I Didn't Like Joker

well I saw Joker and to my shock I really didn't like it no matter how much I tried to appreciate the presentation and the great lead performance I felt like this film was just too ambiguous for its own good not only does the central character have vivid delusions due to his mental illness but the film also leaves the door open to the possibility that what you're seeing may just be one big lie as a results nearly every scene is shrouded in doubt to the point where I just didn't know what I was supposed to get out of any of this on a very surface level you could say that this is just a story about how society's lack of empathy can create a monster with the point being something as simple as don't be an [ __ ] now I have my issues with that that I'll get to later but if this is truly supposed to be the takeaway I think the film actively works against that by playing fast and loose with reality to explain what I mean let's start with Arthur flex proclivity for delusions [ __ ] mind Arthur has shown to hallucinate entire scenarios and relationships throughout the film normally this would be fine but this is a story that wants to attribute Arthur's transformation to his environment and the people in it the issue I have is that we really can't be sure if things are as bad as they seem or if this is just Arthur's negative spin for example did funding really get cut for Arthur's medication or did he just stop taking it because he felt it didn't work did he really have a negative interaction with Thomas Wayne in the bathroom or did his mind just wander when it was suggested that Thomas might be his father it was established earlier that Arthur longs for recognition especially from a father figure and when he consider how easily he got into this guarded building and how the bathroom scene ends with him posed on the sink the same way that he's posed on his counter at home it's definitely weird another example of a possible delusion would be when his coworker gives him the gun the co-worker shows genuine concern for Arthur and even says something to the effect of you know you're always my boy not only does this echo when Arthur imagines Murray Franklin saying similarly flattering things to him but the very next scene has his boss state that the other guys don't like him and that he makes them feel uncomfortable so did he actually buy the gun off of his co-worker after some convincing or did he just imagine a much more positive interaction like I said earlier almost every scene can be read in two ways like this and it makes me take the whole society devoid of empathy thing less seriously because what's the use of showing more compassion to people like Arthur Fleck if they're essentially making up their own reality as they go now I'm not saying the people who are delusional shouldn't be treated with respect and decency of course you should try to be more empathetic towards everyone you come into contact with but at the end of the day if someone is so mentally ill that they can't separate fantasy from reality I don't see how having more empathy will really improve that Arthur seems to see what he wants or what he fears in almost every situation if people were actually nice to him would he even perceive it that way even though throwing reality bending into the mix creates a lot of confusion on its own in relation to the narrative I'm afraid things only get more confusing when you consider the other possibility here it was all a lie there's nothing wrong with you nice of you to say but you of all people should do you see traditionally the Joker embodies the very spirit of chaos and randomness he doesn't have a clear-cut backstory or reason for the things that he does and any explanation he gives for being so twisted are just lies told the further emphasize that he's not motivated by anything in particular some men just want to watch the world but he's simply not definable much like how the actual Joker card can be used in the place of any other card in the game of poker the most definitive takes on the character like The Killing Joke even have him disregard the notion of an Origin altogether [Music] I'm going to have it passed I prefer to be multiple-choice with all that being said the film does kind of leave the door open to the possibility that what you're seeing may just be the Joker sitting in Arkham Asylum telling yet another lie about how he came to be he told me things secret things he never told anyone was it his line about the abusive father or the one about the runaway mom he's gained a lot of sympathy with that one what was it he told that one parole officer oh yes there was only one time I ever saw dad really happy he took me to the ice show when I was 7 he said it was this circuit he's got a million under Marlon the strongest evidence for this would be arthur's visits to his social worker earlier in the film she mentions his stay in the asylum and we randomly cut to arthur beating his head against the window in a white room with the only notable detail being a clock reading a specific time we can see in other scenes that the clock in the social workers office is in the same location and reads the same time so at the end of the film it looks like he may have just been sitting in this white room for the entire movie telling this sad false story to the social worker and by extension the audience if this is truly what's happening then I guess it's accurate to the traditional character but it completely destroys the affer mentioned empathy narrative making the events of the film a lie only seems to confirm that some people are just inherently bad and they enjoy manipulating others into showing sympathy for them but putting aside the delusions and the potential lying is there a legitimate case to be made for society's alleged lack of empathy regardless well maybe but I don't think it's as simple as the film makes it out to be no about getting out of this sick society society yes the environment can contribute to people acting out like Arthur Fleck does and society should do all it can to help but at the end of the day no one makes these disturbed people do the things they do just as this film can't make anyone become a killer despite what some ridiculous news outlets might say the fact that some individuals crack under the pressure of their circumstance and lash out is tragic but it isn't society's fault especially when things like delusions are even lies or at play what I find most troubling here though is the idea of society getting what it deserves when people do commit these atrocities I'm not pulling that idea out of my ass either not only does this theme slap the audience across the face when the Joker literally says and again when the Wayne's are killed but the director Todd Phillips even says that this is basically what the film's about and I think really what the movie is about in society and if you keep that going you get an idea like this essentially removes all responsibility from the person that actually committed the crime and simply drops it at the doorstep of society in general now this viewpoint is shared by many villains including those belonging to Batman's rogues gallery and quite frankly we've heard it all before the villain usually says something like if I must suffer humanity with me but the story will usually reinforce the idea that just because someone was wronged that doesn't give them the right to take it out on the world I am confident that any normal person knows what the Joker's doing is wrong and I understand that the film isn't obligated to teach that lesson but I really oppose the idea that the actions of people like Arthur should be sympathized with simply because the world dealt them a shitty hand nearly everyone deals with tragedy or hardship in their life to one extent or another but the true test of your character is how you respond to those challenges someone like the Joker is a villain because in response to terrible things happening to him he chooses to take it out on the world whereas someone like Batman is a hero because even though something terrible happened to him he tries as hard as he can to ensure that it never happens to anyone else again I think the idea here is simply to be kinder and more understanding of everyone because you never know what they're dealing with or how close to sanity they are and fair enough but I also think more emphasis needs to be put on the responsibility people like Arthur have for their own actions sure are people being awful to each other is a big problem but that's a fundamental part of the human condition the bigger and more potent issue here seems to be how these marginalized people respond to the awfulness if you get made fun of on live TV your response should never be to shoot the host no matter what you have going on it's in this way that I feel like the message of the film is kind of weird and one-sided it's telling society to get it [ __ ] together but it's not being nearly as critical of Arthur's reaction in the end Joker does have some positives from a technical standpoint but I feel like it lacks a coherent through-line it wants to be an origin story about one of the most evil villains in modern fiction it wants to be a topical exploration of real-life society in 2019 and how it can push people over the edge but it also wants you to see all this through the eyes of an unreliable narrator that at best is severely delusional and at worst is malevolent just for the sake of it having something be up for interpretation is one thing but having ideas that seem to contradict each other exist in the same space just makes the whole thing seem kind of pointless to me aside from appreciating the good cinematography and the great performance I would say that this isn't worth the time or energy that almost everyone insists that you pour into it [Music] [Music]

Channel: Cinema Sleuth

Views: 8,277

Keywords: Joker, Batman, joaquin phoenix, DC Comics, The Dark Knight, Clown Prince of Crime, Batman The Animated Series, DC Extended Universe, Snyderverse, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, How about another joke Murray?, Arthur Fleck, Gotham

Id: FpjouKQfQ6Q

Length: 9min 44sec (584 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019