Artheia Ysabel A.

Pelayo

STEM XI - Dalton

An Analysis of Todd Phillips’ Joker

Todd Phillips’s Joker is more profound delve into the mind of a man constantly bullied

by the system. This quaint perspective implies all the wrongdoings of a city on its subject

(Arthur). The way it affects him, the way it turns him into a product.

Marxism

Including in the lower class means less care, less money, less opportunity. Thomas

Wayne is depicted as a bourgeois billionaire with no regard for the poor. He looks down on those

rioting - those fed up with their situation and who blame the capitalists – and regards them as

‘clowns’. The film explicitly points out that the Wayne’s hoarding of Gotham’s wealth is directly

draining resources from Gotham’s impoverished, and keeping them in this state. And for that, his

death is not unexplained, but even depicted as righteous.

The film has faced widespread criticism in the bourgeois press for “inciting violence” by

making the viewers sympathize with the Joker and the murders that he and his followers commit.

This shouldn’t be surprising, the ruling class is terrified of the masses rising up against them and

of their class getting what they deserve.

A lot of people are willing to look at Arthur and say this is a villain so whatever change

he might cause is ultimately bad. The movie showed how crazy the idea of a proletariat

revolution would be because it was an idea initiated by Joker.

Capitalism

Quite naturally therefore, the masses in the film are only seen as participating in

rudderless acts of looting and arson, and even their placards are mostly filled with generalized

slogans or rants directed at specific individuals. There is no inkling of either any political agenda

or any specific programme of change. This nebulousness is how capitalism manages to keep

itself safe so that no possibility of anti-capitalist society ever begins to crystallise, and all who

have led or might lead anti-capitalist societies and movements may be represented as versions of

the Joker.

Operating the capitalist system, the poverty it creates and the way it discards the most

vulnerable people if it is not profitable to care for them are the cause of crime in society, no

solution is offered. Joker and the riots that he sparks represent the raw anger of the working class

but there is no direction. It also features examples of individual acts of terrorism, which

ultimately do nothing to overhaul the economic system. In order to fight the poverty and injustice

that are inevitable under capitalism, through creating a planned economy organized on the basis

of need and not profit, to fight poverty, homelessness and austerity, to properly fund mental

health services and look after those most in need, it should channel the frustration of the working

class towards the socialist transformation of society

The film seems intent on relating poor mental health to capitalism, which is certainly

reflected in the real world. The city cuts the therapy programme Fleck is attending, and therefore

he is unable to get his medication.

Formalism

The laughter of the Joker doesn’t stop and the film doesn’t get the joke. The joke is that

each such attempt to represent the masses or collectivized groups as diabolic and destructive only

ends up affirming the very opposite that such films rigorously try to deny – the masses as the

locomotives of history, the have-nots, the subalterns, the sans-culotte who have always seemed

monstrous to the powers that be and yet who have surged and shattered ivory towers more than

once, led not by murderous madmen but by individuals who have shared the hopes and dreams

of others and have felt their pain and have tried to remake the world to ease others’ suffering.

Arthur has a journal, which he says he’s using as a “joke diary” to keep his stand-up

notes. The journal includes some scribblings of jokes, but also contains disturbing passages,

intense drawings, and torn-out pages of pornographic magazines. His therapist does not seem to

notice a glaring red flag: pictures of naked women with the clipping torn at the neck, or hard

scribbling covering their faces. These are likely recordings of Arthur’s subversive fantasies.

Depersonalizing women by “removing” their faces allows Arthur to objectify them and even

experiment with feelings of aggression or sadism toward them. It remains unclear whether these

are congruent with his desires. “Does it help to have someone to talk to?” his therapists asks; and

Arthur replies, “I felt better when I was locked up in the hospital.”

Psychological

Narrative contradictions are seen just by looking at the framing of Fleck’s mental illness.

While never explicitly named, Fleck’s frequent bouts of uncontrollable laughter suggest a

diagnosis of Involuntary Emotional Expression Disorder. He takes four different kinds of

medication, attends therapy, and speaks openly about his depression. He is mocked at work for

his passive behaviour, and is depicted as the ‘loner’ trope.

The Misunderstood Loner

Arthur Fleck is an impoverished, scraggy middle-aged man who works as a party clown

in the crime-riddled city of Gotham. Arthur is significantly underweight, his face sunken and

pallid; and although he isn’t repulsive, his untidy, bizarre appearance is off-putting to others.

Behaviourally, too, Arthur is odd. He is withdrawn and anti-social, but does not seem to be

inherently callous or devious. In fact, Arthur is somewhat innocent and initially well-meaning

toward others, especially children. Arthur lives with his mother, Penny, who he cares about

deeply, but maintains no other strong, meaningful connections. His communication skills are

generally poor; he may hold his gaze too long at someone, use abnormal body posturing or facial

expressions, or miss important interpersonal cues, which cause others to be upset or

discomforted around him. In his line of work as a cheap party clown, Arthur’s oddities are

amplified. In many ways, Arthur is a product of interactional socialization; his peculiarities

influence others to ostracize, bully, or avoid him, which in turn, lead him to isolate, grow

weirder, and inevitably miss opportunities to improve his social skills.

Id

Arthur dreams of winning the adoration of others by becoming a successful stand-up

comedian. He believes his purpose in life is to install happiness in others—his overactive

fantasies depict his mother as his number one support: “you were put on this earth to spread joy

and laughter,” he imagines her saying to him adoringly. Arthur fantasizes of being in the

spotlight, basking in the glow of show lights, approval, and applause. At times, he even closes
his eyes and slowly dances to the sound of imaginary music; picturing himself as the center of

attention, a popular figure like the famous talk-show host, Murray Franklin: visible, idolized, and

respected. Despite these uplifting dreams, Arthur’s actual life as a loner is monotonous,

repetitive, unrewarding, and—much like the landscape of the Gotham City—hopelessly bleak.

Throughout the film, Arthur is dating Sophie Dumond, a young single mother who lives

in his building. We ultimately learn that Sophie is real, but their relationship is completely

fabricated in Arthur’s mind. His fantasy-building is so intense that he was able to create a

credible romantic narrative between him and Sophie, a story that supported his personal dream of

being lovable, funny, and charming. Unlike a hallucination where Sophie would actually be

projected, as if real, by Arthur’s mind–or a delusion in which she would be believed to be his

actual girlfriend—Arthur’s manifestation of Sophie as his girlfriend is likely a product of his

overactive imagination coupled with his desperate need to be seen. Sophie’s compassion fills the

void, but soon, this dream is no longer sufficiently soothing to Arthur.

Frustration

Arthur Fleck attempts to find joy through his stand-up comedy, but cannot overcome the

barriers of his disease. He is instead met with doubts, derision and even dismissive reactions

from his own mother, who casually tells him, “You have to actually be funny to be a comedian.”

Arthur was physically abused as a child, and he experienced a significant violent assault that

caused head trauma. His childhood injuries lead to the condition he has as an adult

Joker also struggles to achieve a sense of intrinsic happiness and seems unable to activate

pleasurable feelings within himself.

Suppression

The film cuts to a shot of him banging his head against the wall of his cell. Here, it is

likely that he had access to stronger or more intensive treatments, and may have experienced

reprieve from his emotional pain. To his therapist, he adds, “I just don’t want to feel so bad

anymore.” Arthur acknowledges his depression and his inability to escape from the weight of his

disease. In this certain situation, Arthur is forcing himself to overcome his mental illness and

therefore trying to suppress the painful thought of him having that mental illness.