By When it comes to Harley Quinn as a character, I’m not her biggest fan. It seems like the longer she’s been around, the more grating her presence becomes. There has always been something poetic and tragic about her character and her relationship with the Joker to the point where it has unfortunately for many it has become her sole character trait over the past few decades. She loves/loved the Joker and that’s about it. There are only so many stories that you can put Harley and the Joker in before the formula starts to gets stale, so the status quo needed to change eventually so her character could grow.
The Oscar winning Suicide Squad was her big break, showing a Harley to the world that was peppy, a little bit crazy, and most importantly, ready to move past the Joker. On paper, it was a good idea. Thanks to a legion of fans that now idolize Harley and her bad girl, rebellious aesthetic, DC is now pushing Harley Quinn as being the new face of the DCEU. Don’t believe me? While Henry Cavill’s fate is questionable in the DCEU, we know that she’ll star in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in 2021 and now she’s going to be playing a major part in Birds of Prey, or as I like to call it BoPatFEoOHQ, if the new poster is anything to go by.
I both love and hate this design. The use of color is certainly pleasant and makes the poster looks visually distinct from most other banal posters but the actual aim and message of the poster is confusing at best. It’s a Birds of Prey movie, but the actual team occupy so little of the space. The Harley Quinn tagline is tiny, but Harley’s face absolutely DOMINATES the poster. So is this a Birds of Prey movie using Harley’s popularity as a vehicle for mainstream recognition, or is this a Harley Quinn movie disguised as a Birds of Prey movie? Either way, I can hear the sound of Hot Topic stores across the country squealing at all the merchandise they’ll make off of this movie and all the Harley fangirls getting ready to see Margot Robbie return to the character.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (I will never like that title) releases February 7, 2020.
