The Dark Knight Filmindeki Joker Karakterinin Nietzsche’nin Üstinsanı Olarak İncelenmesi
An Investigation of The Joker Character in The Dark Knight Movie as Nietzsche’s Overman

Summary/Abstract: In this study, the similarities between Nietzsche’s understanding of overman and the character, Joker in the movie, The Dark Knight (directed by Christopher Nolan, 2008) are examined. So in this context, the parallelisms between the foundations of Nietzsche's philosophy and Joker's actions /thoughts are revealed. According to Nietzsche, the most important feature of the pre-social masters isthe distance pathos and their acceptance of other people as their tools. According to Joker, other people are completely tools. For Nietzsche, there is no truth, people make up truths to believe that moral values are real. Life is will to power. On the basis of the value systems, there is a desire to escape meaninglessness and pain and a search for consolation. But they all devalue life and pave the way for nihilism. Joker's whole effort is to show people this meaninglessness. So he consistently asks, "Whyare you so serious?". Underneath morality lies the demands of people for power: They deceive themselves. Joker tries to show people their hypocrisy. For Nietzsche justice is not equality but the emergence of the strong and the weak. Chaos is what makes this happen, and Joker sees chaos as fair. Joker is destructive and yet he also reassesses the values. He does not care about existing social values, does not escape pain and constantly puts himself in danger. Joker’s not escaping pain, affirming life asa whole (Dionysian Yes) and telling his past differently to everyone are all the behaviours of overman. Because, according to Nietzsche, overman is free of the weight of his memory. According to the eternalreturn doctrine, infinity is required for any moment to occur. To affirm a single moment is to affirm the becoming as a whole. When this becoming is affirmed, human being gets rid of all the emotions such as resentment, remorse and regret that make his mind trapped in the past and also make him passive and reactive. The reason why Joker does not want to kill his enemy Batman, the representativeof the ordeal ideal, is that his opponent always comes back as a result of the eternal return. Batman is the shepherd, the protector of the values of the herd.

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