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The Joker controversy

The new Batman spin-off understands perfectly the frustration and helplessness caused by involuntary mental health conditions – but refuses to milk them for tragedy.

I knew Joker was a film whose relationship to society today is a rich – and sometimes fraught – one. But until I saw it, I hadn’t realised just how pertinent a film it would be. Set in dystopian Gotham of the 1980s, it’s a world where the vulnerable of society, such as single mothers, the elderly and people with mental health issues are crammed into crumbling housing projects, while super-affluent bankers live it large. The villains in Joker are the filthy rich, such as the bullying, Trump-like Thomas Wayne who blames the poor for their own poverty as he campaigns to become mayor.

This is first-person cinema told from the point of view of someone with mental health issues. The character of Arthur Fleck is an authentic and well-researched depiction of a man with borderline personality disorder. At times, it felt less like watching a superhero movie and more like a social drama depicting a real-life horror story of austerity.

Played with corporeal commitment by Joaquin Phoenix, Arthur has a neurological condition called Pseudobulbar Affect, most straightforwardly explained as spontaneous and uncontrollable laughter at inappropriate moments. The scene where Arthur is confronted by a woman on a bus who becomes irritated by his laughter is a situation that will be all too familiar to anyone who has experienced firsthand the frustration, misunderstanding and sense of helplessness involuntary mental health conditions can cause. It’s not Arthur who has the problem, though – it’s an uncaring and misunderstanding society and that’s what this scene brilliantly conveys. Joker puts us in the shoes of the Other, a disabled man oppressed by the able-bodied.
Rest of article (good read)

The joker is anti establishment, the ridiculed had enough and rose up and are seen by the establishment as the bad guys and their leader a super villain.

I can kinda see why this kind of nonsense is dredged up about this movie by some. I really don't care for it. I will watch this movie and thoroughly enjoy it like most joaquin films.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
The new Batman spin-off understands perfectly the frustration and helplessness caused by involuntary mental health conditions – but refuses to milk them for tragedy.


Rest of article (good read)

The joker is anti establishment, the ridiculed had enough and rose up and are seen by the establishment as the bad guys and their leader a super villain.

I can kinda see why this kind of nonsense is dredged up about this movie by some. I really don't care for it. I will watch this movie and thoroughly enjoy it like most joaquin films.
This film sounds exceptional.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
The reality is overcoming Ledger's Joker, top 3 villain of all time (Venom, Magneto etc.) this Joker could have a threat to Ledger's Joker.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Can't buy this kind of publicity. Bunch of morons.

I want to see this now.


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Got em!
 

lifa-cobex

Member

Is film the second coming of Christ?

I really wasn't too fazed about watching it. Kinda thing I would wait to watch at home.

Now i'm getting the impression this film is going to stare into my soul and jack me off at the same time.
 
F

Foamy

Unconfirmed Member
Joker was always a mass murdering psycho, so I don't really understand all the controversy surrounding his origin movie.
They're scared some fringe gun owners are going to be inspired to identify with him, say "ya know what, fuck it all" and let loose with an assault rifle.
That's the price you pay for living in a country with more guns than citizens.
 
It is amusing because where John Wick is glorifying the violence this film will clearly be about how ugly the violence is, it's a drama after all, not an action movie. Why would something trying to disgust/horrify you be more inspiration than something that's like "fuck yeah, I shot 12 dudes!"
 

A.Romero

Member
I'm not American (or live in the first world for that matter) so I'm not familiar with fearing getting shot at the movies but I'd think war propaganda movies have been more harmful that something like this. How many kids enlist thinking they'll become Eric Bana in Black Hawk Down only to do gruesome shit and return home with PTSD.

That said I'm not against any type of movie. I'm, however, against any idiot that thinks they can chose what I should watch.
 
I am surprised how WB deals with "Joker" at all. After a lot of flops, I was surprised to hear about Joaquin Phoenix as Joker. Such a great actor! But I could have not ever though that Todd Philips can correctly direct that movie. After Venice film festival and all the reviews from top critics movie seems like a perfect Joker story. So all the controversy around tragedy with TDKR which can potentially (as these people say) happen with "Joker" is just hilarious. You can be shot anytime anywhere in the world. Why do people even think, that it can happen again with people watching "Joker" in a theater. I am sorry about the loss of people whose relatives were killed during TDKR premiere, but you just can't compare it to this movie.
 

sol_bad

Member
Hey fam.

