Dark Knight Fan Cooks Up 'Audacity of Joke' ![](http://nsa03.casimages.com/img/2008/11/05/081105082425523558.jpg)
A Dark Knight fan mashed two of this year's most-copied visuals to create a cool Election Day image.
James Lillis subbed an image of Heath Ledger's Joker into artist Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster for Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama. Lillis calls the resulting image "The Audacity of Joke."
The inspiration was definitely Dark Knight, not the 2008 presidential election, Lillis said in an e-mail interview.
"I don't get inspired by elections," he said. "Democracy is overrated."
Ledger's performance, on the other hand, spurred Lillis into action.
"Heath Ledger's Joker will have to go down as one of the all-time great movie villains," said Lillis, a 32-year-old professional speaker from Brisbane, Australia. "
Having watched his scenes over a few times, you'll find there's a lot more to the character than you first assume. His logic is actually quite consistent!
"At the risk of getting too philosophical, he comes across as some demonic spawn of Nietzsche and post-modernism. Which is why everyone has such a hard time understanding him -- he rejects popular ideals of rationalism and modernism."
So, who does Lillis think the grease-painted anarchist would support in this year's presidential election?
"Perhaps the Joker would vote, but for very different reasons than your average voter," Lillis said. "I think he would vote for the person he would most like to 'play with.'
However, having said that, the Joker does love to play with politicians with strong moral foundations -- so I really can't see him showing much interest in U.S. politics."