“The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you DON’T”. These words are unfortunate, sad, and yet, they’re true. Society seems to still lag behind with how it handles people with mental illness, and all the medication and counselling in the world only seems to have enhanced it. Joker, which is now streaming on HBO Max and HBO Now is tackling this topic and upon it’s initial release, got more than the expected blowback. Acclaimed comedy director Todd Phillips has taken a literal dramatic turn in his filmmaking, and teamed up with Joaquin Phoenix to deliver a film that’s both controversial and very entertaining at the same time. Joaquin Phoenix fancies himself the artist, and this is widely known. So taking on a role this demanding is a no brainer for him. The real surprise here is Todd Phillips. This a man who is known for ‘frat house’ style humor, and in this case, he completely steps outside of himself and transports the audience into a dark world of insanity and brutality. The most interesting part of this, is though Phillip’s take is about the beginnings of a comic book character, it is molded into something much more than that. This is all relative, and opinions about the film itself set aside, this was no easy feat to achieve.
Everything in Joker revolves around Phoenix, embodying the complex ‘Arthur Fleck’.
Everything in Joker revolves around Phoenix, embodying the complex ‘Arthur Fleck’. Fleck is pursuing a career in stand-up comedy whilst working a day job as a party clown in order to take care of his sick bed-ridden mother. It’s heavily indicated that Fleck suffers from some sort of mental ailment due to him regularly seeing a social worker, the story alluding to his past in a mental hospital, along with being prescribed a multitude of different medications. To say his character is misunderstood is an understatement, and if we’ve learned anything from previous comic book films, “you always fear what you don’t understand”. As one can probably deduce, he’s taunted, bullied, and mistreated by at least half of the people he meets. His undiagnosed condition that of which produces uncontrollable laughter certainly does not help matters. With all this to deal with, it’s only a matter of time before things turn for the worst. One can only take so much, and as a result, the plot takes us to a point of no return. Along the way, the rest of the cast has their moments. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy certainly give their all to the audience, but this is unquestionably Phoenix’s movie. As the movie continues to gain traction, Phoenix is also the one who must unfortunately continue to answer the hard questions and deal with the ensuing controversy.
Why though, is the film considered controversial? Some say the film glorifies violence, or that it portrays violence and it doesn’t apologize for it. Others say that it equates mental illness with violence or murder, and that that, is unfair. But when is anything in life ever fair? Most rational people have the easiest answer to that question: it isn’t. Point being, the media and those that feed it are fearful that this film will inspire violence and chaos. They may even be afraid that the general population will further misperceive people with mental illness, grow to treat them differently, perhaps even ostracizing them even more from everyone else. The harsh reality that people should face is that violence, committed by someone psychologically disturbed OR by someone who is not, will happen regardless of whether or not a film inspires it. Looking from the outside in, the only reasonable way to approach this film is by recognizing just that: it’s a film. It’s JUST a movie. No one can prevent anyone from seeing it, any more than anyone can prevent “bad things” from happening. It would’ve been wrong to attempt to prevent it from screening due to free expression rights. So then what’s the solution? Easy. If it appeals to you, see it. If it doesn’t, then don’t.
