The Joker as Samurai (Might be a spoiler)
In another life, I spent a lot of time looking at the ancient Samurai code of Bushido. Read the book Hagakure over and over. Spent time with Guru fellows, and learning about how it translates into life, into art, into hardcore. How we saw bushido in Mike Vallely, or in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
I spent time with this bass player, and we talked about how it made sense. Then we saw a writer from Details write and article about my good friend, and he referenced the LA thing with Bushido, and musicians.
I was watching The Dark Knight, for the third time, and there was a scene, and it made me remember that stuff.
Here is your chance to get out. Consider this a warning.
The specific scene is where the joker is in custody, and Harvey and Rachel have been kidnapped. Commissioner Gordon has left the room, and Batman is beating the joker. Batman has for all purposes lost control. The woman he loves has been taken, the one thing he cares for in the world is in danger, and he cannot fix it. The scene rang true on so many levels for me.
The Joker says something to the effect of, “You can do nothing to me with all of your strength.” I know it was a two sided thing (see the Harvey Dent reference), but it made me remember my friend Henry onstage, and another life I led.
In that moment, the Joker is saying the Batman, that he is ready to die. Nothing anyone can do, is going to stop the mission, the choices he has made. He is committed, and he has nothing to lose. The civilization falls away, and it is just this madness. Just this burning of the world.
I thought about that, and I think that it goes throughout life. The Joker, the artist, the brilliant, the mad genius, is often those without any option. Just this thing that propels them, this work, this art, this music. They have surrendered to it.
The Samurai, was prepared to die every day. they did not want to die, they did not fear death, they did not seek it out, but they were prepared. Each moment was the preparation for that death.
The preparation for death, made the Samurai fearless. There was only one true outcome, death. They were not afraid of death, so anything was possible.
It must be an amazingly liberating thing. To not fear death. To know nothing other than the commitment to the vision you have. To know that nothing that anyone says or does is going to change it. No matter how hard Batman will beat you, you will not crack.
Because you are cracked. Because you are free of the shackles. You are in the moment, like the samurai.
So thank you Chris Nolan. Now I can rebuild my life, to the other one I lived.