Isabella Catanzariti Batman Blog

Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

The Joker.

The Joker from Batman is probably the most known trickster of all time. He follows no rules but his own and makes a point that everybody knows it. The Joker behaves in the exact opposite of any social norm. He thrives off of chaos and because of this Gotham city is the perfect place for him. He mocks societies values by giving them exactly what they want. When he threw money at the citizens of Gotham and messed up the cosmetics he was citing what a materialistic state the citizens live in. not only do the tricksters in Burtons films oppose culture in their setting, but also in the real world.  Similarly to Betelgeuse, he sees death as a joke. This theme seems to be a reoccurring one throughout Burton’s movies, how the different tricksters deal with death. The Joker is casual and thinks it is a joke.  He is psychotic and takes pleasure in other peoples pain. But in all this chaos he still has one goal, defeat Batman. His entire drive throughout the movie is to aggravate Batman and try to make him tick. With this goal in mind he does anything he possibly can to get Batman’s attention, completely careless to anyone around him. Stopping at nothing to get what he wants. Tim Burton’s favoritism toward the trickster is prominent in this film. Jack Nicholson’s name is shown first in the credits, and there is much more emphasis on the Jokers character development compared to Batman’s. Throughout most of the film he appears to have no real emotion except for one scene when a slither of embarrassment and true sadness is shown. When the Jokers makeup is washed away by water thrown on him by Vicki Vale he screams and covers his face. Some could see this as the Joker being sarcastic, since he is to insane to have feelings, but I don’t think that is the point. Tim Burton undermines one of the Jokers major components of his trickster personality, his inhumaneness.

He is the ultimate criminal, and ultimate trickster. 

Catanzariti Introduction

Isabella Catanzariti

My name is Isabella Catanzariti. I am a freshman at Loyola University with a major in public relations. I am from Duxbury, Massachusetts, a small town south of Boston. Throughout high school I was an active member of the yearbook staff, tennis team, and my church.

Up until two years ago much of my time was spent as a ballet dancer, for six years I danced with Boston Ballet and afterwards Jose Matteo Ballet Theater. I find it ironic that I danced for so long because the description of ballet doesn’t really fit my personality. When I look at a dancer I see grace, and discipline. Well, I am not really any of those things. I am definitely not graceful; I fall over EVERYTHING (it’s actually a problem).  Take last winter for example. Its mid-January, there is a blanket of ice covering the whole town and I am about to get into my friends car. My house is built on hill and there are no steps leading down to the drive way since it’s under construction. Me, ice, hill, you do the math. As I was saying, I don’t have very good self-discipline either. I procrastinate and my mind wanders a lot. Not really having the personal criteria for a great dancer is why I think I enjoyed it so much, for that small amount spent on stage I was both of those things.

Coming from a small town has its pro’s and con’s. On an upside the people are wonderful and everybody knows each other, it is also a very scenic town. On the downside it’s a SMALL town. Most people stay in New England, go to the same Universities, follow in their parent’s jobs, and move back to Duxbury. That’s not necessarily bad, but for someone who wants to travel and experience things it’s not exactly the place to be.

I was drawn to public relations for many reasons. Since I have been little my interests have always been broad and random. While I may not be one hundred percent sure of what I would like my job to be, I know exactly what I don’t want.  One of the things I would despise in any career is sitting at a desk from nine to five, Sitting still has never been something that I am good at. Another would be anything involving math or science. A public relations profession is a good major for me because it encompasses being able to do many different things. Which isgreat because I get bored pretty easily.

I don’t really know what else to say so, that’s me!