Joker 2: Was Lee Quinzel Really Pregnant? Why Did She Lie To Arthur Fleck?

0 COMMENTS

Most Popular

In recent years, a significant increase has been noticed in the fanbase of dysfunctional supervillain couple Joker and Harley Quinn, resulting in both of them appearing in more media adaptations than ever before. Joker 2 pairs up Joker, aka Arthur Fleck, with a quite different version of Harley Quinn, played by Lady Gaga, which in some ways differs from the traditional portrayal, but at the same time the director has used a number of signifiers to maintain the core essence of the character. Harley ‘Lee’ Quinzel’s twisted chemistry with the Joker is vividly on display throughout the movie, mostly through a number of musical sequences. But Lee’s role in the movie goes far beyond playing the deranged better half of the killer clown. Lee serves a much more important role in highlighting the thematic significance of the story and even adds an interesting metanarrative twist to it as well.

Spoilers Ahead


Lee Quinzel’s Portrayal Subverts the Harley-Joker Dynamic

Right from Harley Quinn’s first appearance in the iconic Batman: The Animated Series, the toxic relationship she shared with her beloved Joker has been a key trait of her character. Joker’s manipulative, exploitative, and abusive demeanor towards Harley have belittled her to no end, turning an otherwise brilliant psychiatrist into his puppet. Despite always being at the receiving end of Joker’s psychological tortures and humiliations, Harley remained madly in love with Joker—to the point that she became totally obsessed with him, partaking in Joker’s criminal tendencies just to get his validation. Harley’s pitiful, tragic fate as a victim of an abusive relationship is emphasized further by her hopeless dependency on the Joker, and writers have often chosen to take Harley out of the shackles of these toxic dynamics by making the character self-reliant in recent years. In “Joker: Folie à Deux,” director Todd Phillips goes a step further and totally subverts the existing dynamics between these two characters, as seen through the relationship between Arthur Fleck and Lee Quinzel. Yes, Lee is obsessed with Joker, but Arthur Fleck as a person is of no use to her; she desires to revel in Joker’s madness. To bring the Joker out of Arthur, she is prepared to do whatever it takes, even creating a false identity to make Arthur feel more trusting towards her, making him feel loved and desired, manipulating his insecurities and the desperation to get the bare minimum attention. Contrary to the familiar dynamics between their comic counterparts, Lee is in control, and she is using Arthur’s emotional connection with her to bring the Joker out. 

Without Lee’s troubling influence, Maryanne was actually making a solid case for Arthur, which might have resulted in him escaping capital punishment, but that would have meant Arthur going back to his true, timid, morose, diffident self—something which Lee couldn’t allow. She is a psychiatrist by profession, and Joker is the most fascinating specimen, one she wants to get acquainted with, not this pitiful person who isn’t even a shadow of the violent, exuberant being she fell in love with. Sensing Arthur losing trust in her, Lee gaslights him further and lies about being pregnant with his child, which she knew would finally crack Arthur. The poor guy has been subject of vicious parental abuse in childhood, so it doesn’t take much imagination how conflicted and concerned Arthur was as he suddenly found himself facing a significant responsibility, which pushed him over the edge and resulted in him scurrying back to his alter ego, the Joker. In doing so, Arthur squandered his last chance of escaping his sordid fate, and the violence Joker inevitably brings to his life once again showed its true colors as Arthur was brutalized by Arkham guards, and his ardent follower died by their hand as well. The worst part is that after the courthouse bombing, when Arthur got a second chance in his life and he could’ve turned a new page all on his own, he went back to Lee with the hopes of spending the rest of their lives together, who trampled his hope with total nonchalance. Lee wrote the book of Arthur’s damnation and tricked him at every turn until death was the only option awaiting Arthur. In a sense, the glimpses of Joker in the courtroom and Arthur’s return to his regular self—which triggered Arthur’s fellow psycho inmate to butcher him at the end—were a prolonged effect of Lee’s influence. Given that Lee comes from an affluent background as opposed to Arthur, there is another interesting class dynamic on display in their relationship as well, as the misery of a downtrodden became a tool for the privileged’s sick entertainment. 


Lee Quinzel represents the audience

In one of the most intriguing aspects of the movie, director Todd Phillips has used Lee Quinzel as a representative of the audience who glamorized, cheered on, and even claimed to have ‘related’ to the violence and chaos that Joker engenders. In the most basic sense, Arthur is a mentally disturbed individual who needed thorough psychiatric aid and compassion and had to regain the connection with his humanity. Instead, he was treated with delusions of grandeur of Joker fed to him by Lee, who, much like the rioters rallying support for Joker, wanted to get a kick out of Joker’s harrowing, morbid tendencies. Through Lee, the director is ridiculing the expectations of the audience, many of whom might have expected to see Joker go on a bloody rampage once more instead of actually having a shred of sympathy for Arthur Fleck, who could have been helped through positive influences. Lee abandons Arthur at the end, much like a major portion of the audience who regret not having received the murderous spectacle they expected from Joker: Folie à Deux. Instead they were treated to the plight of a man who faded in front of the idea he inspired. 


Siddhartha Das
Siddhartha Das
An avid fan and voracious reader of comic book literature, Siddhartha thinks the ideals accentuated in the superhero genre should be taken as lessons in real life also. A sucker for everything horror and different art styles, Siddhartha likes to spend his time reading subjects. He's always eager to learn more about world fauna, history, geography, crime fiction, sports, and cultures. He also wishes to abolish human egocentrism, which can make the world a better place.


 

 

Latest articles