The Psychology of the Joker: Nihilism and Hyper-sanity

The root for this Nihilistic Hypersanity can find many similarities with classic Nihilism, which is the belief that ultimately life is pointless and nothing we do are any does matters in any shape or form. But where Hypersanity differs from classic nihilism is in its more selfish nature. To better understand this lets turn to the teachings of Sigmund Fraud on the Human Psyche.

The Ego, the Super-Ego and the Id

According to Freud’s model of the human psyche, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind, the super-ego operates as a moral compass distinguishing right from wrong, and the ego is the part that mediates between the cravings of the id and the super-ego and often dictates the actions of a person. And ultimately the superego and the ego are often controlled by the external society and their rules.

Now consider a person that does not have the super-ego part to be used as a moral compass, and with it any rules set by society or morality exist to them. This means what the person is left with is the animalistic Id coupled with the intelligence of a fully functioning human being, now couple this with a morbidly nihilistic world view and you have the recipe for the Joker

So where Nihilistic Hypersanity differs from classic nihilism or hypersanity is while nihilism simple states that “nothing really matters and everything in life is pointless”, Nihilistic Hypersanity adds the clause that “Therefore I shall do as I please with no restriction or rules”      

This form of thinking can actually even be great if what one wishes to do is in line with what is considered good by a society, but that is where the Joker takes a more sadistic root.

The Joker and Nihilistic Hypersanity

“All it takes is one bad day” is one of the Joker’s most iconic lines and good look into what it is the Joker believes and wants to prove. To him everyone is just one push away from being just like him. But he does not want to create more like him; he merely wants to show that it’s true.

while sticking very strictly to his clown motif

One of the recurring things the Joker try’s to do is get Batman to break his ironclad rule of not killing. He doesn’t do this just for the sake of death, though he gives no value to any human life. He does this to prove that Batman’s rules are pointless and that ultimately his rules will be what cause his downfall and prevent him from achieving his goal of a safer Gotham. Something you might be inclined to agree with, as many of the attacks and issues plaguing Gotham could be avoided if Batman had just killed the many colorful lunatics in his rouges gallery the first time around, this of course also including the Joker.

While many of the newer adaptations bring forth multiple representations of how the Joker came to be, and explores themes such as if he is the result of and every growing and cruel society. The results are always the same, and it is always the story of an individual who was pushed until their breaking point to create a hypersane killer dressed as a clown.  And in every case of the Joker what we have is someone who fully understands the results of his actions, but simply does not care.