Joker's use of make-up and vanity

[The Laughing Fish]

As everybody knows, Joker would sometimes try to cover up his deformed clown face with flesh colour make-up, in a futile attempt to avoid causing suspicion about his disfigurement.

Another layer to this is it might show his desperation to try to regain some sort of normality following his accident at Axis Chemicals. Before becoming the Joker, Jack Napier was a vain man who appeared to take pride in his appearance. Afterwards, the Joker might've fully embraced his next level of psychosis in a battle to prove who is the biggest freak between himself and Batman in the media, but he probably longed for the lost "beauty" he once had. After all, his new face was too ghastly for Carl Grissom, Alicia, and Vicki Vale when she splashed water at his face at the museum, so why wouldn't a man as proud as Napier try to hide himself with make-up?

Nonetheless, it does give him a good excuse to taunt Batman while hijacking live TV by saying "I've taken off my make-up. Let's see if you can take off yours", in a bid to earn the idiotic public's trust and make everybody doubt the mysterious vigilante.

[Catwoman]

Going to disagree. I think his vanity, just like Selina's meekness in Batman Returns, was washed away. That's what makes villainy seem so inviting and powerful, you lose any inhibitions. Trouble is it's a long way down in the end (in Jack's case, literally).

I think he only used the makeup as a simple disguise when it suited him in the moment. He never would have gotten through the door in that meeting (without killing everybody before he could make his demands that Grissom's assets be signed over to him or however that worked, I forget off hand....oops...) in his "normal" appearance. The makeup was (I guess in his mind) a little disarming so that he could actually talk to Vicki without her freaking out. And with the videotaped message, it worked as far as duping the people of Gotham (who were watching, some were listening like the biker gang or whatever it was, again I forget off hand....oops....) into thinking there was a "somewhat normal" person under the clown makeup, when in reality it was the clown all along. Remember that when it no longer suited him he didn't bother with makeup (the City Hall massacre, the visit to Vicki's apartment, and the parade, all of which were in or would take him through the clear view of the public).

[The Laughing Fish]

Fair enough Catwoman.

Does anybody else have anything to say?

[Catwoman]

I hope you don't feel like I was busting your balls or anything. You're like the only person here who takes what I say seriously (when it's meant to be), so I didn't mean anything by it.

[The Laughing Fish]

I hope you don't feel like I was busting your balls or anything. You're like the only person here who takes what I say seriously (when it's meant to be), so I didn't mean anything by it.

Don't worry, it's all good. 

[The Dark Knight]

I don't think he was desperate to regain normality. I think he accepted this was his new life and went along with it.

After his accident Napier lost his inhibitions, but sought to make everybody look like himself, or at least scarred like Alicia. It is lashing out at the world and a form of vanity. He took beauty and made it ugly. Key evidence is how he used beauty products to poison people. 2008's TDK had the theme of bringing people 'down to our level', and that's also true for B89.

He made having a big grin the new normal. He was reborn this way. Everyone else would become like him and then die. He basically wanted to become the master of the universe, if you look at things that way. It was his world to mould.

I agree with the cat when she says the flesh tone was a disguise to appear as normal as possible. It was strategic.

[The Joker]

Agreeing with the Cat and Knight on this one.

Following the Joker's emergence, I don't think he ever had any real yearning for any sort of normalcy. Cosmetically, or in general. He saw himself as a living work of art, and it's established that art was something of interest for Jack Napier thanks to his profile being read by Bruce in the film. So it makes sense. If anything, the thought of normalcy fell by the wayside, with Jack/Joker becoming increasingly flamboyant, and much more of a showman. If even for his own personal, mean spirited and morbid, amusement.

[Catwoman]

Jack was dead, and we could call him Joker. And as we could all see, he was a lot happier.