“What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?”
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, is a movie that makes you think. Joker is not about Joker, the supervillain. Joker is about Arthur Fleck, the mentally ill loner. This film iteration of Joker is unique in how it chooses to humanize the villain, which leaves the audience divided when Arthur turns from relatable everyman into psychotic murderer. When I found Arthur abused by strangers, struggling financially, and needing help for his mental health, I wondered: who is at fault for the Joker’s actions? Arthur Fleck, or the society that abandoned him?
There are plenty of scenes in Joker where Arthur Fleck is abandoned, bruised, and depressed. Arthur is assaulted by a group of teenagers, socially ostracized at work, and constantly made to be the laughingstock, a role that gradually strains him more and more. Watching such abuse is difficult, and is made more straining because the audience understands the social nuances that Arthur misses. Until the dramatic twist occurs, the film feels more like the exposition to a superhero movie, except this time, instead of rising above to become a hero, Arthur succumbs to society’s cruelty and becomes the villain.
It hurt when the twist came because of how he was set up to be our hero.
With every new horror he committed, I found myself racing to come up with excuses, with justifications for his actions. “He had a troubled childhood. He’s mentally ill. He’s been physically and mentally battered in the past weeks.” But all of these are excuses for inexcusable crimes, which I realized with every passing second.
Joker is painful to watch not because of how it humanizes the villain, but because all of us have an innate belief that society is inhumane. It is possible (and quite likely) that there are people like Arthur Fleck all around us who have been ravaged by our unforgiving society. As with all films, the scenario is amplified and exaggerated somewhat, but the premise of the film remains startlingly familiar. A large imbalance in wealth distribution, poor social infrastructure, issues with mental health, the affluent preying on the poor; Joker is horrifying not because of its violence, but because its world has real elements.
There are scenes in the film where this is acknowledged. When Arthur murders three privileged men, the media paints Arthur as the villain and promptly puts the men as the victims, but those who live in poverty, like Arthur, seem to find joy in the death of the men, which is another aspect of the film that feels rather familiar. The pitting of social classes against each other, with mutual hatred, is a theme we’ve grown to see in our world.
The film is brilliantly made. Todd Phillips, the director, brings a desolate city infested with rats and littered with trash as the background for Joker. Furthermore, Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant as the Joker, in a transcendental performance that will likely win the Oscar for Best Actor. It’s difficult to put into words how good Phoenix is as the Joker, but perhaps the greatest praise I can give is that Phoenix is now who I picture when I imagine the Joker, even with past astoundingly brilliant performances of the Joker in mind.
Joker is brutally dark, and its ferocity and realistic portrayal of Arthur’s struggle is precisely what makes it both brilliant and petrifying. Joker embraces the unforgiving nature of society and shows a real side to its cruelty that mainstream film does not usually depict. It’s fantastic, and you should catch it on the big screen if you can.