Lets not get our knickers in a knot. The movie is still rating well, 77% on rottentomatoes and 70 on metacritic. Who cares what the vocal minority of media are saying.
SURE, it's not rating as well as the MCU films, Deadpool films, Dark Knight films or Logan, but it's still pretty high.
About 24 hours until I see this bad boy in IMAX, I hope it's good.
 
I wasn’t really hyped to see this movie, but the controversy surrounding it has me interested now. I’ll wait for the digital release, though. I’d hate to get shot in the face at the movie theater!
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Warner Bros. gives the finger to triggered journos from the red carpet event. This is very good news.

Director Todd Phillips also spoke to Vanity Fair about the film's dark tone and violence.

"We're making a movie about a fictional character in a fictional world, ultimately, and your hope is that people take it for what it is," Phillips said. "You can't blame movies for a world that is so f—ed up that anything can trigger it. That's kind of what the movie is about. It's not a call to action. If anything it's a call to self-reflection to society

Living in a triggered society (literally triggered) by anything and everything is more of a problem than any form of entertainment.
 
Hey fam.

Lets not get our knickers in a knot. The movie is still rating well, 77% on rottentomatoes and 70 on metacritic. Who cares what the vocal minority of media are saying.
SURE, it's not rating as well as the MCU films, Deadpool films, Dark Knight films or Logan, but it's still pretty high.
About 24 hours until I see this bad boy in IMAX, I hope it's good.

It's actually doing as well as MCU if you go by average rating. The trouble is it's suffering something no other comic book movie does... the reviews are either perfect 10s or as low as 1/10. It's polarizing with critics in a way it might not be with audiences because critics are judging it through a political lens. Marvel movies tend to get 7s and 8s, few 10s, based strictly on number of perfect scores its getting you can tell we may have a masterpiece. It's worth nothing films like Blade Runner and The Thing were trashed at the time, it's also worth noting Taxi Driver had a mixed reception on release due to a similar moral panic which included reputed critics like Leonard Maltin finding the film reprehensible. This movie is true cinema and true cinema can't please everyone.
 

SLUG_____

Neo Member
Mass media putting the idea out into the ether and harping on it over and over is similar in concept to the copycat effect you see in modern crime. That's essentially what happens when copycats go out and do a crime they just saw wall to wall media coverage of, and they have the kind of maladaptive disposition where they seek notoriety. In this case they're doing the media coverage before a crime has been committed but the effect could be the same. Media has been warned for decades about this kind of reporting but they just keep doing it. I remember a time when words like incel lived and died in online message boards, but now mass media will take something like this, turn it into a buzzword, and signal boost it to millions and millions of people. The way the media operates is increasingly downright irresponsible but usually there's a lot more on the line in terms of political gain. This one is just psychotic levels of irresponsible. I guess we've come full circle, the media going Joker mode on the Joker movie.
 

Kadayi

Banned
Shouldn't the press be more worried about shooters at concerts after that nutbar shot up that venue in Vegas? I mean if we're going to start trading in absurd fear that dude killed a tonne more people versus the asshole at the Batman film. What a ridiculous narrative they are spinning.
 
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brap

Banned
Shouldn't the press be more worried about shooters ar concerts after that nutbar shot up that venue in Vegas? I mean if we're going to start trading in absurd fear that dude killed a tonne more people versus the asshole at the Batman film. What a ridiculous narrative they are spinning.
B-but the incels...
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
This doesn't describe me at all honestly. And they started on 4chan you newfriend.
Hide your powerlevel. Nobody really used it until reddit made it popular. It came from a dead board.
Know_That_Feel_B_4feddd5e37d85_1024x1024.jpeg
 
It sounds like manufactured controversy to increase sales.

What level of influence do you think WB has, exactly?

 

sol_bad

Member
I totally thought this movie was out here today but it's not until tomorrow.
What a disappointment.
bleh
 
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It's possible it was originally a marketing stunt, but the journalists wishing for a shooting to happen so they can use it as a soapbox is very much real.

No, it started because critics who saw it early at Cannes said it would inspire some violent act. I'm sure WB had nothing to do with encouraging critics to say BS like that so I can't imagine anyone seeing this as a marketing stunt. Not to mention it feels like they're saying "Joker, the perfect movie to shoot up"
 
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