There’s so much discussion around screen time and its potential harm that many parents may be tempted to enforce complete bans on this kind of activity. Removing screens means removing the problem, right? Or perhaps not.
Teens, in particular, are unlikely to stop a behaviour simply because their parents want them to. In this instance, screen time bans can prove more harmful as they result in secretive screen activity that’s entirely out of your knowledge or control.
Equally, complete screen time bans from a young age can result in the glamorization, or overuse, of screens as those children get older. Banning screens altogether also prevents children from understanding essentials to modern living, such as healthy, screen smart behaviours, and even the ability to access online benefits like personalized learning.
Nowadays, it’s also true that entirely banning your child from screens can leave them isolated from classmates or friendship groups, resulting in inevitable resentments and potential social difficulties both in and outside of school. For all of these reasons and more, management is always better than complete restriction, as it allows children to benefit from screens in an open, overseen way that keeps parents in control at all times.
# 2 – A Lack of Age-Appropriate Parental Controls
Parental controls on each of your child’s devices are by far the best ways to ensure they don’t encounter inappropriate content online. These controls can manage everything from how long and when your child can access the internet, to which sites they’re able to access during that time. Most parents understand the importance of putting these controls in place before handing a device to their child, but many don’t take enough precautions to make sure that these controls are effective or age-appropriate.
Even basic parental controls will be sufficient for younger children who, up until the age of at least five, should also be supervised while using screens. However, ill-thought or poorly managed parental controls can quickly come under fire as tech-savvy children reach their pre-teen and teen years. Not to mention that, at this age, strict restrictions could be as bad as complete bans for encouraging secretive use, or even hidden devices that you don’t know about.
The best way to overcome this is to continually review parental controls, ensuring that they provide age-appropriate restrictions and a strong enough defence to resist wise teenagers. As your children get older, it’s also worth speaking with them about restrictions that they may find problematic, and adjusting your approach to give them more overall control of their online activities, without entirely removing your much-needed oversight.
Here are all 6 Joker actors ranked, from worst to best.
Also, we’re only counting film Jokers, and not animated ones.
Disagree? Great, that’s what the comments are for. Here we go.
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix in Joker. Warner Bros. – Credit: Joaquin Phoenix in Joker, Warner Bros.
The emperor has no clothes. We know: Joaquin Phoenix’s take on The Joker in Joker was a spectacular success, bringing in a billion dollars and winning Phoenix an Oscar for Best Actor.
Well, everyone was wrong. It was painful to watch Phoenix’s Joker ham it up through some nonsensical psychological condition cobbled together from superior movies like Taxi Driver and Fight Club.
Phoenix’s Joker was cool visually — his emaciated body was more resonant than any of his dialogue — but his knockoff Travis Bickle felt so disconnected from any real human being that he and his movie had no stakes. He was the last thing the Joker should be: boring.
Jared Leto
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as The Joker in Suicide Squad. Warner Bros.
What if The Joker were hot? That seems to be the odd approach to Jared Leto’s Joker of Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He came off like one of those sexy influencers constantly insisting that they’re “deep” and “complex.” Not one for subtlety — he’s The Joker — he even had the word “Damaged” tattooed on his forehead.
This is a matter of personal taste, but we prefer the idea of The Joker as a miscreant who could never survive in polite society, no matter how hard he might try, who turns to The Joker persona out of desperation. Leto’s Joker could have just quit crime to go into modeling.
There were some cool things about Jared Leto’s Joker, for sure. He had the best clothes of any Joker, and we liked how he took fashion and tattoo inspiration from East L.A. gangsters. But maybe he should have just been a new character, not The Joker.
Barry Keoghan
Barry Keoghan as The Joker in The Batman. Warner Bros.
2022’s The Batman went in the opposite direction from Jared Leto’s sexy Joker, portraying The Joker as having some kind of complicated skin condition that looks like a cross between burns and syphilis, in addition to his demented grin.
We think Barry Keoghan is one of the best actors around, but we can’t abide by the decision to give him glorified cameo status as an fellow Arkham resident who cheerleads Paul Dano’s (terrific) Riddler. Keoghan gets more to do in a deleted scene that really should have been in the movie.
Many versions of The Joker seems to use a pretense of comedy to mask profound despair and depression, but Keoghan’s seems to be just depressed and low energy. He doesn’t have the undeniable presence of the best Jokers.
He’ll reportedly return in the next Batman film, and will hopefully have more to do.
Jack Nicholson
Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale and Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Batman. Warner Bros.
It was great to see Jack Nicholson pop up at the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary show on Sunday, reminding everyone of what a cool screen presence he’s always had.
Speaking of cool: He seemed a little above Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman — he didn’t phone it in, exactly, but he also avoided exploring any real pain or messiness in his version of the Clown Prince of Crime. He just seemed like he was having fun.
One thing we especially like about Nicholson’s Joker is that unlike all the others, he really did have pale skin and green hair, a consequence of a long dip in a huge vat at Axis Chemicals. We weren’t as sold on his interest in art, which seemed like too many things, or the notion that he killed Bruce’s parents, which felt a little on the nose.
Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero as The Joker and Phyllis Douglas as Josie Miller in Batman. ABC
Some people would deduct points for Cesar Romero’s refusal to shave his mustache to play The Joker in the 1966 Batman film and the 1966-68 TV series. But we love it: It’s the most Joker thing he could possibly do. It’s a completely anarchic, middle-finger-to-the-world level of commitment — or refusal to commit — that is as Joker as you can get.
We also find Romero’s Joker effortlessly creepy in a way no other Joker is. He’s kind of suave and dashing, which makes him somehow even more grotesque. His voice, alternately sinewy and gravelly, is compelling. And his laugh is the best of any Joker’s. He also had the best hair, especially when it bounced as he shook with rage.
You got the sense that he thought his whole ensemble — the purple suit, the green hair — looked good. Rather than seeming ashamed of his appearance, he seemed vain, which gave him an unnerving element of narcissism. You can say his Joker was too broad, but come on: He’s a criminal who dresses like a clown to play to the cheap seats. He set the standard for all future Jokers.
Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Warner Bros – Credit: Warner Bros.
Only one actor has gotten The Joker exactly right, honoring the comic-book legacy of The Joker while grounding him completely in reality. In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger delivered a Gen X Joker, pragmatic and detached — so detached that he seems meta.
He refuses to disclose an origin story, instead offering several — one of many ways he maintains a jittery sense of perpetual menace. But the real pleasure of The Dark Knight is realizing that despite his disheveled appearance and chaotic appearance, the war-painted misanthrope is the most meticulous planner in Gotham, whether robbing a bank of staging a moral showdown between ferry passengers.
“His Joker was deeply, deeply warped and damaged, though you never find out exactly why, or what he’s really looking for,” Ledger’s Dark Knight co-star, Michael Caine, observes in his recent memoir. “Looking back, I think Heath’s excellence made all of us raise our game. The psychological battle between The Joker and Batman is completely riveting. Are they in any way the same? What nudges one man to do good, and the other to do evil? The Joker wants to torment Bruce by convincing him that they’re two of a kind.”
Ledger earned a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. Sadly, he died before its release.
Liked This List of All 6 Joker Actors, Ranked?
Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Batman. Warner Bros. – Credit: Warner Bros.
