That, and I think they probably wanted people to sympathize with her desire to get back together with him. If they went all out and made him a total abusive prick, people would have been rooting for them to stay a part and for Harley to dump him. It might have hurt the Joker's characterization as a truly evil psychopath, but having it in the movie probably would have hurt Harley's story.
See THIS is my problem with the film.
The fact that ANYONE is rooting for this relationship is, well, ridiculous. She is an unfortunate Domestic Violence victim trapped in a hyperstylised environment. So stylised in fact that most people have either decided to (a) ignore the violence subjected upon her, or (b) so entranced with the neon flicking lights and her shiny high-riding shorts that they missed it all together.
A woman is ensnared by the charms of an intelligent sociopathic man. He kidnaps her and subjects her to electro-shock therapy causing (presumed) mental damage. He then forces this damaged person to chose to self-harm for him, which she willingly does, giving him the opportunity to treat her like an fleshlight he can pass around to any subordinate he feels like. He indoctrinates her in his ways and ideals, damaging her to the point where all she cares for is his attention and his love. Her entire meaning in the film is to be rescued by her owner as she is regularly advertised as "property" of the Joker, by the clothing and accoutrements she wears. The thin BDSM hue to the relationship exacerbates the dynamic making her hypersexualised, an object to trade and fawn over - yes, especially you, audience, thanks to Ayers lascivious direction.
Every single step HQ takes in this film is as a victim of her abusers treatment towards her. What would have given some credence and weight to this tale would have been some contextualising of it and
awareness from HQ of her environment and emotional state. But nothing is said. She is a damsel in distress (with a bat and a bit of a swing) waiting to be rescued by her white knight (ha), Joker, as he tries in his valiant way to whisk her away from the monstrous clutches of Amanda Waller. So not only have they removed any agency from her, or frankly any credence of humanity or character, they have tried to turn the story into a tragic love story where her abuser pines over his loss and affects multiple attempts to rescue her. Well done, you just made the villain a hero. And NOT in the sense the film was meant to be aiming for.
The closest the film gets to start discussing her abuse and her nature is when she shouts down El Diablo, telling him to "Own that shit" (i.e. his problems with violence in the past). At the very least this could have been a moment of reflection for her, but the film is far more interested in fetishising her, and the action revolving around her, that any notion of creating a character, understanding her circumstances, is nil and void.
Yes, she is meant to be mentally ill (created by Joker in this instance), but fuck me, that doesn't take away the fact that she is meant to be a human being. By showing just one, exceptionally thin, side of her story with Joker, Ayer et al have utterly damaged her as a character with any weight or credence. It in fact appears to highlight the standard Domestic Violence myths that men (and masculine culture as a whole) hold onto:
- She would leave if the abuse was really that bad
- Some women like violence
- Women get what they deserve
We have an entire thread dedicated to sexuality in SF/F and how poorly the genre has represented this human dynamic. That a massive film like this can not only put up-front-and-centre a character like HQ and treat her this way, but revel in it, is beyond me.
It's a terrible film from a story and structural point of view. It's not funny, nor a competent piece of action drama. A host of superb actors have been trapped in shells of characters, all doing their best with this drivel for material. But poor Margot Robbie, who does her very best with Harley, attempting to imbue the character with the fun, quirky, unhinged sensibility of the cartoon she was born from, is lumbered with some especially whacked out material and a director so in love with her posterior he has to film it from all 360 degrees.
There are rumours that much of Harley's/Jokers relationship has been left on the cutting room floor. Some have lamented this loss, believing that the heart of their relationship is in a pool of celluloid somewhere in an editing suite in Hollywood. Given what was offered up here, I fear it is nothing more than reels of the same. Because why trust a writer/director and a studio who felt it was sensible to release THIS material over scenes that might actually humanise and explore what is a dark, twisted and damaged relationship.
It goes back to my endless point of DC/WB wanting both sides of the coin - wanting sell millions of $ of toys whilst still being "edgy" and "dark" and "grown up".
Guess it's hard to sell the posable Harley Quinn action figure with the "Hammer Action Swing" and "Interchangeable Restraining Order"
Hugo - done
