Why So Serious?
Todd Phillips’ Joker is a disturbingly beautiful character piece of the infamous villain, The Joker. It dives deep down into the mind of Arthur Fleck, the man behind The Joker, and fascinatingly portrays his mental illness and life story.
The captivating cinematography combined with Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Arthur makes the success of the movie undeniable. However, despite this success it has been subject to much criticism from viewers everywhere. Some have claimed the film ‘glorifies’ gun violence and ‘glamorises’ mental illness. However, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger did not receive these accusatory reviews for their interpretations of The Joker, which also involved guns. The character of The Joker has been around for decades, each version of him vastly dissimilar, but the one consistent trait of his personality is the psycho-killer-clown shtick. The only difference created with Arthur is that the crime-fighting vigilante has been removed from his storyline, mixing an element of realism into Joker.
Audiences of Joker seemingly fear realism. As it is not a superhero movie, where the other Jokers are placed, the previously unrealistic character is put into a setting we see in everyday life. The Joker is no longer a comic-book caricature we can love without guilt, but he is Arthur, a real man with real feelings – and somehow, audiences are struggling to come to terms with their own empathy. It seems we have adored past Jokers because we love-to-hate a good villain. But when ‘villain’ is no longer the right term, how do we handle a criminal monster? I find this one of the most enthralling elements of Joker. Throughout the movie, we are entered into the mind of Arthur, and begin to understand his thoughts and emotions and how they play into the unravelling of his character into becoming The Joker. A fascinating amalgamation of fantasy and reality is used to perfectly illustrate the warped mind of Arthur, and as the movie flicks between real life and his imagination, the audience get a glimpse of his distorted perspective and learn of his mental difficulties.
The entire concept of The Joker has been reimagined by Phillips and Phoenix, in the most genius way. Arthur is one of the most fascinating characters ever created, and he is portrayed so artfully that it is impossible to take your eyes off the screen. The score, colours and camera shots are so captivating that I found the beauty of the movie much more memorable than the distress. Although some viewers have claimed to have been disturbed by the film, if you can stomach the gore and intense mentality of Arthur, I would not recommend anything more than Joker.