This is Harley Quinn: https://enjoymysparkles.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/harlequinade.jpg
Not this fake Cosplay-Meets-Harajuku-Barbie version.
Without looking into further sources, do you suppose it has something to do with the studio wanting to deviate from Quinn's depiction in "Batman: the Animated Series" as much as possible?
That series had a noir gangster theme going on. They really want Harley to be playful at face value.
~~/o/
Quinn's appearance in the animated series isn't a "depiction." That's the original character.
The studio is doing this because of what I said in my OP. The character was hijacked by attention-seeking whores who decided to exploit the character at cosplay events. Now comic book nerds only think of HQ as this slutty version they've seen at comic book events.
And when I say those cosplayers are "whores", I'm being literal. I'm talking about women who in some way are somehow connected to the sex industry and use these venues to promote themselves or gain exposure. There were so many of these women at one of the comic cons that they tried pushing for an "18+ only" event where they could walk around half-naked.
The premise of HQ in part is that she is an attention seeker and unhinged mentally. Not surprising that they decided she should be a kind of punk "whore" even though this is not the original idea of HQ as a sort of obsessed Joker fangirl gangster mole. It looks like the new movie will be a bit tiresome as a retread of the same SS movie formula of psycho-vamp oddball character.
If they were going with the original HQ they would need to somehow adapt the costume. The challenge in knowing how a "real world" HQ would look - how do people respond to their in an environmental practical way, what ques do they take from modern or other fashion to express their identity. It's unlikely that an HQ would walk about as if she had popped up from a deck of cards (eg. "The Joker" card).
The Joker had huge desire for HQ so there must be something identifiable that makes her appealing. What is that likely to be is one question.
HQ was a mix of sociopath, attention seeker and codependent personality... and at the same time she's funny, hot and cute. That's what makes her special: you realize she's a extremely toxic person, and yet you can't help but think she's cute as hell.
That contradiction is the soul of the character.
This movie, it seems that they tried to make her some "feminist bad girl". Not a codependent attention seeker anymore, and not really a sociopath, for what I heard. They just destroyed the character.
That's a really good summation of her character. I always perceived her independence being her strongest quality, making a striking contrast with her vulnerability having a Stockholm syndrome type of love affair with the Joker.
When doing a comparison to her original animated series character, which the OP properly corrected me on, her evolution is quite a leap. One could argue, though, that this is a different HQ provided she exists in a different universe altogether apart from the Animated Series.
~~/o/
During a short theater course in the university, the teacher said something I still remember: "what makes a character interesting are his contradictions".
Harrison Ford became a star because he was extremely good at making his characters tough and vulnerable at the same time. That seems contradictory, but that what made them so interesting. Something similar happens with HQ: she's independent... and extremely dependent at the same time. She's fun and cute... and toxic and sociopathic at the same time. If you take away her dependency, she just becomes another 'oh, I'm a veeery baaad girl' character. And there's already plenty of them, you have them a dime a dozen.
Yes, I agree. Toxic but somehow lovable or twee.
Now having watched the movie I can confirm the presence of a "bad girl feminist" angle, though this agenda seems justified within the narrative as the chief female characters battle against arrogance and abuse from certain male bad guys. Of course, prior to her alienation HQ is also seen to met out abuse and cruelty against those that offend her in any way - then, she too was an abuser. Now being vulnerable to attacks from various deeply annoyed men she has abused or aided in abusing, she tries to individually respond and protect herself but ultimately is forced by fate to team up with other tough but targeted women to take on the male onslaught.
She has room in her life for caring for others - her kindly landlord and even a young girl who is in trouble. Aside from that empathy ends when it comes to the criminal community or the police - they are simply objects to be removed or avoided as the situation requires. She has no status in her community after the Joker kicks her out on the street, with the bitterness and bitchy gossiping clearly informing her that she is seen as a hateful loser. She decides on a complete breaker with the Joker in her own mind and a pursuit of an individuality based on self-reliance and prioritisation of self.
is it believable? Maybe not strictly so, but one can imagine fit toughened women would give it their all in a struggle involving fighting if they little other choice and their culture is one of violence.
I wasn't entirely sure if that was her original form, the one as shown in Batman: the Animated Series given that the comics have been through so many alterations since their initial inception. Thanks for clarifying.
~~/o/
this harley is a nina hagen impersonator.
dont know nina? google her
Thanks for the mention of Nina Hagen. I hadn't heard of her before, so I checked her out. (It's always good to learn about artists you missed the first time around).
She seems to be another creative artist whose closet that that idiot Lady Gag Gag raided.
Meh.
Hugh Jackman wasn't running round in yellow lycra in the X-Men movies either.