-inroduction' to the ill-advised reboot of the DC universe, dubbed 'The New 52'. Not only had the corset returned, it wasn't done up all the way, allowing the viewer an unsettlingly centralised view of Harley's cleavage. The diamond patterned body suit that I had come to love about the character and was still a feature of the Arkham titles vanished, with areas of bare skin acting as replacement, covered only by hot pants and thigh high boots. Similar instances of awful, impractical and down right silly sexualisation of female characters is a huge problem I hadn't taken much notice of in comics up to that point, but this was beyond the pale. This outrage drew me back to Harley Quinns' self-titled mini-series as a way to drown out the horrendous abuses my newly adored character was enduring. This was how my experiences of Quinngait began.
I was interested in classic Harley. She was funny, out-of-control, wacky, deeply scarred by insanity but still maintained a light-hearted nature. I nervously bought Harley Quinn: Night and Day to try and get to know more about her. In this series, Harley is seperated from the manipulative and abusive Joker. Distancing herself from Joker, the embodiement of chaos that had freed Harley from her regular life of order and certainty as a psychiatrist, one thing remained for Harley to pursue: love itself. Dubbing herself 'The Cupid of Crime' and starting up her own gang, she tore Gotham apart in attempts to try and make the private eyes that were chasing her fall in love. She blew up malls, beat Killer Crock to near death with a bowling ball, impersonated Batgirl to set the entire Bat family after her and killed her own henchman without thought or remorse once they got in her way. And yet, the terror and destruction she wrought never felt 'evil' because she was making jokes and laughing gleefully all the way through. Her devotion the blooming romance of her pursuers overshadowed the chaos and destruction she caused. Harley Quinn loved love as much as chaos no matter the form it took. Her pursuing love over chaos made me think Harley could be her own, independent character, regardless of her previous connection to the Joker. She was bringing love, the ultimate unifier, to the chaos of the world that Joker was always looking to spread.
I was ready to do much more with Harley, researching her every appearence and adding them to my eBay watchlist in a state of pure euphoria. Then, once more, DC interfered. Launching a new Harley Quinn ongoing series, they announced they would be letting aspiring artists the chance to draw a page of 'Harley Quinn #0'. The victor of the contest would then have 'broken in' to mainstream comics and would get much more work. The page breakdown was thus:
PANEL 1
Harley is on top of a building, holding a large DETACHED
cellphone tower in her hands as lightning is striking just about
everywhere except her tower. She is looking at us like she cannot
believe what she is doing. Beside herself. Not happy.
PANEL 2
Harley is sitting in an alligator pond, on a little
island with a suit of raw chicken on, rolling her eyes like once again,
she cannot believe where she has found herself. We see the alligators
ignoring her.
PANEL 3
Harley is sitting in an open whale mouth, tickling the
inside of the whale’s mouth with a feather. She is ecstatic and happy,
like this is the most fun ever.
PANEL 4
Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow
dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a
cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the
inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for
me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen
Panel 4 raised hackles, something DC have become used to doing with their increasingly moronic decisions (see the Superman/Wonder Woman romance and the insistence that the Bat family survive on misery, not oxygen). The panel was pilloried against as it 'eroticized suicide' or was 'forcing aspiring artists to depict violence against women'. I was infuriated. At these responses, I mean. Deconstructing the arguments, I came across these propsitions: taking a bath was now an erotic taboo; a naked woman, regardless of neutralising circumstances such as a light tone, eroticizes any scenario where she finds herself; depicting violence against women was endorsing it. I'd rolled my eyes at New 52 Harley, but I never thought I'd have to defend her from this level of unthinking and facile criticism. I thought, "Harley shouldn't need my help! She's independant! She's trying to bring people together, good and evil alike, trying to make the world better, even if she's destroying it in the process!". I felt even closer to her after that.
After the bath incident, I could look past my girl Harley's unfortunate fashion and looked forward to seeing her new adventures in the New 52 continuity. I then decided to pick up Detective comics 23.2, a tie in to 'Villain's Month' that focused on Harley herself. It was pleasent enough reading. It even finally showed her choosing the outfit she wore, removing the problem I had with her new look. I also liked her handing out new portable game consoles to kids after she'd stolen them. That was Harley, always giving, even if what she was giving wasn't hers. Then she detonated bombs in the consoles, murdering hundereds of children all over Gotham in one fell swoop. The comic was released on the 9/11 anniversary. I felt sick, I wanted to cry, I wanted to burn the comic and pretend nothing had ever happened. It was too late. I couldn't look at Harley any more.
I tried to move on. I got involved in a few arguments on the internet in which I was battling against people who shame single mothers, to try and vent some of my misery, and felt like I was doing good to make up for what I had seen Harley do. I was on the mend, when I saw a Facebook post by Max Landis, writer of the involving, unsettling and intermitantly shocking teens-who-happen-to-have-superpowers thriller Chronicle (also too well known a film to warrant a review on here. In brief, it's amazing so watch it). Landis wrote about the atrocity of Harley's Villains Month issue and lamented the bath incident. Then, he said he didn't understand why Harley was trying to be made into a feminist character as her origin and presence in the animated series were sum-up-able as (the post was also in bold) 'A SLUTTY, MURDEROUS MORON'.
The word 'slut' should not exist. It's only reason to exist is to shame women for having sex, even as they are pressured to be hypersexual by the media and male expectations. A woman's morals and her sexuality are entirely unrelated.
Landis centered his judgement on the fact that Harley slept with her teacher's to get through college. Not even considering pointing out that Harley has gotten the drop on Batman through intelligent planning (ie. not a moron) I deployed a lot of stock responses, screaming at the laptop screen about 'slut shaming' and him being oppressive. I framed my argument terribly and was beaten down due to the fact this action would be wrong if a man did it so there was no double standard. I was left stewing in my rage filled failure to protect a character I had almost no feeling left for.
After days of this same fermenting in unrequited anger, I realised why I was so bothered by Harley being called a 'slut'. She represents the tragedy that word invokes. She models herself in every way she thinks the Joker wants, but he takes advantage of her and physically abuses her. She is his victim when she thinks he's her saviour. She projects her love onto the Joker and assumes they're equal, but she's still just his henchman. She is a sympathetic and complex presentation of an all too real mindset. But she's funny, adorable and only wants to bring love into the world.
Landis' post also said that she was too dependant on the Joker to ever be a character unto herself. This brought me full circle back to my analysis of Harley Quinn: Night and Day. She has the elasticity of being committed to love that will allow her to venture on her own, but is in the Joker's orbit as she is in love with chaos. She isn't independant from the Joker in the same way Batgirl is not fully independant from Batman, through her inspiration by Joker and her pursuit of some similar goals.
I had overcome attacks against Harley once more, just as I did for the bath incident. I was finding my love for her once more. My recent purchase of the 'Mad Love' comic gave us a fresh start, away from all the external misogynistic abuse, ill-prepared criticism and mass child murder. I'm looking forward to the getting to know Harley again. I feel safe with her, even if she's dangerous.
(PS: For more information on how fitting yet completley uninspired this piece's title is, watch the heart wrenchingly earnest anti-romcom Chasing Amy for details on how love's overcoming of logic and personality can cause more harm than good)
