Harley Quinn And Her Joker: Exploring The Suicide Squad Romance

The Controversial Relationship

There are, broadly speaking, two schools of thought on the relationship between The Joker and Harley Quinn. On the one hand, some consider it to be a deeply troubling depiction of a victim and her abuser. This perspective takes issue with Harley’s character as a negative portrayal of a woman, because she repeatedly returns to The Joker and forgives his abuses – even after being driven to the point of harming him in retaliation. On the other hand, plenty of people consider Harley Quinn to be a feminist icon – but, how is that possible if she keeps returning to the man that has no regard for her wellbeing, or the preservation of her life?

It is clear that, in the early days of their interactions, The Joker speaks to something deep inside Harley that she has been resisting for a lifetime. In connecting with this criminal mastermind – on an emotional level, for her – something dark and malevolent in her becomes validated and awakened. The Joker effectively gives her permission to listen to that darkness, and demonstrates to her that there is a way to live in the world while expressing that darkness.

To Harley, that sounds like freedom – because she is a woman operating in a male-dominated field, within the male-dominated environment of Arkham Asylum. She has spent her life – as all women do – inside a patriarchal society, juggling the expectations that are thrust upon her. To succeed in this society, you must carry yourself a certain way, dress a certain way, eat a certain way, talk a certain way, and never, ever, ever challenge the status quo. As Harley got older and more professionally qualified, the boxes society sought to put her in grew smaller and smaller – as they do for all women – and by the time she meets The Joker during his incarceration, she is trapped inside a prison of her own, constructed by a society that insists on placing limitations on the women within it.