The Importance of Joker

By: Guy Gruppie, Jr.

Staff Writer

Despite various military warnings and cancelled screenings due to threats of violence, Joker has become the biggest October film release of all time. Written and directed by Todd Phillips, Joker is a disturbing and sinister character study without flaw. It is an open window to the extremities of psychopathy.

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a larger-than-life performance, and his portrayal of Arthur Fleck, or the Joker, forces us to question how our society affects the outcasts of our world. Joker will go down as one of the most controversial films of all time, and is a wake-up call dialed directly to each and every viewer in this age of mass shootings and premeditated bloodshed.

Character development is of paramount importance in a movie that follows its main character so closely, and the film certainly delivers on that front. Throughout the first act of the film, all you want is to see is Arthur Fleck catch a break, and our prayers ultimately remain unanswered. Instead, we see Arthur Fleck slowly deteriorate from a moral and psychological standpoint, so much so, that he eventually exists as an entirely new character. There is a point of no return in which we lose Arthur for the rest of the film, and the remainder is an account of terror and pure evil. This new character is the self-dubbed Joker.

Joker makes a clear effort to strictly adhere to a central theme of corruption and evil, so it makes sense that there are some scenes that reflect this idea. But the film, in essence, does not exceed any cinematic boundaries regarding violence that have not already been met for decades. Moreover, scenes with gore can be found but are not frequent and will not negatively impact the viewer’s state of mind.

In a post-screening discussion at the New York Film Festival, Phillips added to the film’s violent tendencies and the impact thereof. “Isn’t it a good thing to put real-world implications on violence?” Phillips is confident the message of the film will not be overshadowed by a false allocation of controversy.

This film is a mirror; it forces us to look at ourselves and deal with the fact that we are the ones who insinuate the horrors of the world we so wholly dread. In some instances, we are the ones who create the Joker’s of the world, and perhaps that is why some people cannot come to terms with the film. The manner in which the film encourages empathy and simultaneously punishes you for having it is truly remarkable. Joker utilizes Joaquin Phoenix’s career best performance to tell a story of existentialism that not many in Hollywood have the guts to tell.