3

Question

Why did Mr. J and Harley jump into the chemical bath in Suicide Squad?

Background

My interpretation is that this was the moment J knew he loved Harley, whereas before it would have been Harley that had to "pass every test" to prove her love for J, this scene shows us that now J is being tested by Harley to prove his love for her.

J: Would you die for me?

Harley: Yes

J: That's too easy, would you live for me?

...

Harley, then J, dive into a chemical bath

Full Scene on Youtube

enter image description here

EDIT: Possible duplicate. I did try and find it before asking, maybe not hard enough, I think it is because I couldn't find a better search query for "chemical bath", hence the lengthy title of my question to prevent future duplications:

The acid scene in "Suicide Squad"

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    Related, maybe even duplicate: movies.stackexchange.com/questions/58907/…
    – cde
    Nov 25, 2016 at 17:44
  • @cde I've edited the question to make it clear it's a duplicate rather than deleting. Main reason: Your answers to both questions seem pretty authentic and loyal to each of the questions in their own right. Although, I'm pretty sure the question I was trying to articulate was answered in the question you linked... just less easily.
    – hello_there_andy
    Nov 28, 2016 at 17:46
  • Joker said simple, not that's too easy.
    – user71192
    Apr 13, 2021 at 11:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Harley was pushed, she didn't jump. She felt a Stokholm Syndrome type of "love" after a sociopath like Joker carefully made her fall for him. Also, he forced her to go through electroshock therapy. She was pushed through being manipulated. In the source comics, she was literally pushed.

Joker, in this interpretation jumped in against his own judgement, as yes, he starts having some perverted form of love for her. This can be seen by the shaking of his head and the face he makes while he walks away and decides to jump in to save her. He's conflicted. He really had intended to just walk away and let her drown.

The movie was heavily edited to lessen the abusive, rapey relationship between Joker and Harley. In the source material, Joker never loved Harley, she was just a convenient tool to him, just like anyone else.

To wit, one major edit in the film was Harley chasing Joker, essentially forcing him to take her with him.

Improve this answer
3

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .