Harleen Quinzel: An Analysis

Dr. Harleen Quinzel, alias Harley Quinn, is one of the most complex villains in the Batman universe. She may be the Joker's sidekick, but she's no laughing matter. She has a deep, complex person hidden under the white makeup and mask. She may have a childlike personality, but underneath is a deep, mature woman. From our first look at her in “Joker's Favor”, where Joker paces across the warehouse, talking to her as she sits on his desk in her striking black and red harlequin attire, that she was more than simply hired help for the Clown Prince of Crime. A couple minutes later it is even more clear they have some sort of tie, as she trims his hair while he calls in a favor. Later, Harleen appears for the first time out of costume, to pick up a friend of Joker's at the airport. She begins to show some of her real bubbly personality in her couple lines at the airport to Charlie, not in what they say, but in the way she says them. Again, we see Harley out of costume, dressed as a policewoman later in the same episode, when she brings in a cake to Commissioner Gordon. More of her casual side is shown in her line here, “Don't stop now, Jimmy, the party's just startin'!” We also see the first evidence of her fiery wit, when she comes back to a flirting detectives' “Wanna read my my rights?” with “You have the right to remain silent, jerk,” and a hit with her club. She then cheers on the Joker, as he jumps out of the cake and poisons the police force with a special paralyzing gas. She then affixes dynamite to the helples Commissioner, and, in another example of her twisted humor, kisses him. Her more feminine side is shown when she suggests macramé as a possible hobby for Joker, “now that old Charlie's kaboom.” We are given a small look into her past, as she attempts to distract Batman. “I know what you're thinking. What a shame! A pure little innocent thing like her, led astray by bad companions.” Batman handcuffs her to a statue, and this was to be all we saw of Harley Quinn. But her connection to the Joker and inkling of a past left the fans longing for more, so Harley became a fixture of the Batman universe.
The next glimpse we get of Harley is in the second season episode “Harlequinade”. In this episode, Harley is in Arkham Asylum after the events of “Joker's Favor”, and she seems much more child like. We see her on her bed, head hanging off,with her feet propped on the wall, humming a jaunty tune as she chews bubble gum. Even her hair is like a little girls- up in pigtails. We're shown that she's smart, at least in the vocabulary area, by her line to Batman as he enters her cell- “Don't you knock before entering a lady's budoir?” We're shown her first real wit when Batman tells her he needs help- “Well, you've come to the right place. I recommend a lobotomy.” More of Harley acting like a child is seen when she later mimics Batman's expressions as he talks. We're given another small glimpse into her past, as she explains her attraction to the Joker- “...when I was a doctor I was always listening to other peoples' problems. Then I met Mister J, who listened to me for a change and made everything fun.” She later reasons “Sure, my little puddin's tempermental, but what relationship doesn't have its ups and downs?” and launches into the song “Say that We're Sweethearts Again,” to distract the gang, giving us a little insight into how her relationship may have been. Later, when Joker reveals he's planning to let all their “friends”- the other villains- die when he blows up Gotham, she shows that she does value lives, as she turns and helps Batman disarm the bomb. She for once begins to doubt the Joker, saying “I got the crazy idea Mister J may not be the guy for me after all.” But, by the end of the episode, where Harley fires off a bang sign machine gun at Joker, their crazy relationship is rekindled.
Our next major look into the mind of Harley Quinn is the episode “Harley's Holiday.” She is now trying to go straight, but is still the immature clown we know, cheering like a schoolgirl when she's informed she has a clean record and can leave. Once she's collected herself, she is confident enough to shake hands with Batman himself and say “I've got my head together and I'm gonna live my life right.” We then see her complete disconnect from the real world- she doesn't understand why people stare at her when she walks her pet hyenas. She thinks it's the “out of style” clothes she's wearing- short shorts and a tied button-up shirt. She goes into a shop, bringing in the hyenas, and generally causes chaos. She then leaves the store, having paid for a dress, but before the clerk removed the anti-theft device. She shows more of her childlike attitude when she won't give it back because, in her words, “it's MY dress, I paid for it, fair and square!” and becomes violently paranoid when the security guard approaches her. She runs back into a dressing room and emerges in her Harley Quinn attire, saying she “tried to play by the rules, but no!” and that “society is to blame!”, again showing both her high intellect and her childlike personality. In the end, though, she ends up back at Arkham, with another chance at getting out just a short time away.
