Love will once again be in the air come February 2020. Harley Quinn will be getting her own spin off movie, Birds of Prey, after Suicide Squad’s release in 2016. The movie will be based on Harley Quinn’s relationship with The Joker, but ultimately she decides to leave his side. Gotham City has gone unprotected since Batman has disappeared. Cassandra, a new character in the movie, comes across a diamond belonging to a Masked Villain. Harley Quinn teams up with a few other villains, Black Canary, Renee and Huntress to protect the girl and the diamond.
Let’s not forget the real reason we all fell in love with Harley Quinn in the first place. Her sassy personality wasn’t the only thing. Her relationship with The Joker was what had a lot of viewers hashtagging #relationshipgoals. Harley Quinn was over the moon about her Puddin’, as she calls him in the movie; but their relationship wasn’t the ideal that should be idolized.
Harley Quinn and Joker had what some would call an abusive relationship. According to Time, “theirs is a twisted story of domestic abuse.” In Suicide Squad the way they meet and fell in love wasn’t exactly your typical love story. Quinn is abused verbally and physically by The Joker. In the actual comic books it goes deeper than what has been shown on the big screen, and DC Comics isn’t the only movie that’s glamorized abusive relationships.
Back in 2008, Summit Entertainment decided to bring Stephanie Meyer’s popular book series to the big screen. Edward Cullin and Bella Swan become the it couple between 2008 and 2012. The Twilight craze began when Bella fell in love with a vampire. When Bella first starts at Forks High School, she sees herself as the awkward, unsocial, unattractive, and uncoordinated. But she just so happens to catch the most popular guys’ attention–Edward Cullen.
Edward knows he has her attention and can make her do anything he asks. As for Bella, when Edward ignores her, she begins to chase after what she knows she can’t have. Edward warns her and lets her know she shouldn’t be coming after him. That draws Bella to him even more.
Eventually Edward uses his power over her and has her alienate herself from all the people around her. Bella doesn’t mind the violence, she actually finds it exciting and likes the dangerous situations she’s put in. According to Wind Goodfriend who has a Ph.D. in psychology, films like these can actually cause many issues among teens who are the primary viewers of superhero and romance movies. “In the case of Twilight, it’s possible that the millions of screaming fans might be learning how to fall victim to a violent relationship.”
These movies have in some ways glorified abusive relationships. Bella’s low self esteem draws the attention of men who like to feel like the alpha. Harley Quinn loves danger and the joker delivers just that. We’ve seen how twilight ends with Bella and Edward living happily ever after but Bella and her daughter went through a lot to get to that point. Are these really the relationship goals we should be looking at?
With 20 people per minute being abused by a partner according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, films like these definitely are not helping. Physical or not, showcasing any sort of abusive behavior on screen is dangerous. Harley Quinn and the Joker will have all eyes on their relationship come February 2020.
