Assignment 17 - The Joker - David Butler

    The Joker, a movie that is a true homage to the long series of movies featuring the villain the joker while he battles batman. However, one key difference is that while all the other movies featuring the Joker dehumanize and villainized him, this movie humanizes and victimizes him. The movie revolves around Arthur Fleck as he lives out his life and you can see his slow degradation into the Joker. It is interesting because he is the protagonist in the movie as it is obviously sympathizing with him, however, he is also the antagonist in the end from the perspective of many other characters. Like I said earlier, this movie humanizes the joker as Arthur Fleck, someone that you can relate to and could realistically see that happening too. The movie starts off with Arthur living in utter poverty, living in the slums of Gotham which was actually shot in the Bronx of New York, along with New Jersey. It was really amazing how they transformed this area into a believable, grimy, dystopian, Gotham and really sells the plot of the movie. The time period was set in 1981 when there was chaos in the streets, a garbage strike, and overall crime running amuck. During the exposition we see Arthur in his rundown, poorly light apartment made it all too clear of the state of the poor in Gotham and this makes a very believable case for Arthur being quite distraught about how poorly the city treats its people. Arthurs poverty also makes it very difficult for him to get the mental and physical health services that he needs. During the rising action the government shuts down the financial aid program that provides him his medication and counseling. This means that he can no longer get his medication because he is so impoverished it and will only get worse from there. Many wouldn’t know of Arthurs background and how much he had to deal with as a kid, they only saw the joker. That there is the single most reason why I truly believe that this Movie is a genius masterpiece. The statistically most common villain for people to know of, the joker, was now, after decades, being revived, brought into a new light, and most of all, made into a character that someone would perceive as believable. It was even a take on past and modern-day society and how poor our mental health institutions are. This trait of the plot is really shown when Arthur goes into a downwards spiral after losing everything around him. This catapulted him into the Joker persona where nothing mattered to him anymore, he couldn’t lose. This was the climax of the movie when he finally transformed from this weak, powerless character, to a powerful, seemingly invulnerable character. After this transformation there wasn’t any falling action either which broke the stereotypical movie format. The only thing I would say that I disliked was that there wasn’t more of the movie. I mean this in the sense that nearing the end of the movie you get a similar feeling that you get around the end of Christmas break, how did the time pass me by so quickly and I don’t want it to end. The actors in this were phenomenal, especially Joaquin Phoenix who played into the role of Arthur Fleck so well that you truly believed you were there inside his deranged, depressed mind. He also heavily committed to the role by doing certain things behind the scenes to prepare for the movie. One such thing he did is that he was told 3 months in advance that he would have to lose 30 pounds for the role of Arthur. They told him that they could provide a trainer and nutritionist, but he said, “that’s not how I do things”, so for the next 3 months, all he ate was an apple a day. Overall, I loved this movie as it broke ground on the Joker character as a person not just a villain. It also showed how even those who are seen as the vilest or villainous, have had a past, and often aren’t all bad. We often hear this in society; however, it is headed so infrequently, don’t judge a book by its cover.

It’s a must see for anyone, fanatic or not!