Joker (2019) *W/ SPOILERS!*
Joker is a fantastic movie.
Joaquin Phoenix is a fantastic Joker.
This movie, in my opinion, brings us the most relatable and most sympathetic version of Joker that weāve ever seen in live-action film. A man who simply wanted to ābring joy and laughter to the worldā and his descent into madness through the constant barrage of a toxic society.
Arthur Fleck is a very sympathetic character. In the beginning, heās sweet and socially awkward, peaceful and shies away from confrontation. Heās trying to work with the world, color inside its lines, but all it does is invite pain. The system doesnāt care about him, takes away his medication, leaves him unable to cope and without employment to care for himself or his mother. His own appointed social worker offers him no help, even after she notes several obvious suicidal thoughts within his journal.
In this iteration of Joker, Arthur has a neurological condition where he laughs at inappropriate moments, to the point where he literally chokes himself from laughter. This only further drives Arthurās pain with dealing with his mental illnessā people constantly assuming that heās laughing AT them when he simply cannot help it.
This condition seems to be triggered due to stress or sudden feelings of anger:
- The woman berating him on the bus for ābotheringā her child
- Reggie making rude jokes toward Gary
- The businessmen harassing the woman on the subway
- His first attempt at stand-up
- Thomas calling Arthurās mother ādelusionalā
The transformation from Arthur into Joker was a slow and methodical process. Arthur began to act out. He began to mouth off. He began to stand up for himself because āhe had nothing left to loseā. He was tired of the system kicking him while he was down.
He took control of his life in the only way he knew how, by retaliating with the same violence and hatred the world was giving him.
In the beginning, Arthur doesnāt hurt anybody. He couldnāt cross that line. He didnāt think he had it in him.
However, during the subway incident, he hurts those that attack him first, killing the two businessmen out of self-defense and hunting the final one down, giving him his first taste of real power. Of control.
After these killings, Arthur begins to kill those he feels have wronged him or deserves it. Randall for making him lose his job. His mother for allowing his abuse and subsequent trauma that caused his laughing disorder. Murray for mocking him on live television and inviting him to tease him further.
Despite the drastic change, Joker is not a separate personality to Arthur. To me, Joker represents the urges that Arthurās been fighting back.
Joker is Arthurās way to retaliate against the system, against those who wronged him.
The stairs that led Arthur back to his apartment thatās used throughout the movie represented his sanity. Each time he walked up the stairs, sticking to what society expected of him, he was defeated. Depressed. Unable to fight back.
In the final act where he becomes Joker, heās dancing down the stairs, descending into madness. Heās happy. Heās confident. He finally feels freed from what society forced him to be.
Heās finally able to see the comedy in the tragedy of his life.
origamiaround
janainaart
jbbartram-illu
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
2087
blakekathryn
