Alex DeLarge and Jack Napier

[Silver Nemesis]

Many people have compared Heath Ledger's Joker to Alex from A Clockwork Orange. The comparisons seem to stem from Ledger citing this character as an influence during his early preparation for the role. His Joker Diary was also filled with images from Kubrick's 1971 film adaptation. However, Ledger subsequently said he moved away from the Clockwork Orange approach:

Yeah. "A Clockwork Orange" was a very early starting point for Christian and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1574035/heath-ledger-discusses-delving-into-dylan-for-im-not-there-channeling-sid-vicious-for-dark-knight/

He also said he would never attempt to play the Joker similar to Nicholson's interpretation as he knew he couldn't possibly match his performance. Hence why he went in such a different direction:

You know, I was a big fan of Jack Nicholson – still am – his portrayal of the Joker was perfect for Tim Burton's world and if Tim Burton had come to me and he was doing the sequel and he asked me to play the Joker in his movie, I wouldn't do it. I couldn't. Because you couldn't touch what Jack Nicholson did. It would be a crime.

http://www.themovieblog.com/2007/heath-ledger-talks-about-playing-the-joker/

Now I'm wondering if there's a possible connection between these two factors. Did Ledger move away from the Clockwork Orange approach because it was too similar to the 1989 film? Because I've always felt Nicholson's Joker has a lot more in common with Alex than Ledger's. Some might argue it was the common influence Kubrick had on both McDowell and Nicholson's over-the-top performances, but I think it goes beyond that. There are similarities not only in the acting, but in the characterisation too.

The Kubrick stare.

For example, which character am I describing?

Cane-twirling, narcissistic sociopath with a flamboyant dress sense and a warped appreciation of art. A violent sadist, he gets off on hurting other people – particularly women he's sexually attracted to – and mentally correlates these acts of violence with the art he loves so much. There's a particular musician he's fond of (Beethoven/Prince) and he has a habit of dancing over his victims to this composer's music. Maintains an innocent facade for the public in order to manipulate their sympathies, while inwardly fantasising about hurting them. Lashes out against his own gang members in spontaneous acts of violence, and is betrayed by a fellow criminal at a pivotal point in his character arc. Sports a bright costume that includes facial makeup, a hat and cane. Destroys other people's creative works (tearing up the writer's manuscript/defacing the paintings in the gallery), while at the same time seeing artistry in his own crimes.

Now obviously Napier is a good deal more homicidal than Alex. Though it's worth remembering that in Anthony Burgess' novel (which in my opinion is vastly, vastly superior to the film) Alex does actually kill a second victim in addition to the cat lady: be beats to death his prison cellmate after the latter tries to sexually assault him. Alex also outgrows his violent ways in the final chapter of the novel, though Kubrick didn't adapt this chapter because it was excised from the original US edition of the book. But what if Alex didn't reform? What if he developed a blasé attitude towards killing and grew more ambitious? Might a middle-aged Alex have resembled Jack Napier?

I thought this might be an interesting thread to discuss Burgess' novel or Kubrick's film as possible literary/cinematic influences on the characterisation of Nicholson's Joker. If we could keep it from degenerating into another Nicholson vs. Ledger thread, or worse yet another Nolan/Ledger bashing thread, then that'd be swell. Though if anyone would like to discuss the similarities between Alex and Ledger's Joker here too, then that's fine.