Stumbled onto the Joker

Two nights ago, on a Wednesday, two friends and I set out to finally see the Joker, this anticipated film about the most famous villain in DC, if not all comic books pre-MCU. The movie had already been in cinemas for two weeks, so we started about our day thinking we could just show up to the cinema and get tickets on the spot, considering, as I mentioned before, it was a Wednesday. I have never been more thankful for my anxious personality that insisted we book tickets instead. The screening was sold out. I repeat, on a Wednesday, two weeks after the premiere. It is obvious we weren’t the only ones curious about what the director of ‘Hangover’ (I don’t remember his name and don’t even have the decency to Google it) would do with this psychopath of a clown.

Now that I have set a premise for how popular this movie has been, as if that were even necessary, I think it is only fair that I also set a premise for my set of mind before watching it. I want to make it clear that I did not mind the attempt to give the Joker an origin story. I know there are some hardcore fans that love the ambiguity, but I think we can all just deal with this as one of the zillion versions all characters have in the superhero genre anyways. I was excited, but with movies like these I always fear that the Oscar-baitidness will annoy me. Then I read that while reviews had started off great, the movie gradually lost its ‘fresh’ certification on Rotten Tomatoes. Then I read one of those rotten reviewers calling it juvenile. Then I read a Facebook post from a fellow Psychology enthusiast arguing that the way mental illness is portrayed is vague. So I went in with the following mindset; Joaquin Phoenix will be amazing, but this will ultimately be a superficial movie posing as a deep look into the Joker’s psyche. I want to be clear about my predisposition because I want to be honest about the chance that I was biased. I mean, I definitely was, I did leave the movie theatre thinking these exact comments.

It is not a superhero movie, which was made clear from the get go. There are no acrobatics, no antagonists, no Joss Whedon jokes. And that is absolutely fine. But there was also no Joker. That wasn’t the Joker, it was some other psychotic clown. There has been a substantial increase in psychotic clowns, I have noticed. I think Burger King is making a move on McDonalds. The joker is confident, proud, unemotional and most of all, a genius. He is Batman’s arch nemesis. And while this is an origin story and therefore he might not yet be confident and unemotional, he should have at least been smart. You know, smart enough to notice a glass door. There were two scenes I can remember that had anything to do with the real Joker and they were probably my two favourite ones. Unfortunately, I am one of those few whiners that think that by naming a movie ‘the Joker’ there are some necessary elements of that character you need to include. Otherwise this is not a psychological profile of the Joker, and it is a lie to promote it as such. I wouldn’t have gone to watch the psychological profile of a random murderer. I haven’t even watched Mindhunter.

If I at least try to disengage from these expectations for a paragraph (maximum), I am still not satisfied with how they dealt with the Joker’s character. First of all, what were those multiple mental illnesses that he suffered from? It is 2019, ‘crazy’ is not a sufficient medical term, not when you are trying to make a realistic, dark movie anyway. Also, while I appreciate leaving a couple of things vague for the viewer, if all we have is the character (because this was definitely not a plot-driven movie), I don’t think those supposedly essential elements can be left vague. I think the very origins that this movie claims to examine were ill-defined. Is the Joker a societal by-product? If so, is it the decaying empathy that drove him to madness? Is it that lack of governmental support? Is he traumatised? Is he vengeful? Is he apathic? It can be a nature-and-nurture thing, but it wasn’t treated as such. The character repeatedly said he wasn’t interested in the politics of it all, but the movie ends with him taking a bow in front of his supporters. And someone really needed to decide if this is the ‘Killing Joke’s joker that lost everything, decided life is a meaningless chaos and found that hilarious or whether it is a vengeful, bitter vigilante. He can’t be both. Like his neurological condition with the uncontrollable laughter. This was a great idea and beautifully executed by Phoenix. But what was it then? Was it an ill-wired neurological response? Because that is what it initially seemed like. But then again, we are frequently reminded that he finds the meaningless of it all hilarious. So which is it?

And now that the supposedly disengaged paragraph is over, it is not possible to ignore Heath Ledger’s Joker and avoid the comparison. Part of me is happy that the Joker from ‘The Dark Knight’ remains the best cinematic adaptation, according to my royal highness, because I of how unexpected it was. I think the precise reason that this Joker didn’t overtake that Joker is they tried too hard and ended up losing the Joker’s purpose. Lest we forget, that character was made for a reason. To beat Batman. To tackle the reasonable, ethical, methodical Batman with his ludicrous, careless chaos. Heath Ledger’s Joker dies in the end, but he has partly defeated Batman because his rhetoric was heard. His compelling rhetoric that almost resonates with the viewer. And that was accomplished in a movie with a plot, a superhero, acrobatics and Joss Whedon jokes in the form of Alfred. We are told this Joker’s rhetoric is deep and meaningful, but that is hard to believe as a viewer, because as Rotten Tomatoes critics said, it is a juvenile rhetoric.

It is nonetheless a beautiful movie and I did like it, but that wouldn't have made for a very compelling blogpost. Kudos to ‘Hangover’ guy and whatever comes Phoenex’s way for this performance is well deserved. I just think that this was not the movie to take down Marvel. The power of the MCU is how well the characters are thought out and how consistent they are, even though there are a thousand different things happening at the same time. Therefore, another post comes to an end, where I praise Marvel, diss DC and complain about how the villain’s descend into madness is not well-founded. I need to get out more.