Histrionic personality disorder of Harley Quinn (2024)

Executive Summary:

Harleen Quinzel is a famous comic book character who was portrayed as nothing other than Joker’s lover initially for TV shows and movies. Her character was primarily made for the male gaze but the complexity of her character and deeper understanding of abuse and mental illnesses led to more representation of Harley and studies soon showed that she was suffering from Histrionic personality disorder. This paper looks into that claim and sheds light on how Harley’s portrayal has changed over the years.

Table of Contents

Introduction:

Histrionic personality disorder or HPD is a personality disorder lying on the emotional spectrum. Personality disorders like Borderline personality disorder, Antisocial personality disorder, Histrionic personality disorder, and others are usually stigmatized with very little portrayal in the media or any form of representation (Wright, 2015). However, in recent times, mental illnesses and their complexity have been explored in the mainstream media. This paper aims to look at one of the most popular characters of the modern day, Harleen Quinzel. Many people have glorified/sexualized/victimized her on various instances but the complexity of her actions and the underlying connotations have been overlooked. So, this paper tries to shed light on the case of Harley Quinn and tries to explain her unusual choices.

Discussion:

As mentioned above Histrionic personality disorder lies is the emotional spectrum. A mnemonic that is used to remember and describe the common traits of Histrionic Personality disorder is abbreviated as, “PRAISE ME” (Nalini, 2018). The full form is, provocative (seductive) behavior, relations seem more intense than they really are, attention-seeking traits, easily influenced by people or circ*mstances, speech or style that lacks detail and wants to impress, emotional liability, make-up or physical appearance used to draw attention to self and exaggerated emotions. The character of Harley Quinn was created for the male gaze but if we look closely at Harley Quinn, she depicts all these traits, especially in the movies.

Origin of Harley in movies:

Harley Quinn came about from the DC comics and eventually made its way to the big screen. Initially introduced only as Joker’s love interest, the movie makers soon saw the potential of Harley as a character. She grew up with three brothers with a keen interest in understanding the human mind, especially that of criminals. She went to medical school, got herself a Ph.D, and started working at Gotham Hospital where she quit to become a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. While working there, she met Joker, the clown prince of crime, and immediately fell in love. She helped break him out of jail and changed her appearance by jumping into the same chemical plant where Joker had changed his appearance (Shehadeh, 2017). Is this behavior normal?

The case of Harley Quinn:

In reply to the question asked above, Adrian Furnham, Professor at the University of London, says that there are 8 facets where we can sense histrionic personality disorder in Harley Quinn. The facets are:

· Self-consciousness

· Gregariousness

· Warmth

· Trust

· Fantasy

· Excitement-seeking

· Trust

· Positive emotions

A person suffering from Histrionic personality disorder is always looking for excitement, approval, and attention. They refuse to live in reality and always think relationships are more serious than they actually are (French, 2020). It has been seen time and again that Joker could not care less about Harley. He would hit her, manipulate her, and leave her to fend for herself when cops arrived (Petric, 2020). Yet, for Harley, her ‘puddin’ or the Joker was always right and she would do anything to get his approval. A lot of people have argued that Harley might have Hybristophilia which has been defined by Professor John Money as, “a sexual paraphilia in which an individual derives sexual arousal or pleasure from having a sexual partner who is known to have committed an outrage or crime such as rape, murder or armed robbery”. However, Harley does no get aroused by Joker committing crimes, in fact in Suicide Squad, it is depicted how Harley’s deepest desire is to have a normal life with Joker and build a family. It has also been argued that Harley has Stockholm Syndrome wherein victims start bonding with their captors but again, Harley fell in love with Joker at the asylum and then helped him break out, there was no hostage situation. So, it is clear that Harley was suffering from Histrionic personality disorder. So why did it take so long to see?

Portrayal of Harley in movies:

Harley became a character of interest only because of the male gaze. Her body, clothes, and even her ‘craziness’ were hypersexualized. It took a long time before people stopped glorifying the relationship between Joker and Harley and Joker and saw it for what it really was, abuse. The capitalist market decided that empowering Harley would get them more money, so more movies and TV shows were made following the emancipation of Harley and her relationship with Poison Ivy. It was only then that people began questioning Harley’s actions and the new studies in psychology paved the way for a psychological analysis of Harley Quinn. Recent movies and TV shows show Harley having broken up with Joker. Even there, the movies casually show how Joker leaves her and she is devastated but still living in an alternative reality (King, 2019)

Emancipation of Harley Quinn:

In recent times, even if it is to make a profit, the media has started portraying Harley as a more empowered character. With more and more TV shows, movies, and comics focusing on Harley, her pain, struggles, and strength have become more apparent. It is a refreshing change considering Harley started off as nothing but a victim of mental illness who was an arm candy for Joker. Histrionic personality disorder affects 4 times more women than men. It is extremely important for women suffering from personality disorders, for women in abusive relationships, and for women suffering from Histrionic personalities to have a strong representation. Harley started off as a poorly written character in the initial movies but she has now become, and quite rightly so, a story of liberation for many women (Savki, 2019) (Comics, 2019).

Conclusion:

Harleen Quinzel was an ordinary woman with big aspirations. She was bright and acquired her Ph.D. and then became a psychiatrist with dreams of curing the toughest patients. She then met Joker and acquired Histrionic personality disorder. She put unnatural faith in Joker, refused to see the relationship for what it was, and was constantly seeking his approval. So in conclusion, it is clear that she had Histrionic personality disorder. It is imperative to stop the glorification, shaming, or sexualization of mental illnesses and show them for they are, illnesses.

References:

French, J. H., & Shrestha, S. (2020). Histrionic personality disorder.StatPearls [Internet].

King, H. (2019). The Detrimental Affect Sexual Abuse has on Mental Wellbeing as Shown in ‘Pop-Culture’and Modern Literature.Literary Cultures,2(1).

Nalini, R., & Panneerselvam, S. (2018). Histrionic Personality Disorder.International Journal of Advances in Nursing Management,6(4), 329-333.

Petric, D. Psychological archetypes: Harley Quinn and The Two Hit Theory.Online unter: https://www. academia. edu/40069188/Psychological_archetypes_Harley_Quinn_and_The_Tw o_Hit_Theory (letzter Zugriff: 20.6. 2020).

Savci, M., Turan, M. E., Griffiths, M. D., & Ercengiz, M. (2019). Histrionic personality, narcissistic personality, and problematic social media use: Testing of a new hypothetical model.International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-19.

Shehadeh, B. (2017). The Case of Harleen Quinzel.

Wright, A. G., Hopwood, C. J., & Zanarini, M. C. (2015). Associations between changes in normal personality traits and borderline personality disorder symptoms over 16 years.Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment,6(1), 1.

Comics, F., Allies, K., Joker, P. I., Enemies, K., Batman, R., Six, S., ... & Quinzel, H. (2019). Harley Quinn.The American Superhero: Encyclopedia of Caped Crusaders in History, 162.