Why Harley Quinn Is The AntiHero America Both Needs And Deserves

Why Harley Quinn Is The Anti-Hero America Both Needs And Deserves

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Harley Quinn started out as nothing more than a sidekick for The Joker but she has become quite a bit more in the modern era of DC shows and movies.

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Why Harley Quinn Is The AntiHero America Both Needs And Deserves

Sometimes that hero is one it people need more than they understand. Sometimes, that hero didn’t start out as a hero at all. That’s certainly the case with Harley Quinn. The character started out as really nothing more than a goofy sidekick for The Joker. Even if her creators expected her to eventually be more, it took quite a while for her to get there. Even if they expected Harley to be more than that sidekick and (sort of) love interest, it’s hard to imagine they realized just what she would become eventually. With the release of The Suicide Squad, her transformation is complete, from villain and lackey; to anti-hero who was easily the best part of the new movie.

One of the most interesting parts of the transformation for Harley Quinn is that it hasn’t been a linear one. It also hasn’t been just one particular storyline. In fact, the number of writers and the number of different movies and television shows that have taken the character and turned her into something she wasn’t when she was first introduced has been impressive. Certainly, in recent years, there’s been a concerted effort to fill out her story. It was always one that was interesting.

The Quintessential Girlfriend

Why Harley Quinn Is The AntiHero America Both Needs And Deserves

Most DC Comics fans know just how Harleen Quinzel became Harley Quinn. She was once a mental health professional who was trying to do good in Arkham Asylum. Then she came under The Joker’s sway and eventually took a literal leap. Into a vat of chemicals that both changed her appearance and her mind just enough that the quintessential evil girlfriend was born.

Of course, for those who might have watched something like Batman: The Animated Series, the backstory didn’t make a ton of sense. Fans often wondered how someone who was trained in psychology could suddenly decide to become an entirely different person. In short, how could someone who knew that The Joker was insane, allow him to create Harley Quinn?

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Over the years, comics have taken on this question. Some books have managed to paint in a bit more of the backstory. However, it was really the Harley Quinn animated series that really showed those who might not read those comics why exactly she was willing to take on the role she did. It showed a woman who had a hard upbringing, perhaps even facing abuse before she became an adult. There was also some indication that the woman who has grown to an anti-hero has some sort of split personality. What is clear at this point, is that The Joker wasn’t the first abuser, he was just the latest and the last straw.

Harley Quinn Healing

Why Harley Quinn Is The AntiHero America Both Needs And Deserves

One of the big things that makes Harley Quinn more than simply a character with a better back story is the way she has started dealing with that abuse in recent movies and television shows. This is a woman who was beaten down by her family, her life and then an abusive boyfriend. This is a woman who, yes, is still broken. But she’s also a woman who is showing real growth. She’s healing. That’s something others who have been in situations severe enough that they can relate, can look up to. No, women who are abused in real life aren’t being told to jump into a vat of acid. The abuse is usually quite a bit more low-key. At least at first.

It seems as if the direction that Harley Quinn has taken in recent years is intentional for more than one reason. Certainly, Margot Robbie has helped make the character more attractive to American audiences. She’s someone who does what she wants, when she wants it. She’s someone who seems largely unfazed when things go wrong – unless someone destroys her breakfast sandwich – and rolls with the sometimes literal punches. It seems that while her past turned her into a sidekick who at one point was actually loaned out to other men by The Joker, she’s managed to overcome that past. She’s overcome the damage done. While she obviously isn’t “healed” she’s healing. That’s at least part of her story that is heroic. Even if she’s not “good” she’s no longer really “bad.” She certainly doesn’t do what she does simply because someone told her to do it.

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Here growth into her own person, and one who has sensibilities leaning towards being a good person were crystallized in The Suicide Squad. This happens in the scene where she seems to be taking on the role of sidekick-girlfriend to a third-world dictator. As he unveils it’s plans, it’s quite obviously expected that she’s going to go along with it, even if she doesn’t feel comfortable with it. However, the – very well pulled off – twist in the scene comes when she shoots Silvio in the stomach, then talks about how she might have gone along with him in the past. She’s understand that she’s growing. She’s understanding she needed to grow. And she does it with panache.

The Hero America Needs

The argument could be made that Americans have been facing their own hard times for at least the last decade or so. No matter where it came from, the trauma is there. It’s possible that Harley Quinn is the hero the country needs because she lays out a roadmap on how to overcome that abuse.

She’s not OK. She’s still pretty damaged. She still has problems discerning right from wrong every now and then. Sometimes she gives into urges that are completely unhealthy. But she realizes when she’s doing it and tries to reverse course. She has a set of morals that she wants to abide by. Harley Quinn is the very picture of an anti-hero that the country can identify with.

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