We see Harley several times later, but nothing changes in these appearances, no revelations, no more looks into her past, the most relevant being Harley enjoying a sense of comeraderie when she teams with fellow villainess Poison Ivy, whom she calls “Red”. Until the episode “Mad Love”, when we are at last given a much wanted look into the past life of Harleen Quinzel. Harley herself gives us the revelation “Who's to blame? Batman, that's who. Batman! It's ALWAYS been Batman, ruining my life! Spoiling my fun! Coming between me and my puddin' from the very beginning...” We're shown that Harley wasn't always crazy. A young Harleen Quinzel, college student, was to spend a semester interning at Arkham Asylum. Her reason for Arkham? “I've always had an attraction for extreme personalities. They're more exciting, more challenging... And you can't deny there's an element of glamor to these super-criminals.” She's attracted to Joker's cell by his whistling. He winks at her. She enters her office to find a vase of flowers on her desk, with a note- “Come down and see me sometime-- J.” She confronts him the following day with an air of seriousness seldom seen in Quinn today. Joker, being the man he is, responds “Y'know, sweets, I like what I've heard about you. Especially the name! Harleen Quinzel... Rework it a bit, and you get Harley Quinn! It's a name that brings a smile to my face. It makes me feel there's someone here I can relate to. Someone who MIGHT want to share my secrets...” She got a session with him, after 3 long months. She studied all the clown's tricks, and thought she was ready. But, it only took a few words to disarm her... “You know, my father used to beat me up pretty badly,” he revealed to her. He spun her a tale of a poor young boy, abused by his father, who longed to make his dear old dad laugh the way the circus clowns did. He convinces her that he, in her words, “was actually tortured soul crying out for love and acceptance, a lost injured child looking to make the world laugh at his antics. And there as always was the self-righteous Batman, determined to make life miserable for my angel.” Even she knew it, then. She had fallen in love with the Joker. His analysis of her? “As a dedicated, career-oriented young woman, you felt the need to abstain from all amusement and fun. It's only natural you'd be attracted to a man who could make you laugh again.” She makes her affections known a week later, when after an escape Batman drags in a mangled Joker. She kneels next to him, and breaks down in tears. The same night, she steals the supplies for her costume. She breaks into Arkham, and breaks out Joker. They continued on their way, and became the kooky criminals we know and love. Harley now realizes she can use the sanity she had as a tool to her advantage. To prove her worth to the Joker, she manages to kidnap and drug Batman, subsequently hanging him over a tank of piranhas. She confides to Batman that all she wants “is to settle down with her lovin' sweetheart.” He, for the first time in his life, laughs. He tells her all Joker ever loved was himself. That his past as she knew it was an elaborate lie. In her insanity, Quinn begins to lower him, saying “You're the problem. And now, you're going to DIE, and make everything RIGHT.” It becomes clear that Harleen died a long time ago. Quinn is all that's left. Joker arrives, and we see him punch her out the window of the top floor of the building where she had Batman trapped. Despite this, she lived, and continued to love Joker. She is committed to the same asylum she interned at, and finds a vase in her cell, again with a note- “Feel better soon.-- J.”
In conclusion, Harleen Quinzel, while being criminally insane, somewhere, inside of her, has a smart, mature young woman just waiting to bloom. She simply needs to focus on the right areas, rather than her unconventional romance with the Joker.

