Harley Quinn was first introduced to the DC Universe in the early ’90s as the Joker’s sidekick and romantic interest. In her origin story, Harleen Quinzel was a doctor at the Arkham Asylum, who fell in love with the Joker while he was her patient. She was driven mad by her love for him and became the villain, Harley Quinn.
As a villain, Harley Quinn embodied her namesake, the harlequin character. In the sixteenth century, the Commedia dell’arte style of theater became popular. This type of theater featured several stock characters. One of the characters was the harlequin, who took on the role the trickster servant and the love interest. Harley’s skin-tight outfit with the black and red diamonds paid homage to the harlequin character, who would dress in a jester-like outfit. This outfit showed all her curves and enhanced her sexual appeal to the Joker.
Fast forward to 2016, when the first Suicide Squad movie was released. Harley was still in love with the Joker, though he made few appearances in this movie. She wears a choker necklace, that resembles a collar, with her nickname for him: Puddin’. His nickname is on her body, proving that she belongs to him. Her barely-there shorts and small tight shirt may show more skin than her original jester costume, but they are almost as revealing as the jester’s tights.
Harley Quinn stole the show in the first Suicide Squad movie. She is the only character to have inspired her own movie four years later, and she is one of the few characters who was brought back for the second Suicide Squad movie that was just released in August 2021.
In her solo movie, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Harley finally earns her independence from the Joker. Their relationship is over, and Harley must become a villain in her own right. Now, her focus is on saving women from the evil men who abuse them. She also has a new style of clothing.
Harley’s “emancipation” is apparent in her new clothing choices throughout her solo movie. When she blows up the chemical factory that turned her and the Joker into villains, she still wears her signature short shorts but pairs them with a jacket with large arms covered in streamers. Even with bare legs, her bulky jacket gives her a new silhouette, no longer showing every part of her body through the fabric. At another point in the movie, Harley is wearing a pink onesie with cat ears on the hood. Though it covers as much of her body as the original diamond patterned bodysuit that the character wore when she was first introduced, this onesie is loose fitting and doesn’t show the shape of her body underneath it. Harley is depressed and pigging out on food in that scene, so naturally she wants to wear looser clothes. The way that Harley changes her outfits for different scenes, unlike when she wore just one costume in the comics or in the first Suicide Squad movie, make her a more relatable female character.
Harley Quinn has gone through many changes throughout her thirty-year life in the DC Comics Universe. She started out as a partner to the Joker, but she has grown into her own character. She is independent and assertive in her own life, while she promotes female empowerment. I can’t wait to see what Harley does next.
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