The Joker is gay, or at the very least queer, and I’ll prove it. It’s a rather bold statement to make and one that has been surrounded with controversy for the past 80, or so, years.
After rewatching The Lego Batman Movie (2017) I noticed a trope that drove the plot of the film: Batman refuses to acknowledge that the Joker is his greatest enemy.
But whilst watching it is hard not to notice the unbridled queercoding within the film. Throughout it, the romantic undertones of the film which are, not so subtly, disguised in words and phrases that Joker and Batman use when talking to each other.
By replacing these phrases with what is deemed to be the ‘hidden’ meaning we begin to notice the queercoding within the film; the term “bad guy” relates to ‘partner’ implied when Batman tells the Joker that he currently does not have “a bad guy”; to “fight” someone means to date them; and “I hate you” means ‘I love you’.
Beyond the comedy, in a few scenes, there can be some real heart to some of the Batman-Joker dialogues and can be quite difficult not to get angry at Batman, in places, when he refuses to acknowledge his “hate” for the Joker.
This changes when towards the end of the film there are a series of dialogues which are set to a sunset backdrop and dramatic music. During these speeches Batman opens up to the Joker and proclaims his “hate” for the joker and subsequently saves the city.
I am definitely not the only person to notice this rampant queercoding within the plotline. Some people got rather angry at the directors and producers fro allowing “pro-gay propeganda” in a childrens film, stating: “It was chock full with pro-gay propeganda. Think the sexual innuendo of the Flintstones minus the real humor.” (PinkNews)
The directors confirmed it was written into the script. They “kept chasing it - kept writing it and chasing it editorially, and these ideas became the backbone of the movie” states Chris McKay in the director's commentary.
But why do the writers make Batman and Joker gay?
They play on a trope that has been highly disputed since 25th of April 1940 when The Joker made his first appearance in the comic ‘Batman #1’ but has become a more popular discussion amongst this franchise's fans in recent years.
The Batman franchise has always been surrounded with claims of queercoding. This is the act of subtextually coding a fictional character as queer. Although their sexual identity might not be explicitly queer, the character might be queer in terms of looks, phrases and manurisms.
We can notice this from the early days of Batman and Robin and now with the Joker and Batman. But why?
During the 30’s in America a set of rules, or codes, were enforced and called The Motion Picture Production Code (The Hays Code). If a film did not abide by these codes then it would be censored - this led to many years of media censorship.
Later in 1954 the comic book industry would come to have their own set of codes. It was influenced heavily on a book by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham where he stated that “the batman type story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies, of the nature which may be subconscious”.
During this time relationships that were not ‘normal’ - in other words: heterosexual - were deemed to be illicit, vulgur, perverted, criminal, etc. Furthermore, in many places homosexuality was thought to be a mental illness, if not illegal.
What also comes to mind when we mention vulgar, perverted, and criminal? Supervillians.
In short: characters were given queer subtext, as the steryotypes they portried was considered abnormal, and, therfore, thought to be more villianous
The Hays Code was kept in place till 1968 but its effects lived on right through to the new millennium. Many of our favourite characters are queer coded, whether we like it or not. Some examples include; Scar, the lion King; Satan, in any TV show; Frank. N. Furter, Rocky Horror Picture Show; Ursula, The Little Mermaid; Hades, Hercules; and, obviously, The Joker, Batman.
When researching this topic the same opposing argument kept cropping up. ‘Being feminine does’t make a character gay’. Which is true.
Clothes are unisex, makeup is unisex, being an efeminant man is normal, being a butch woman is, also, normal.
However, there are reasons this is seen as Queer. Many LGBT+ and non-conforming folk see themselves in these villains. With the joker, nonconformity is not only within his appearance and actions but also within his philosophy.
By erasing these ideas from the character you wipe The Joker of his whole substance - not a very exciting person, to say the least.
So, the joker has to be queer. Due to a bunch of media censorship and conservative stereotypes some of our most interesting and most beloved characters are gay! Ironic, isn’t it.
