Although I haven't had a lot of experience with the characters of the Joker and Batman, The Killing Joke made me feel sympathetic towards the Joker's character by introducing his backstory. I'd heard about this comic beforehand, but reading it through made me feel genuinely disturbed by the the Joker's torture mechanisms while still feeling pity for the unfortunate situation that drove him to become such a villain. I'm honestly very impressed at the emotional integrity the story has, given how short it is and the fact that a reader wouldn't neccessarily need a lot of knowledge of these characters to understand this comic. I also appreciated the fact that the story called out the Joker's malignant behavior for being unforgiveable while still trying to explain his reasoning, instead of plainly assigning "bad" qualities for the convenience of plot or trying to redeem his actions.
Question 2 - "What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work of which you were able to connect."
Surprisingly, I found myself connecting with the Joker's character more than I expected I would reading through this story. The character's motivations are all too familiar with a lot of American family experiences; a person desperately trying to make a career from their life's passion that unfortunately proves unsuccessful. Emotionally, I was able to connect with the Joker's fear of not being able to provide for his wife and child and the extent to which this fear drives him to work with untrustworthy people. The comic's use of flashbacks with poses that are paralleled between past and present is an effective tool to show how the Joker's past continues to influence him, and how it almost haunt him in a sense - an experience that anyone who has experienced regret is familiar with.
Question 3 - "What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use, and what changes would you make?"
Given a choice, if I were to make an adaptation of this story, I would pick film due to its potential to reach a wide audience and to take advantage of this show of humanity with actors who could likely find personal experience to draw inspiration from. Of course with a feature-length film, there would have to be a driving conflict that could span over the course of several hours, but this conflict should be drawn from the same force as in the comic while still keeping the focus on Batman and Joker's past and how the two histories parallel and contrast. The central problem with Barbara and her father might be the main element to change in the film, or expanded to work upon in a more complex way suitable for a movie. Something that I would really want to keep from the story is the chilling reveal of the Joker's backstory and Batman's desperation to change the Joker out of fear for his own life, and especially how the comic shows two people faced with similar tragedies and their two contrasting ways of coping with them.
Question 3 - "What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use, and what changes would you make?"
Given a choice, if I were to make an adaptation of this story, I would pick film due to its potential to reach a wide audience and to take advantage of this show of humanity with actors who could likely find personal experience to draw inspiration from. Of course with a feature-length film, there would have to be a driving conflict that could span over the course of several hours, but this conflict should be drawn from the same force as in the comic while still keeping the focus on Batman and Joker's past and how the two histories parallel and contrast. The central problem with Barbara and her father might be the main element to change in the film, or expanded to work upon in a more complex way suitable for a movie. Something that I would really want to keep from the story is the chilling reveal of the Joker's backstory and Batman's desperation to change the Joker out of fear for his own life, and especially how the comic shows two people faced with similar tragedies and their two contrasting ways of coping with them.
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