The Joker Is Not Well Groomed These Days

I know. I know. Shame on me. I've been so out of commission, it's actually frightening!

Very sorry lovely Modos. There are myriad reasons for my absence, but although I may post slightly less frequently - perhaps once a week rather than three times - you will be hearing my beauty musings with, at the very least, more regularity.

So let's talk pop culture. It's an unconventional topic for me, to be honest, even though my job requires me to be somewhat on top of it. But having worked the Dark Knight premiere, and bearing witness to the extreme hullabahoo surrounding the production, I feel it's still at the forefront of my mind. Granted, this film is heavy on the men folk, with the only really important lady being Maggie Gyllenhaal (and did she ever hold it down! LOVE her!); there wasn't exactly a lot of relatable beauty present it terms of my viewing enjoyment. (Gyllenhaal did sport a killer red lip to the premiere and looked stunning.)

However, it's worth noting that the makeup in the film was magnificent in the form of Heath Ledger. Going back to my post about chipped nails, it's worth noting that the Joker is certainly making an impact in the film with his chipped foundation and chipped lipstick.

You've seen the stills if you haven't made it to the theaters, so you know what I'm trying to say.

It's very funny to me that this is our contemporary Joker, rather than being the perfectly masked Jack Nicholson interpretation (he was fastidious with his grooming techniques, no?) - what people are calling "humanized." Yes, Heath plays the part to perfection - humanizing a totally dark and destructive character - but there has to be something said for the fact that our interpretation of humanizing the Joker aesthetically is through mussing him up and making him look like he hadn't showered in months.

The one thing I will say is that in the past, many of our most villainous characters in film were represented as completely well put together - i.e. Cruella Deville, Catwoman, Norman Osborn (Spiderman), and Jafar (Aladdin); remember Angelica Houston in "The Witches," the film adaptation of the Roald Dahl book? All completely primped to perfection. I wonder if being perfectly groomed happens to be our little warning that something sinister is brewing beneath the surface?

Maybe this is why I always felt so suspicious of Victoria Beckham...

Really, this is just an observation, but it's a funny thought that in order to "humanize" a demon, we aesthetically rumple them up a bit, huh? Thoughts lovelies?

~ Olivia Villanti