Movies about rebellion against society have always been popular, especially when the world around us looks like it's going to shit. Whether it's a veteran newsman who is mad as hell, a thousand soldiers claiming to be Spartacus, or a browbeaten software engineer who stops bullets by waving at them to break free of a computer simulation that enslaves all of humanity, people love someone who refuses to be a drone.All across America, law enforcement was on high alert this weekend, afraid that a certain film's supposed anti-authority message would trigger one of the mass shootings that are rapidly becoming a staple of the monthly news cycle. Theaters either closed or were ready to close at the hint of a threat, and many banned cosplay of the film's character. This does not seem so irrational, given that James Holmes, the Aurora shooter, dressed up as this weekend's favorite villain before opening fire on a movie theater full of people.
It's always hard to write the backstory in a non-clunky way, but here it goes . .
In Gotham City circa 1981, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a wannabe stand-up comic who makes his living as a rent-a-clown. He takes care of his invalid mother (Frances Conroy), and pines after the pretty single mom (Zazie Beetz) in the apartment next door. Having recently been released from a mental institution, Arthur attends weekly sessions with a social worker, who mechanically asks if Arthur is having any bad thoughts and rubber stamps his medication refills. Nights are spent watching a late night comedy show hosted by Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), even fantasizing that Franklin is his surrogate father. And as a cherry on top, he suffers from pseudobulbar affect, a neurological disorder that causes him to break out laughing during moments of anxiety at inappropriate moments. The laminated card he carries around to explain this to strangers does not always smooth things over. Reaganomics is in full swing, with an ever-increasing mass of angry unemployed, and plutocratic billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) promising to lift up the unruly wretches once he is elected mayor.
When Arthur is working a gig and is beaten by a gang of teenagers, he starts carrying a gun, which leads to him being fired. Distraught and enraged by this, he commits an act of violence that shocks the city and sets him on the path that will eventually pit him against a certain Caped Crusader. And social service budget cuts by the city end of Arthur's sessions with his social worker and therefore his medication.
So I saw Joker. I don’t think it’s a call-to-arms to incels or mass shooters, and I don’t see any sympathy for people who commit violence. To me, it's more about what happens when a problem is so big and scary that the easiest way to deal with it is to leave it to rot. There’s plenty out there that is easier to shut our eyes to and ignore massive problems, because they are not yet ours: poverty, mental illness, racism. We know these things corrode the souls of everything they touch so we isolate and avoid them. Don’t approach that guy who eats alone at work everyday; he looks like he's got a screw loose. Keep walking past that panhandler because he might knife you if you offer him money. Yeah, it’s horrible that persons of color are being disproportionately killed by police, but you’re white so it’s not your problem. Stay out of that part of town because that’s where the crazies live, and with any luck they'll just stay there and kill each other. None of it just goes away. It just stays in the shadows, mutating into something big and ferocious enough to destroy us all.
There's no non-corny way to ask this, but if each of us made a point of reaching out to someone who is clearly not okay, how much violence could we prevent?
Arthur Fleck's life of misery, abuse, and failure has driven him to the point that he needs to find humor in the horror around him to survive. Insanity becomes a coping mechanism. It's hard not see parallels between what's onscreen and our current age of rage, and wonder what's coming next.