Danny Fenton: An Analysis

Even though he’s a cartoon, Danny Fenton is more human than most “real” teenagers on TV. Danny Fenton is your average high school freshman- except he’s half ghost! He leads a dual life, kicking back as normal teenager Danny Fenton, his human side, and kicking butt as superhero Danny Phantom, his ghost half. He has your normal embarrassing parents and a normal sister, Jazz. Well, almost normal. His parents are Jack and Maddie Fenton, world’s foremost ghost hunting experts. He spends most of his free time with his best friends, Tucker, a computer geek, and Sam, a goth ultra-recyclovegetarian and environmental activist.
Part of why Danny is so inherently human is his flaws. He has a bit of a temper. To quote a dialogue between Danny’s archenemy Vlad Masters and Danny in Reign Storm: “Sneak attack. Good, Daniel. You’re getting more like me with every battle.” “I am NOTHING like you!” “Oh you’re not? Using your powers to get back at people you don’t like? Throwing the first punch? You’re more like me than you know!” And some of Danny’s own speech that supports this is in the episode Masters of all Time, after Vlad infects Sam and Tucker with a deadly disease he has, ecto-acne, which forces Danny to help him: “I swear, if they find a cure, I’m gonna make you wish they hadn’t!” It’s swatches of dialogue like this one from Double Cross my Heart between one of the Guys in White, a team of top-secret government ghost catchers and Danny that make this ghost kid seem so human: “A pre-pubescent specter operating freely? Unacceptable!” “Hey! I have TOTALLY hit puberty! See that? TOTALLY a chest hair!”
Another thing that separates Danny Phantom from less realistic, more one-dimensional heroes such as Superman is that he’s not excessively moral. For example, this is his response to his friends after accidentally getting the envelope of CAT test answers in The Ultimate Enemy: “Guys, come on! I would’ve loved to have spent the last month studying, but I was fighting ghosts! Besides, if you think this test is so meaningless, why do you even care if I cheat? Why shouldn’t I open this up and study the answers, huh?” Still, he is separated from anti-heroes such as Lobo or Wolverine in that he’s not excessively immoral either. For example, he hesitates before opening the answers. Also, he holds back when he fights Valerie in Life Lessons, even though he knows she isn’t, but because of her good intention of getting rid of evil ghosts, he doesn’t try to kill her.
Moreover, he has a normal life outside of his life as a superhero. He has to deal with Technus, self-proclaimed “ghostly master of technology and all things electronic and beeping” and the big English test in Teacher of the Year. He has to fight teenage ghost hunter Valerie Gray as Danny Phantom and parent a flour-sack baby with her as Danny Fenton in Life Lessons. He goes through life like a normal person. He has feelings, as evidenced when he has to deal with low self-esteem and battle evil ghost Penelope Spectra in My Brother’s Keeper. He has feelings for his best friend Sam, but does to hide them because he doesn’t know she likes him back. For example, in Shades of Gray after Sam shocks him back to human mode with the “fakeout-makeout”, he’s blushing and has a face that clearly says “I love my life.” And in Control Freaks, he is able to resist Freakshow’s hold on him when Sam is put in danger, like when she had a tightrope cut from under her or when she accidentally backs off of a moving train on a bridge while trying to save Danny. In Memory Blank, when he doesn’t even know her thanks to Desiree the wishing ghost granting Sam’s accidental “there are days I wish I had never even met you!”, he initiates a fakeout-makeout as a cover for why they were in his dad Jack’s lab. And in Double Cross My Heart, he gets jealous and uses his ghost power of invisibility to spy on Sam when she gets a suspicious boyfriend, “Gregor” from Hungary, really Elliot from Michigan, who is in reality a fraud. You can tell from the look on his face he is crushed when he sees her kiss “Gregor.” Overall, he has a normal life.
In closing, let me state that not only is Danny more human than most teenagers on TV, he has more depth as well. He has to save Amity Park from evil ghosts on a regular basis, but still has to deal with self-esteem, relationships, and other issues that are more close to home. By juxtaposing issues in a slightly fantastic environment, Danny helps us deal with life’s little problems.

A review of Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy

Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy is the suspenseful coming of age tale of a young Danny Fenton and the consequences of cheating, with a superhero twist. It is set in a normal urban city, Amity Park, and its future, a post-apocalyptic nightmare. The story is likewise a complex interplay of fantastic and mundane, but the tone is serious. Danny Fenton is a normal kid, except he’s half ghost. He is condemned by the Observants, ghostly overseers of the past, present, and future, because he is to become the most powerful evil ghost on the face of the planet. The Observants are sworn to never interfere in the timeline; however, their friend Clockwork has no such oath. Clockwork, a spirit with the ability to control time who isn’t what he seems, disagrees. He thinks Danny Fenton can be saved, and he’s willing to bet the future on it.

