#so today i watched

So Today I Watched – The Joker // Warner Brothers(2019)

It’s been a while since I did one of these.

The Joker is a film that was pretty hard for me to address, even more, to review. I’m going through something in my life that I never saw coming in my late 30’s. I am struggling with depression, and everything that I have read about this mental state and illness didn’t prepare me for what happened in the last three years of my life. The good thing is that I have family and friends that worry about me, and they made sure I got the help I needed before doing something stupid. After I started treatment and therapy, every single notion I had about everything was seen in a whole new light.

I have always been a fan of anti-heroes and villains. Most of my favorite characters in cinema are played by Bobby DeNiro, Al Pacino, James Gandolfini, Joe Pesci, or Brian Craston. Went it came to comic books, some of my favs are Batman, Wolverine, Punisher, those characters that are always in that gray area where they are incredibly relatable for me, but somehow they are disgusting for everyone else. I must say that I wasn’t the biggest Joker fan. Even with the incredible performances of Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, and Heath Ledger on my mind, the Joker always seemed like the gimmicky villain for Batman.

If you take a look at the stories told with the character over the past ten years, you will notice he’s been relegated to the status of “event villain” for most of the DC N52. He’s also a reliable commodity for Tom King, who has chosen Bane and Thomas Wayne as the best antagonists for Batman in his run. The Joker has lost much of his shine in the 2000s, but that changed with this film. Never mind that Todd Phillips broke one of the most significant rules for DC storytelling (The Joker never gets a name) he waltzed right past that rule and made Arthur Fleck a man with no identity when he finds out about his origins in the film.

This Joker is the embodiment of everything that is going wrong with the world right now. The story is set in the ‘80s, but it works beautifully as a timeless tale. You get a glimpse of the poor-ridden society that is the Gotham City where Arthur lives. He struggles with a mental illness that causes him to have outbursts of laugh that he can’t contain or control. He’s getting treatment provided by the state. Still, like anything that is subsided in America, the service is crappy, his medications don’t work, and he’s drowning on a bottomless hole of desperation because he lacks purpose.

The only hope that drives Arthur to keep up with his struggles while looking for a better future is his deluded dreams about being a stand-up comedian, something that even his mentally deranged mother knows is impossible because his son is not funny. Arthur is full of entitlement; he sees humor where is none. His mental condition doesn’t allow him to see his shortcomings so he expects recognition for doing the most basic tasks such as taking care of his mother or having a job. He’s unable to see something past his deluded rationale for everything that happens in his life. Joker is a film that reflects on what happens when people can’t or won’t get the right kind of help to treat neurological conditions.

I studied very carefully the reaction of many news agencies that aimed their headlines at gamers and conservatives, saying that “Joker” was a film targeted at entitled incels who now had a symbol to justify their mistreatment of other people. Some outlets went as far as reporting risks of mass shootings. The worst thing that happened was a punk or two being obnoxious, and that was it. In the film, the Joker was a man looking for a place in the world and the acknowledgment of his peers and he got what he wanted. But the monster he created was a totally different thing. Arthur created a social movement that feels like the second coming of Antifa, completely with a messiah in a clown costume to lead them.

Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips created a modern amalgam of Taxi Driver and the King of Comedy. Martin Scorsese was tied to this project and left, but his influence is all over this film and it shows. The Joker is what first-world, left-leaning entitlement looks to us outside of the USA. If you can’t see that, it’s because you are on that side of the street waiting for acknowledgment. For me? This is the fucking superhero film of the year. Try to top that quality-wise Marvel Studios.