In the collective imagination, the Joker has been portrayed many times, but always as the psychopathic clown enemy of Batman who sowed terror just for the sake of it, without any logic or justification , focusing on homicidal madness without ever explaining how it came about. Prepare yourselves, because in this film directed by Todd Philipps, you won't find the mad clown, but a poor man aware of being different in a society that wants him to be normal, an outcast trying to fit in while living daily in discomfort and social unease.

Index

The Origins of the Joker

The eternal villain is here represented in a completely different light: Arthur Fleck manages to emerge precisely from the suffering and madnessThe sociocultural background in which he grows up is a combination of trauma, abuse, and mistreatment that are perfect for becoming a serial killer. He lives his life in an alienating routine: he suffers from depression, lives in an apartment with his mother, who also has evident mental problems, earns a living as a clown and suffers injustice, harassment, and ridicule, but his secret dream is to become a comedian and be able to make people laugh with his irony. Nicknamed "Happy" by his mother because of his unique laugh, his existence is actually anything but happy. The transformation from Arthur to Joker is gradual and sequential, the result of various stimuli and impulses provided by a far from idyllic 80s Gotham. From a lonely, weak, and fragile man, we witness the transformation in the individual who fully accepts his condition (illness and status) and vents his anger against the people and society who have always mocked and ignored him.

A misunderstood hero

His first crime occurs after being the victim of numerous episodes of violence on the streets of Gotham. He had never fought back before, but this time he doesn't remain defenseless: in self-defense, he uses the gun previously given to him by a colleague and finally protects himself by shooting his three attackers. This story can be linked to the " Weapon Effect " theory of social psychologist Leonard Berkowitz, according to which any negative feeling can induce aggression, but aggressive behavior is not only due to anger but also to pain. The " Weapon Effect " is the increase in feelings of anger and violent actions at the sight of a gun. When Arthur kills the three boys, he does so with a gun: if he had been unarmed, he most likely would not have survived. Possessing the weapon gave him the strength to act . Ironically, when he reacts by committing the triple homicide, we almost feel inclined to root for him. In the film, however, the dynamics and motivations behind the murder are distorted by the Gotham authorities: the three murdered boys are, in fact, three Wall Street financiers (the classic "daddy's boys"), the press and especially Thomas Wayne (father of a young Batman) are convinced that the incident is rooted in social envy and contemptuously define as "clowns" (Arthur was returning from his shift at work and was therefore wearing a clown costume) those who do not belong to the elite and will never do anything good in their lives. These words light the spark of rebellion : the least fortunate, the forgotten, the oppressed and the misfits, and the lower classes of Gotham society take to the streets to protest against those in power and money, donning clown masks, thus beginning to lay the foundations for what the Joker character will symbolize in the film. The situation of total anarchy in which the city finds itself was not premeditated by Arthur, but is rather the immediate response of people tired of being alienated and stigmatized by society itself.

Arthur's Death and the Birth of Joker

The abandonment in a liberating dance is the symbol of a lion breaking out of its cage, ready to unleash the madness, hatred, and rage it has always repressed, taking revenge on those who have mocked it. From here on, we witness a psychological decline , while still managing to maintain a morality and a completely subjective sense of justice. Arthur kills the colleague responsible for his firing but spares the life of the colleague with dwarfism, saying, " You've always been good to me ." This also happens enigmatically with his neighbor, Sophie, the protagonist of numerous hallucinations in which she and Arthur were a couple. This is what all the viewers also thought, shocked to discover that it was actually all in his head. Another violent episode is the killing of his mother when he discovers he was adopted and that his childhood has shaped him as he is today: abuse and mistreatment have left him with a brain injury (the cause of his peculiar laugh). The Joker isn't an absolute villain, but rather a chaotic neutral, meaning he's unpredictable, a ticking time bomb. Sociopaths and asocial people tend to keep to themselves; they typically possess a basic personality disinclined to violence, but respond violently to certain stimuli.

Do the diseases you suffer from really exist?

A side effect of his childhood has resulted in a brain injury, the cause of his uncontrollable and sometimes inappropriate hysterical laughter . He's forced to carry a note with him to inform people of his condition to avoid misunderstandings. It's not named in the film, but this disorder is a syndrome called " pseudobulbar " syndrome: it's the result of damage to the prefrontal cortex, an injury, or a disease that damages the brain membranes, just as happened to our protagonist. Those affected by it tend to isolate themselves, gripped by anxiety, and then retreat into a state of depression, just like Arthur: his depression is a consequence of the illness, as he is constantly embarrassed by the fear of having a crisis at any moment. The syndrome has a strong influence on how emotions are expressed, not how they are felt: a slight smile or sadness is transformed into exasperated laughter or hysterical crying, a scene that occurs when Arthur is on the bus and tries to make a child smile, but the child's mother reprimands him and he, embarrassed, tries to hold back, although unsuccessfully, the explosion of laughter.

Anomie and deviance are the basis of the film

The final part of the film could be summed up in two concepts: anomie e devianceContributions to the sociology of Robert Merton, American functionalist, there are many, but the one most suited to explaining this film is the "theory of deviance", according to which it derives from a lack of congruence between values ​​and life chances. To develop this theory, the American sociologist uses the concepts of cultural destinations e institutionalized means, using the concept of anomie as an independent variable. For those people who do not have the means to achieve a certain goal (as analyzed by Merton himself, in America it is usually economic success,american dream) this results in a strong state of tension which will generate deviance and, in the long term, anomie. Durkheim He argues that anomie is a pathological state of society: it literally means "lack of norms," ​​therefore a situation in which rules and laws are absent. In his opinion, a situation can be declared anomie when a crisis or sudden social change causes a discontinuity between people's experience and their expectations. In the film, this occurs gradually with the killing of the three boys and the show's host, who had invited him only to boost ratings and ridicule him in front of all of America. Especially since this last event, Gotham has transformed into an anomic crowd of people dressed as clowns as if in revolt, electing the Joker as their leader, reversing their position from forgotten citizens to a herd of mad bulls, committing every criminal and deviant act (including the murder of little Bruce's parents). In the final scenes, total anarchy reigns. If Durkheim saw modern society as afflicted by anomie, Marx was characterized by thealienationThe concept of anomie, both in functionalism and conflict theory, is of significant importance. However, while Durkheim emphasized the need for shared and stable social norms, Marx saw alienation as the result of a social order that tightly controls individuals, also believing that humanity needs greater freedom from rules. This film can be defined as a fusion of these theories, a masterpiece with a profound and dark performance by a wonderful Joaquin Phoenix that leaves everyone breathless. It's a thoughtful film that allows the viewer to empathize with the protagonist and with those experiencing social hardship, but at the same time leaves everyone disoriented and distressed.

Claudia Leonardi

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