Joker 2019: Parallelism
Ok, so I just wanted to share something I noticed while watching this masterpiece.
The stairs scenes.
The dance on the stairs have become an icon of this movie, but do you remember when we first see them?
Yes, here.
At the beginning.
I would like to point our attention to the photography: it's cold, dark, gloomy, just few lampions that barely illuminate the way. The scene is filmed by the approaching night.
And now watch Arthur.
He is going up slowly, face down, every step is heavy, it clearly costs him a lot of effort to reach the end of the stairs.
This scene is a metaphor of Arthur's life.
His life has been so merciless that he never felt happiness, as he himself confirms, even though his job as a clown is to pretend to be happy. There is no greater conviction, to cry behind a happy face.
So all his life he struggles to arrive at the end of the day with the minor suffering possible, condemned by his own disease, his loneliness, his unreachable dream of becoming a comedian.
His life is made of dark stairs he tries to climb with unbearable hardship.
But by the end of the movie, we find the same though completely different stairs.
It's daylight.
Everything is brighter, happier, new. The gloomy atmosphere is finally gone. It's actually the first time we see this.
And now look at Joker.
Joker, not Arthur.
Arthur no longer exists. There is a new man, now. Someone who's coming down. Someone who's dancing.
This scene is the official birth of Joker.
Arthur has finally left behind everything that made his life a nightmare, he killed himself to give birth to someone who is not afraid of anything, not afraid of being himself, not afraid to exist.
His life now is made of bright stairs that he comes down with a joyful dance.
He is finally happy.
He is finally Joker.
NOT MY GIFS