[Let’s talk…] Suicide Squad thoughts and controversy [Part 1] + Apologies

Hello, world! I’m not dead! Yeah. That’s right. I’m sorry for not posting anything for literally 3 months, but a lot of things happened on a personal level; I’ll probably write more about it later on, so without boring you anymore with my issues, let me get into it.

For those that have lived under a rock the past few weeks/days, Suicide Squad is a DC movie based on the same title comic book that came out at the cinemas on the 5th of August in the USA. From its release it has been met with a lot of contrasting opinions; the critics purely despised it, saying it was chaotic and technically horrible, the RottenTomatoes 26% critic appreciation just further proves that. As for the fans, I’ve read quite a few mixed reviews, some appreciate it regardless of its faults, some others totally hate it, some others find it amazing. Me? Even though I see what the critics mean by “chaotic”, I found it a guilty pleasure and despite feeling lied to by the trailers and then further lied to by the same movie, I still love it and plan to buy the Blu-ray once out.

Going in a bit more detail, while still keeping it spoiler free, by knowing what the critics meant, I mean that the movie is indeed technically horrible; from the very first 20 minutes of the movie I could say what the issue was: they tried to make too many parallels and flesh out too many characters for a 1 hour and 40 minutes movie. We would have needed a whole movie just to get to know these characters’ backstories, yet they were shoved in less than 30 minutes, giving particular attention to just Deadshot and Harley which by the end of the movie were indeed the most fleshed out. All that was mixed in with some Joker scenes which almost felt like a different movie, I felt that he had no role or place in what I was watching (though, don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Jared Leto’s Joker, even if at times cartoon-ish). As for the other characters…who are even they? Katana and Killer Croc were simply decoration, Flag was just important for one reason which is a spoiler, Slipknot, i honestly don’t even remember him and El Diablo refused to do anything for 70% of the movie. Oh and then there was the Enchantress which I can only describe as artificial conflict.

Yet…I loved this movie to bits. It’s one of those where the concept saves it no matter how bad it is, unless you are a DC fan and expected it to follow the comics more carefully, which yes, this movie didn’t. I didn’t read any Batman-related comic before watching this so I might be a bit misguided, but I feel like I know enough to point at a big aspect that some fans might be outraged at for how substantially different it is: Joker and Harley’s relationship.

I’ll keep the spoilers heavy parts for the insight post I plan to do on Harley and Joker, but be warned that I will reveal the essence of their relationship below, so I don’t take any responsibilities for you reading below this point !  

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Went away yet?

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ok.

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They were adorable for the most part. Yes, I use the word “adorable” when referring to a fundamentally abusive and dysfunctional couple.

Joker and Harley’s relationship as depicted in the cartoons and comics is for the most part one sided. In short, Joker likes to manipulate and use Harley’s obsession for him to his advantage, without being afraid to physically punish her the moment she does something wrong ( like for example: pushing her off a high floor which ends up with her in the hospital). In the movie, that’s toned down to ridiculous levels and Joker is made to show affection for her in his own way for most of the movie. He isn’t a saint however, he did hurt her in the past and he does seem to treat her in a questionable manner at some points as for his crazy nature, but Hell shall unleash on whoever dares to disrespect her. He spends the whole movie running around to find ways to rescue her, killing a whole bunch of people in the process. The movie put it simply: “You touch his Queen, you are screwed.”

I wasn’t outraged by the change as other people were, actually I loved it! Might be my love for crazy, bad guys which made Diabolik lovers a guilty pleasure as well, might be that I loved the artistic symbol of “two crazies falling in love”, I have no idea. I used to raise eyebrows at whoever said they loved the relationship between Joker and Harley, but in this movie I was kinda made to understand the charm….

…till I found out that it’s not what the directors of the movie originally intended. There’s a Reddit post which you can find here with the presumably deleted scenes of Suicide Squad and they change the atmosphere and the meaning of the movie quite a lot with emphasis on Mr. Boomerang, Slipknot, Killer Croc and Harley and Joker’s relationship. If the list is true, I feel lied to. I felt lied to by the trailers upon realizing that there were a lot of scenes that didn’t make it in the final cut, I felt lied to when I discovered that the Joker didn’t have such an important role as the trailer fanserviced us with, I feel lied to that the movie that I watched was toned down to fit the PG13 rating when it made no sense for them to do that in a movie about villains. Yes, Suicide Squad is PG13. Why did they think of doing such a thing? The response was that they wanted to make it lighter because Batman V Superman was criticized for taking itself too seriously, but-you-just-don’t-do-that-in-a-movie-about-villains! It just comes out as if they censored Joker and Harley’s abusive relationship out of being afraid to be called out for promoting domestic abuse, censored Mr. Boomerang’s intended racism and sexism towards Katana and Slipknot being a serial rapist because they were afraid to be called out as being misogynists, they censored Killer Croc’s backstory because it was considered too dark. Yet these people were never supposed to be likable, maybe save for Katana and Deadshot. You weren’t supposed to cheer for Joker trying to save Harley. And even if they wanted to keep the same good message and make it lighter, they could have simply put it in a different way. It’s nothing new to insert dark undertones in kid’s cartoons, why wasn’t it possible in Suicide Squad? Make them likable without censoring who they are! Zuko from Avatar The Last Airbender cartoon was a pain in the ass villain for most of the show, yet he turned out as one of the most likable characters because it was showed he had feelings, values and issues like any other person.Why is it that Heath Ledger’s Joker was so charming? He didn’t have a particular sense of morals nor any common sense, yet his reasoning was so interesting that many couldn’t ultimately hate him and that stands for all interpretations of the Joker for me. It’s not hard to make us empathize even with people that are supposed to be “evil” without having to resort to censoring them. I still do like the movie, but I can’t help but hope for an at least extended version or just something to justify what I watched.

As for you guys, I tell you to just go watch the movie by yourself before taking any consideration. It might be painful at some parts, painful altogether or just entertaining for you, who knows?  Despite my complaining, I do not want others to start hating on the movie or taint other’s opinions about it before actually experiencing it. So, go ahead and let me know what you think down there in the comments! Have a nice day!

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Going back to my apologizes for ignoring you guys for so long, I had some personal issues as well as some health issues which are still ongoing, so blogging and everything else related to social medias became almost a pain for me which only added up to my anxiety. I needed a break. I needed some time. I didn’t feel like sharing anything and I didn’t feel like talking to anybody. Thankfully, now I’m a bit better and Suicide Squad just sparked in me that need to get back writing again.

PS:  As I mentioned before, expect a post about an insight into Harley and Joker’s relationship presented in the final cut of the movie and then in connection to the deleted scenes soon. I have a lot to talk about that and since it will be full of spoilers, I didn’t want to include it anywhere in here. XD Till then. Bye bee!