Harley Quinn from "Suicide Squad" hardly seems like a good role model, but because her character is broken and can't seem to shake off her abusive and obsessive relationship with the Joker, she is someone that people find themselves relating to.
Dr. Wind Goodfriend, principal researcher for the Institute for the Prevention of Relationship Violence at Buena Vista University believes that writer and director David Ayer has a huge weight on his shoulders as he presents Harley Quinn on the big screen. On one hand, he needs to tell her story honestly, yet at the same time, he has to be careful not to romanticize abusive relationships and make it appear acceptable in today's culture.
"If she's going to be portrayed as a victim of abuse who continues to embrace that abuse and continues to go back to that abusive perpetrator, I think that viewers who are currently or former victims themselves could be re-traumatized by that because they are going to personally respond to the abuse that they see on the screen," she told MTV News. "If the Joker hits her, I think that people who have experienced that will respond to that on a visceral level, much more than people who have only heard about that or who have never really thought about it."
Still, her story can be a positive influence on those who have suffered from abusive relationships, because many people today have a difficult time being able to determine what constitutes as abuse. Having it depicted on the big screen can make it accessible to people who desperately need a wake up call and get out of destructive relationships.
"We have cognitive biases that protect ourselves," Goodfriend explainedd. "So we may be experiencing these negative dynamics in a relationship and we don't label it, we don't recognize it, we don't see it from the objective perspective. Sometimes seeing it in a fictional character helps us identify, this is what's happening to me and this is not okay."
Goodfriend's only concern is if Harley continues to display love and affection towards the Joker even after he mistreats her, because that might encourage viewers to do the same thing. However, if the film shows her standing up to him and being an intelligent character, then she can even become "a great person for young people to admire in spite of the fact that she's a psychopathic murderer."
