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Updates -------------- March 15th 2005 - Harley

Ah the Cupid of Crime.  Its about time I wrote this, lest the reasons for my obssession fade into obscurity.  I know that Harley Quinn is a cartoon character.  Fictional.  2-Dimensional.  Nevertheless, I desire Harley for a whole variety of reasons.  Both the Harley of the cartoon and the Harley of the comics.  Not, however, the portrayal of her in Birds of Prey, which almost made me break down in tears.  So, you wanna know why?  Here it goes. Where to begin...?  OK, the best place as any is the artwork of Bruce Timm. The original and best artist, Timm doesn't have the most serious of styles, taking a very post-modern approach to his work but to be honest, he's my favourite artist.  Very stylised, recognisable and alternative.  The original appearance of Harley in the cartoon comes from his mind, his style, and as he always does with his female characters, he's made her a fox.  Big eyes, nice smile - all the things that I look for in a real woman.  Perhaps Harley's reminiscent of a real person from my past, I've had my suspicions about that for a long time, but I may be reading too much into it.  So, yeah.  She looks good.  Even as a cartoon.

But its more than a physical thing (and I should hope so too, that would be just a little too creepy.)  As I mentioned right at the beginning, Harley is the Cupid of Crime.  The reason behind all her actions is love.  She loves The Joker, and wants nothing more than a happy ending with him.  And she also wants the same for everybody else, she's a sucker for a happy love story.  And I guess I am too, life all too often fucks you up and reminds you that a happy, fairy tale ending hardly ever happens, so any level of escapism to a place where people do live happily ever after gives you a little hope.  And comics and cartoons are more exciting than Mills and Boon.  This is one of the most important reasosn why I'm such a Harley fan, love means everything to her and it means everything to me too.  You don't often meet women like that you know.

So, she looks good, and she loves.  Why else do I have such an unhealthy fascination with her?  Look at her relationship with the Joker.  She loves the Joker, devotes herself to him completely.  In both the comics and cartoons we see her desire to be married and raise children with him, we see the lust that she has for him and we see how she is willing to do anything for his approval.  On the surface, this is as good a reason as any as why I think she's so desirable.  It would be nice to have somebody who thought of you like that.  It goes a little deeper though.  The Joker does not return this, he uses her and abuses her.  And that evokes the very male, neolithic protector instinct - you want to protect her, take her away from him.  Play the Knight in White Armour, and come to her rescue, let her know that she's special and deserves be looked after, to have someone as devoted to her as she was to him.  I think that all of us, deep down inside, would love to play the role of the hero once in our lives and be the rescuer.  No matter how "enlightened" we are, and how much we believe in equality, there are still those urges in our psyche that make us want to be like "real men".  And I think that I've demonstrated those qualities well in the past - giving everything I have to someone else.  OK, its probably not that good a thing when mixed with some of my other desires and the way that I've been treated in the past but I could get the balance right next time.  Right?

OK, we've looked at some very different reasons there.  Two "male" or "blokey" reasons and one slightly deeper and more romantic reason.  So I think its time for another more enlightened reason.  Her personality.  You see, unlike anyone that you're ever going to meet, Harley has been designed, every aspect of her personality has been chosen by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.  But every aspect of her personality I find attractive.  We each have different ideas of what makes people appeal to us, whether its a love of alcohol, a quiet and thoughtful nature...whatever.  The thing that makes me find someone attractive beyond their appearance more than anything else is...kookiness I guess.  Its something that a lot of people despise, and get wound up by.  Its a hard to characteristic to quantify as well, some people have it and others don't.  Part of it is unending happiness, fun-loving and all that.  Thinking about things in a different way, expressing yourself in a different way - loud, uncompromising and different.  The fact that laughter is so important to her as well.  The entire reason that she is with the Joker is because he's a man who can make her laugh, that's what she wants.  And as I've alluded to in the About Me section, making women laugh and smile makes me feel better than anything else can.

I'm not too sure if I've managed to explain myself very well.  There are other things too - the voice for some reason, her intelligence, obvious sexuality...all kinds of things that I find attractive.  That's the thing, you can never really explain these things well enough - its something very personal and obvious to you, but no-one else seems to get it.  Well, that's not true, the popularity of Harley makes me think that there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way as I do, but nobody that I know.  There are real reasons, its not just a pointless cartoon fetish or anything like that.  Its as if Paul Dini and Bruce Timm sat down and went "Right.  Lets design the perfect woman for John, and then taunt him with the fact that she doesn't actually exist."  Yeah, cheers guys.  My reward for loving your work.  Desirable, fascinating and fictional.

Or is she fictional?  On the one hand, everything I've put describes Harley, but on the other, I think I'm describing someone else.  You decide.  Where would we be without transference?  Buh-Bye!