I was going to write a lighthearted post a few weeks ago comparing Disney’s Tangled to the social isolation we recently went through… but then another thing happened and shifted our attention away from the virus.
Maybe later when things have cooled down.
Today, I’ll be talking about the eerie similarities of Joker (2019), and our current situation in America and the world.
When Joker came out, the country was generally calm and prosperous. At least compared to this year.
It was also free of a certain virus of contested origin (External link).
I saw it in theaters and was gripped by it the entire time. Re-watching it recently, it’s bizarre how much it reflects our current situation. Like it was a warning that we didn’t heed.
Of course, it’s not necessarily a direct comparison to any one thing and, being a movie, we’re limited in what we’re able to see and what we do see is shown from the protagonist’s point of view.
Regardless, the similarities are plentiful. There will be spoilers but I’ll keep the big ones to a minimum. If you’re interested in watching the movie and haven’t had it spoiled yet, I recommend you go watch the movie and then come back and read. I watched it on Amazon. It plays through an HBO subscription (they offer a 7 day free trial) but you can watch whatever way is convenient for you. Obviously.
Let’s dig in.
Joker follows Arthur Fleck and his descent into madness, eventually becoming the titular Batman villain.
While it’s technically a comic book film, you wouldn’t know it if there was no prior knowledge that it was about Batman’s nemesis. It’s dark, angry, resentful, and more. Perhaps most importantly, there is no Caped Crusader. In fact, Bruce Wayne is still a child in this rendition.
Arthur’s working as a clown where he gets jobs holding store signs and entertaining at children’s hospitals. At the opening of the film, he’s preparing for the work day. In the background, people are talking on the radio about the garbage and rat problem in the city.
This was the first similarity I noticed. We are currently in an unprecedented health crisis.
In the film, there is unchecked waste and rats. Both of which bring disease. As a matter of fact, fleas living on rats transferred the Black Plague to humans.
After the scene mentioned above, he’s beaten with his store sign and kicked by a group of street thugs for seemingly no other reason than they wanted to. The sign is taken out of his pay for failing to return it to the store owner after it was smashed over his head.
At another point, Arthur is forced to defend himself from three young, Wall Street looking guys in the subway. Although at least one of the kills was more of an execution than it was an act of self defense.
This prompts the police to begin an investigation of a triple homicide. It also sparks an anti-establishment movement that grows more and more violent as the movie progresses.
At the same time, this causes Thomas Wayne, the rich father of Bruce Wayne (Batman) to launch his bid for mayor of Gotham. Claiming he can fix the city’s problems and denouncing the increasingly violent ‘clown’ movement.
After Arthur is made fun of on his favorite late night talk show, The Murray Franklin Show, he’s invited on the show. Evidently, the bit received a lot of attention.
This makes up the climax of the movie, Joker dances down the steps he previously struggled to climb, then runs from the detectives investigating the previously mentioned triple homicide.
On the train, he looses the detectives in a mob of clown-masked protesters. They turn on the cops and interfere with their work, eventually tackling and beating them after one of the detectives shoots a protester that was grappling with him.
I didn’t notice until I took this screenshot, but in the above image, behind Arthur, you can see a protester holding an anti-capitalism sign. Albeit a blurry one, camera being focused on Arthur.
After Arthur’s appearance on The Murray Franklin Show, he’s taken into custody and is being driven in a police cruiser through the streets of Gotham. The city has devolved into chaos, police have lost control of the situation, vehicles are being burned and windows are being smashed.
Then, an ambulance that had been hijacked rams into the police cruiser. The clown protesters exit the ambulance and free Joker from the car. A crowd forms to cheer on the Joker. The murderer and inspiration for the movement that has turned towards violence and destruction.
After that brief summary using intentionally chosen moments, you’ve probably already guessed the comparisons I’m trying to make.
I’d still like to address them directly for clarity’s sake.
Joker drew quite a bit of controversy when it came out. The main argument was that it could inspire disenfranchised people to commit acts of violence. Even prompting the U.S. Army to issue a note to its members (External link). Thankfully, there were no theater shootings.
This film is about a man and a society that has lost hope. Left with nothing but to destroy and hurt.
Arthur is first beaten by street thugs and later beaten by thugs in suits.
In the limited view we’re offered by the film, it’s difficult to know for certain if the clown movement started off peacefully or if it was always violent. Nonetheless, there is no doubt by the end of the movie that it has turned towards destruction.
Of course, in the real world, there were many protests that remained peaceful and for a good cause. As far as I’m concerned, there is no genuine argument for saying what sparked the current movement was wrong and very few people would challenge that.
But, like the ambulance hijackers in Joker, what may have been a peaceful movement for a good cause was hijacked in multiple cases by bad people not interested in positive change or justice. Just destruction and chaos.
I understand what I’m saying may be considered controversial by some, but I feel it necessary to say. After all, why would it be controversial to condemn the destruction and burning of cities where those hurt the most are not the intended target?
The masked rioters at the end of Joker are not interested in changing things. They are interested in mayhem and lashing out. Sort of like those bad actors in real life that used the civil unrest as an opportunity to steal, destroy, hurt/kill, distract from those who are seeking positive change, and push a bad agenda.
Amid all this, Thomas Wayne sees an opportunity to advance his political goals. He speaks of the protesters with contempt while attending film screenings and operas.
The elites who presume to rule over us in the real world have shown their own true colors in a similar fashion. I’m sure you can think of corporations and people on either side of the political aisle who have used pandemic and protest to further their own interests and power.
The film shows stark contrasts between the haves and the have-nots. Thomas Wayne lives in a beautiful mansion on a big estate and visits beautiful opera houses where the bathrooms are probably as big as Arthur’s entire apartment. Murray Franklin performs on a TV set each night with a band and bright, multicolored curtains.
Meanwhile, the rest of the town is vandalized, dull, and blanketed in disrepair and squalor.
At the time, the real world was not like the Joker world. At least not actively. Today, it is too much like it.
I believe Joker received so much negative press because it lays blame at all of our feet. Not just those that we don’t like. And we all know how the press likes to guide our morality and claim they’re always right.
This film does not glorify the protagonist. It doesn’t try to justify his actions. It’s very clear that he’s a villain.
It shows us a world where almost everyone is a villain in some way.
It shows us how a man can devolve into nihilism when a society abandons him.
It shows us how a protest can get out of hand.
It shows us how the elites don’t care. Even if they say they do.
It shows us what terrible evil a person and society with no property, no God, no loved ones, nothing, is capable of.
It shows us that, no matter how much we don’t like to admit it, monsters are made, not born. We very well may have had a part in making it. It may even be us.
Joker is a harsh criticism of what our world has become. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it.
Even if you alone made the monster, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop it.
Stand on your feet. Work towards positive change. Do not allow bad people with bad intentions and bad ideologies dictate your words and actions.
“Human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.” – John Adams
Build. Do not deface, topple, or burn.
“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.” -Calvin Coolidge
Thank you for reading.