How The Joker has struck a bunch of chords.

  Arguably the scariest villian in the history of fiction, The Joker is a psychopathic killing machine who has no other purpose than to enjoy the act of bloodshed. Even scarier than his character, however, is the fact that the story of his becoming isn't very far from reality.

  Arthur Fleck is a man who has been dealt a horrible hand of cards by life. He has been subject to abuse his whole life, has severe mental health issues and struggles day after day to make ends meet as a comic in a city which is on the cusp of falling apart. Absolutely no one in his life cares about him or his worsening condition. His desperation to find answers to his problems and a cure to his constant unhappiness furthur increases when a cut in the funds for healthcare forces him to quit taking his meds. Then, amid all the abuse and negativity, he stumbles upon something that makes him feel surprisingly alive; something that gives him peace: murder. And so begins the Joker's reign of terror.

   The movie is a fucked up dark masterpiece. Everything from the music (chaotic yet calm. Scary yet soothing.) to the acting of Joaquin Phoenix is right on point. There is no climax. Nor are there any twists or turns. The beauty of this movie lies in how it gets people thinking along a number of lines. Here are somethings that crossed my mind after watching the movie -


The strength of the protagonist's mind.

  It seems like a weird thing to say when talking about a mentally sick person but this is what enabled me to empathize with the character. Most people who are in difficult conditions tend to fall prey to a victim mentality. They deem themselves helpless and so don't even truly try to overcome their situation. Never once in the film does Arthur Fleck do this. Even when he is the victim, he does not want people to see him as one. When he confronts Thomas Wayne, he screams at him that he doesn't need anything from him but some decency and a hug would be nice. All he wants people to see him as is a fellow person...maybe a friend and that, to me, shows a lot of strength.


The Joker might never have existed had there been a single person who sincerely cared for him.

  Towards the end, the movie blurs out a lot of lines between what actually happened and what Arthur imagined. However, a couple of things weren't true for sure. His fantasies of Murray Franklin telling him he'd give up everything to have a son like Arthur and being in a romantic relationship with his neighbour give us an insight into what he wanted which was just love. All he Imagined was a partner to hold his hand during the rough times and a person he respected recognising the good in him. I don't approve of wishful thinking usually but what made me jump on board here was the fact that, again,  Arthur never felt sorry for himself for not having what he wished.

  Another thing worth noticing about those scenes was that Arthur loses his laugh which, at the start, we learn was a sign of his unhappiness and behaves quite normally. This leads me to think that had there been anyone in his life to guide him or be there for him, he'd have done okay.


The society's refusal to consider the severity of mental health issues.

  Its weird how we live in a society where developing physical abilities isn't considered the same as developing intellectual abilities and yet when it comes to treating health issues, the mind is pushed aside and only the body is catered to. Is the mind not a part of the body too? This neglect along with a lack of desire in most people to understand the mind forms the foundation of the social stigma that those living with mental illnesses experience all the time. Probably, it is also the reason why patients, in many cases, refuse to recognize their condition.

  The movie captures this beautifully and represents it on a very deep level. Arthur's note in the middle of his list of humourless jokes is one great example.

  The question that begs to be asked remains- Is taking the issues that can potentially create such monsters seriously too much to ask?


The character's transformation was neither right nor wrong.

  Obviously, no one is going to say that turning into a serial killer was the right thing to do but a lot of people will say that it was absolutely wrong. When someone has been in a state of seemingly perpetual unhappiness, doesn't know what happiness feels like in reality and then finds his peace in something, it's hard for me to say that it was the wrong thing for him to do, even if that thing was cold blooded murder.

  He was a fucking criminal. What the hell is wrong with you?
  Someone to whom no one has ever been nice can't really be expected to think about others in the face of what makes him happy. It's definitely bad for our society but seriously, if I was that person in those circumstances, I don't know...maybe...maybe not...


The controversy surrounding the Movie.

  The Joker stirred up a lot of anxiety around its potential to incite violence in the weeks leading up to its release. In the United states, it went so far that the US military had to issue a mail to its service members warning of 'potential risks' based on social media threats by incel extremists (An online group of men, linked with mass killings, that hate women for not desiring them).

  Now, a couple of weeks later, there is talk about how the film should not be in Oscar considerations as it glorifies a killer. People are afraid that the movie will serve as a guide for the people actually living in conditions similar to those of the protagonist.

  First of all, Arthur Fleck was not an incel even though he did have some incel-esqe things about him. His problems were real and his hatred was towards the world as a whole and not just, for dumb reasons, towards women. Also, Incels are the stupidest people on Earth right there with Terrorists who have 'religious' causes and so any connection that they feel to the story is, by default, stupid. Nothing can really be done for these people.

  With that out of the way, I don't think that the story was intended to be a social commentary in any way, shape or form. However, it does provide a sympathetic view of Arthur Fleck's life which many might perceive as justification for his acts. I won't pretend that these critics don't have a point because let's face it, serial killers are a real thing. And not just that, some cases of other heinous crimes of violence like rape can also be linked to the psychotic behaviour shown in the film. But a better path of action than opposing the movie, in my opinion, would be to actually do something to make the world a better place for real life Arthur Flecks so that they don't end up feeling so invisible and powerless that they have to resort to crime to regain their sense of being.


The need for a universal basic income policy.

   Along with his mental condition, a big part of Arthur's story was his poverty and lack of resources. This is also a big problem in our world and the closest thing to a solution, I think, lies in a policy called universal basic income.

  As the name suggests, it is a guaranteed income for people and has no criterion but its implementation has been opposed by people saying that it would encourage the idle poor man to continue to do nothing. That's a fair point but on the other side of the spectrum, we have people who could do very well but are limited by the conditions that they were born in. It is hard to think about doing something extraordinary in the world when you are struggling to find a couple of square meals a day. If such people are guaranteed an income that takes care of their primary needs like food, shelter and basic healthcare but isn't enough to live a good life, I think we could radically improve their conditions and begin to see a more even economic distribution in the world owing to a higher degree of equality in opportunity. It also seems as the obvious step for us to take as we are now confronted by increasing unemployment due to advances in artificial intelligence and automation.

  Everybody in this world sees things differently but until an idea is tried out, every thought about it is just an opinion. So I believe that we as humans should go on and, for a certain period of time, make it happen for how else are we supposed to know if it'll work or not.

   Summing up, The Joker plays with the idea of how the superficiality and politics of today's world can unleash a monster that resides just below the surface in people and how that can then spread contagiously like wildfire and cause an uprising to overturn the power dynamic that exists in our society. It shows us how important keeping things meaningful is to humans, something that the structure of our society has forgotten. However, the thing that makes sure that the movie will be talked about for many years to come is the fact that everyone can see something different in it according to what they have experienced in their own lives.