This movie gets us a good look at Danny objectively from Clockwork and the Observants. It, unlike many superhero movies, and even some regular movies, allows us to see the hero’s flaws just as clearly as his strengths. Metaphorically speaking, we aren’t looking through emerald glasses at the Wizard; we’ve taken them off and are seeing that the “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” isn’t as wonderful as he let on. We begin with a view of the post-apocalyptic future, and the ruthlessness of Dan Phantom, Danny’s future self, attempting to destroy what’s left, including ghost hunter Valerie Grey, one of Danny’s allies. Then, we cut to the mundane present, Danny’s class being lectured on the C.A.T., Amity Park’s Career Aptitude test. Danny is especially under pressure, as his sister, Jazz, got the highest score in the history of the C.A.T. Clockwork decides to put Danny through a gauntlet of sorts, and test him. He sends Box Lunch, future child of Danny’s ghostly enemies the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady, to challenge Danny. The ensuing battle ends at the Nasty Burger, where Danny, remembering something a worker who failed the C.A.T. said, uses an ectoplasmic blast to overheat a tank of Nasty Sauce so that it would explode, defeating Box Lunch. This knocks over a still connected oven, moving it closer to another tank of the sauce, slowly upping its temperature. This comes into play later. In the fight, he accidentally phases through Mr. Lancer’s briefcase, getting the answers for the C.A.T. stuck to his back. After the battle, Danny notices this, and decides to cheat. This is the point where we take off the emerald glasses. He, Tucker, and Sam, his friends who are the only people who know his secret, find the medallion that was tethering Box Lunch to the present. Then, Clockwork sends another future ghost to fight Danny. This one is defeated too, but Danny, who was in the ghost’s grasp, and his friends who were trying to pull him out are teleported to Clockwork’s lair when the ghost’s medallion falls off. They see on Clockwork’s time portal Dan Phantom, destroying Amity Park with a power Danny doesn’t yet have, a sonic “ghostly wail.” Here again, we see a glance of Danny’s faults, as the first comment he makes is, “What is that, some kind of ghostly wail? What a cool power!”, quickly augmented with , “if it weren’t being used for evil,” after his friends display dismay at the comment. They escape into the portal after figuring out the medallions’ function during a fight with Clockwork, who lets them go, saying “…let’s see if you have what it takes to face that future.” In the future, they learn during a confrontation with the future Valerie Grey that they die right after the C.A.T.’s. This is followed by the personification of Danny’s flaws, Dan Phantom, who, as we learn during the battle, is essentially an insane person grieving the death of everything and one he ever loved. His family and friends were torn away from him in an accident at the Nasty Burger, leading into a chain of events that leads to Danny having his ghost half separated, and then combined with that of his archenemy, leading to his existence. However, he is determined to keep the timeline intact, for otherwise he wouldn’t exist. Also during the battle, he fuses Danny’s medallion inside Danny, and Tucker and Sam escape to the present. He disguises himself as Danny, throws a bound Danny into the Ghost Zone, where ghosts reside when they’re not haunting anything, and goes to Danny’s past to preserve his life, his existence. He displays Danny’s determination to a fault, resorting to violence with his own sister after she tells him she knows about his ghost half, and that he was going to cheat. Dan reveals himself to her, does the traditional villain revealing his insidious plans monologue, and knocks her out, trying to make her think it was a dream. She attaches a note to one of her parents’ ghost hunting tools, a high tech “boo-merang” that is locked onto Danny’s ecto-signature. Ten years in the future, the note finds Danny in the midst of his enemies, about to get pummeled by almost every ghost he’s come into contact with. Danny learns the ghostly wail, defeating his enemies. He is forced to turn to his archenemy’s future human self, who uses his technology to rip the time medallion out of Danny, so he can prevent the awful future. Meanwhile, Dan has cheated and caused Mr. Lancer to set up a meeting with his parents at the Nasty Burger, where the tank of sauce from earlier is still heating up. Jazz exposes Dan as the ghost he is, and he traps them near the tank. In the end, Danny shows up, defeats Dan and stops the horrible future, with help from Clockwork.

The main conflict is external, though is a reflection of Danny’s internal conflict on cheating. The external conflict is between Danny and Dan. When Danny finds the future, he doesn’t want to cheat, but Dan does. This is a mirror of his earlier inner conflict, but has the opposite resolution, as Danny wins. Danny is the conscience, and Dan is the rationalization for wrongdoing. Danny’s morals after he sees the future do not waver. He is determined to right the wrong, and to save his family. He is our beacon of light to Dan’s shadow. Dan believes that Danny is “such a child” for his morals.

The main theme here is the future can be changed. It starts with Lancer’s “The future is not carve in stone, people!” and ends on Danny’s “I guess the future isn’t as set in stone as you think it is.” Undeniably, you controlling your destiny is a main theme, and it is very much pointed out as such. Clockwork’s speech sums up this: “The Observants see time like they’re watching a parade, one thing after another passing by in sequence right in front of them. I see the parade from above, all the twists and turns it might, or might not, take.”

The Ultimate Enemy is a well written TV-movie. Danny’s mundane and fantastic problems dovetail perfectly. Butch Hartman, Danny’s creator, has made a well crafted hero, who watchers can identify with. We’ve all been tempted to cheat. An action movie with a softer side, The Ultimate Enemy is a great movie as a whole, and an excellent bit of character development for Danny.