No Joke About It

The second most successful and ultimate highest money making movie to ever hit the box office. It made the most money out of any superhero film to hit the big screen. Yes, this is reference to The Dark Knight. But, one might find themselves wondering, was it the courageous role played by the Batman or perhaps the deep, dark, character of The Joker, who was not so much a heroic knight, that helped the money to pour in for several weeks this past summer and still today. Seeing the movie taught you a lot about the acting performance of the late Heath Ledger in this film but, his appearance said tons about him as well. Hiding his identity, The Joker's face was covered in white makeup that made his skin more pale than an albino, also bringing out the extremely dark black circles surrounding and covering his eyes, making them darker than a Gotham night. His mouth and lips were completely painted over with a bloody red color up to his cut-in scars. He explained with different stories of how he got the scars that made his lips look like they were shaped into a smile all the time. Although, these scars didn't look like a smiling face but instead treacherous and terrifying as if a knife where forcefully taken to his face cutting and stretching the tight skin of his mouth scaring it horrifyingly. The dark red paint of his lips wasn't even bright enough to cover the scars that constantly stuck out as long, curving, swollen blisters that would never heal. You couldn't help but stare at them or his general facial appearance. The Joker's hair was a little past his ears in length and seemed to aimlessly hang down. It was pushed back away from his face and eyes and was tangled, messy, and almost seemed greasy. He always wore a dark lavender suit to make him look somewhat professional. But just as the crooked smile on his face, The Joker's business was not a joke in any way. Everything he owned was either stolen or purchased with money that he stole. He was a villain of treachery, mystery, and pure terror.

He had no soul and something that stood out most about The Joker was his voice. It was scratchy and deep and every word he spoke sent a quivering, fearful feeling through your ears to your body. His trademark question that he would always use to explain his horrific and unforgettable scars, "Why so serious?" illustrated the frightening voice he did have. This was one that would send everyone watching in the theatre to the edge of their seats, along with terrifying the characters in the movie beyond belief. That question was spoken almost in a whisper and dragged out till the end, emphasizing the separate sound of each letter of each word as it slowly and suspensefully rolled off his tongue from his blood red lips. The laugh of The Joker was even worse. Something Heath Ledger had to have worked at and i would say he in fact mastered flawlessly. It was a long and ear piercing type of giggle that you could feel took every ounce of energy out of his body to send a chill down the spine of every witness, giving a new meaning to the word evil.

Heath Ledger recently died from a drug overdose this past year and left behind a young daughter and a character that no one will ever forget. The spirit or Heath Ledger and how he carried the role of The Joker said so much about him as an actor. He spoke once in an interview about how playing the character affected him, and it truly did. We can imagine The Joker hanging out the window of a speeding get away car, gun in hand ready to kill any innocent person getting in his way, and how he chilled us with all of his horrific features that were just described. But, Heath Ledger claimed that it wasn't easy and almost scary for him to thrill us with the true treachery of The Joker. Such a villain even affected the man deep inside of Ledger when he claimed that the true darkness and soul of the role hit him hard while filming it. He had said he struggled with playing such an evil creature and getting it to come off that horrifying in the movie, showing truly how tremendous of a role The Joker really was. However, when we picture a scene of The Dark Knight and the tricky and suspenseful character of The Joker, we truly can come up with more than a thousand words to describe and even feel him.