*Spoilers for “Suicide Squad” below*
Film adaptations of comic books are often challenging because they have decades of lore and countless passionate fans who are sometimes difficult to please. The most recent comic book film to grapple with this issue is Warner Bros. and DC’s “Suicide Squad”, the premise being that the government organizes a group of imprisoned supervillains to perform black ops missions too dangerous for Uncle Sam’s usual black ops agents. The team, known as Task Force X and assembled by government official Amanda Waller and led by Colonel Rick Flagg in the film is a who’s who of DC’s supervillains – ace assassin Deadshot, the monstrous Killer Croc, mystical creature Enchantress, guy-who’s-really-good-at-climbing-things Slipknot, the flamboyant El Diablo (see, the “flamboyant” thing is funny because he summons and controls flame), genuine supervillain Captain Boomerang, and, my personal favorite, Harley Quinn. Also in the mix is the Joker; though not a member of Task Force X, he and Harley have a history – they’re, like, Clown Prince and Princess of Crime and fight Batman and probably killed a Robin or whatever. They're tight.
The last of the aforementioned characters, Harley Quinn and the Joker, are two of the most popular characters in all of comic books, and, because that isn’t enough, Harley’s portrayal by Margot Robbie is the character’s first live-action cinematic appearance. In short, this is a big deal and, because of that, there was a significant amount of pressure. While reviews of the film are generally negative, reactions to Robbie’s performance and Harley’s characterization are more mixed. Some, such as Harley’s creator Paul Dini, enjoyed the role, while others, perhaps most prominently Buzzfeed, spoke more negatively of the role, saying it played into sexist ideas surrounding Harley, her relationship to the Joker, and comics at large. So, let’s talk a bit about that.
Harley Quinn was originally created for a 90s Batman cartoon known as “Batman: The Animated Series” by series writers Paul Dini and Bruce Timm and proved so popular she entered the comics. Born Harleen Quinzel, she became Joker’s psychiatrist while he was imprisoned at Arkham Asylum, and, in those sessions, fell in love with him, abandoned her previous life, and became his villainess sidekick Harley Quinn. Generally speaking, Harley and the Joker aren’t exactly #RelationshipGoals – their relationship is violent, sadistic, and, most unfortunately, abusive in all senses of the word. Despite this, Harley’s story isn’t that of a tragic damsel in distress, as she sometimes leaves Joker to do her own thing, and lately, she’s spent some time as an antihero. Beyond the comics, Harley has appeared in several animated television series, animated films, and video games. Essentially, the character has been around for almost 25 years and has remained consistently popular, so it stands to reason that an insane amount of pressure would be placed on her cinematic debut and expectations would be crazy-high; however, it also stands to reason that those passionate about the character and her story would be even more disappointed if the film didn’t live up to their expectations.
The most common negative criticism of the film’s portrayal of Harley Quinn is that the more complicated aspects of her and Joker’s relationship are largely ignored and she is reduced to a damsel in distress who gets rescued by the man she loves and is obsessed with getting back to him (once Harley is imprisoned and forced to join Task Force X, Joker launches a massive plan to rescue his, uh, gal pal). When Joker finally rescues Harley via a helicopter, the two unite in a wild kiss before said helicopter is shot down and Joker seemingly dies in the crash; the film’s dénouement, however, reveals Joker survived the crash as he breaks Harley out of prison.
Frankly, it’s very easy to see why some are upset with this; in essence, the film takes a very complicated abusive relationship between a man and a woman in which the woman gradually finds empowerment and boils it down to a two-hour story of the same man and woman being wildly in love with each other and the man constantly trying to rescue the woman. I completely understand the issue. Having said all that, I view it differently. To me, it’s inappropriate to judge the film for its treatment of Harley when her story is incomplete; expecting a film to condense an entire character’s 25-year arc is ridiculous and unfair. “Suicide Squad” and future films featuring Harley Quinn set in DC’s shared cinematic universe should follow her story and further it instead of cramming it all into one movie. I want to see Harley’s story develop, her character grow, her original costume to be a thing. Right now, she’s at the obsessed-with-Joker phase and hasn’t gotten to the Joker-really-sucks phase, which precedes the I’m-a-strong-independent-woman-who-don’t-need-no-Joker phase. In fact, this image of a scene cut from the film, taking place right after Joker rescues Harley, hints at the aforementioned more complicated relationship between her and the Joker; why it was removed from the final cut of the film is a mystery, though studio interference during post-production is likely the reason. Beyond that, all hope is not lost; rumor has it a Harley Quinn solo film, starring several other female characters from DC, such as Poison Ivy (who, aside from being a full-on supervillain in her own right, is an ally and occasional lover of Harley’s) and Catwoman, is in the works. Perhaps the Harley Quinn story we all want, and need, is still out there, waiting to be made. In truth, we don’t know, but I think it’s best that we allow DC to play the long game with their films instead of being upset a two-hour movie doesn’t do justice to 25 years of character development.
Disclaimer: This author is male and, as such, genuinely and unironically recognizes his privilege allows him to say these things.
