Before the film even came out, Todd Phillips’ “Joker” was said to contain “glorified” and “excessive” amounts of violence. And, of course, people fell for this idea; sharing and retweeting till the whole world got to hear, “I heard about this movie and you shouldn’t go see it, otherwise you’re a Nazi,” to paraphrase.
I’m happy to say, this is not the case for the film. Violence: yes. Excessive: I wouldn’t call the six he did “excessive”. Glorified: Ah, that is the sticky, isn’t it? Allow me to paint a picture for the ONE scene I would say has cathartic violence.
Arthur, dejected, rides a train home while still in his work costume. He’s a clown. He and a woman are the only one’s in the train-car, when three businessmen get on board. They start to harass the woman, who is sitting alone; pick up lines, offering her food, “He’s just trying to be nice,” is thrown in, then fries are literally thrown. Arthur starts having a laughing fit (something set up earlier he has caused by a mental condition), this gives the woman an out to leave. The three turn on Arthur, getting in his face, surrounding him as he can’t help but laugh uncontrollably. They throw his bag, pull off his wig, beat him to the ground and keep hitting him. Arthur pulls a gun. Shots are fired. Two fall dead. One flees for his life.
As you can see, these two deaths are justifiable and, as stated, cathartic. We all would like to strike out at those who would wish to do us and the innocent harm, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. Arthur gets to ‘teach these guys a lesson,’ and it’s not shameful to want to be able to do that.
The next death isn’t so just, as Arthur stalks down the one that ran, shooting him in the back before shooting him dead. Not such a heroic or self-defensive act. Then he does a strange taichi ballet number. Killing has made this clown finally happy. It’s a mental spiral down hill from there.
The other deaths include suffocating his hospitalized mother, Penny, while telling her “(his) life isn’t a tragedy, it’s a comedy;” stabbing a coworker in the neck with a pair of scissors for past transgressions to their boss; and finally, the big one, Robert De Niro’s Murray Franklin (Arthur and Penny’s favorite TV show host) unceremoniously shot in the head for challenging Arthur’s new world view (a bullet Arthur originally planned to use on himself).
These aren’t glorified, cathartic, or even just. Penny is hospitalized from a stroke and is mentally ill, suffering disillusions Arthur got swept up in. Randall, the coworker, had given Arthur a gun but also told their boss he inquired about one, only coming to Arthur’s apartment to get their story straight. And Murray… Murray dared to poke fun of an unflattering routine Arthur was filmed doing, invited him on his show, went along with his new gimmick, and in the end pleaded that, “there are good people in the world.”
Arthur became a monster. Maybe he has a sad backstory. Maybe you have felt the way he does. But while he’s an entertaining, woobie of a monster, his actions aren’t glorified by the film makers or the audience, just the tired masses of the unfair society Gotham City created in its own fiction.
Texan, y’all! Cinema glutton, horror enthusiast, sci-fi nerd, comic lover, and I like Japanese stuff too (the culture, kaiju, martial arts, samurai, some anime). Love me some Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon.
