#every story that says otherwise doesn't understand their dynamic sorry i dont make the rules

[psalmsofpsychosis]

What i say: i'm fine

What i mean: i grow an extra head everytime someone says they dont have a single clue why Batman refuses to kill Joker despite 80+ years worth of plot points justifying it, because listen— regardless of each individual Batman story and its infinite intricacies and inconsistencies, on a foundational level Joker cannot die. Batman is a symbol of the superego structure, Joker is the banished and suppressed id structure, together they make an extreme interpretation of the human psyche. They're intertwined complementary narratives, neither one can exist as a concept without the other. The aspirational, idealistic, high flying superego cannot survive without the subconscious, the animal wisdom, the id. Superego represents the mind, the intellectual aspect of humanity, id represents the body, the instinctual and intuitive part of us. Joker as a narrative is a very christian and american depiction of id, but he represents it nonetheless. He's batman's id, society's id, he is a story about a culture that cannot translate and contextualise and integrate id. This is why Batman progressively gets worse in every story where Joker dies, this is why we have Bruce saying “What separates me from them… is a hand on a knife. His hand. […] I’m just what he made me.” this is why in best batman stories Batman and Joker die together, one following the other. on an intuitive level we understand that superego cannot survive without id and vice versa, even if on a cultural level we struggle with the idea. Batman and Joker shape each other in irreversible ways, neither of them make sense without the other.

The haphazard lizard wizard operating my brain: heehee hoohoo here comes the punchline, no joke