The most-talked about movie of the month is, without a doubt, Joker. The film, featuring the mesmerizing and heart-breaking performance of Joaquin Phoenix, portrays an interpretation of the origin story of DC Comics character Joker. Together with Phoenix, director Todd Phillips utilizes music, movement, and lighting to bring the eery mannerisms and mysterious qualities of Batman’s archenemy to life: thus, the creator of chaos is born.
While the film is certainly an entertaining narrative depicting one “evil” human’s rise to power, there underlies a more significant message: one of mental health awareness, especially in regards to the effects of the monstrous abuse by society.
The story begins with a severely depressed, malnourished, and misunderstood Arthur Fleck, constantly bullied and downtrodden by those around him, Fleck lives by the words his mother told him as a child – that he was meant to bring laughter and joy into the world. Desperate to make her happy, he works tirelessly as a clown, forcing himself to smile day after day.
Arthur’s relationship with his mother perfectly reflects one of the core issues with society when it comes to understanding mental health. Instead of trying to work in tandem with Arthur on his mental health issues in a productive manner, his mother simply denies their existence and tells him to smile; this is, unfortunately, a common occurrence in society. Yes, the topic of mental health can be uncomfortable. But the difficulty of discussing the subject matter is not an excuse to push down our emotions under fake feelings of joy. The only way for one to overcome issues is to confront them. In Arthur’s case, he finds freedom when he finally allows himself to feel something other than forced “happiness.”
Arthur’s spiral into a string of psychotic actions is accelerated by the fact that there are very few resources from which he could obtain professional mental health treatment. The government-provided therapist we see at the beginning of the film is quickly removed from his life because of “insufficient funds,” an occurrence that is quite common in today’s society. There has always been a shortage of free or reduced-price mental health resources, and apparently this issue exists in Gotham as well.
While the resources fell short in terms of professionalism and effectiveness, they were something, and something is better than nothing. Unable to afford therapy on his own, Arthur quickly spirals into a chain of killings and hallucinations. So starved for human compassion, he creates fictional accounts of romance in his mind; his downfall (or rise, however you see it), has begun.
Perhaps the penultimate failure in saving society from Joker’s rampage comes from the utter lack of basic human kindness in Arthur’s life. Throughout the film, Arthur is beaten and bullied; he is consistently stared and jeered at, never treated with anything remotely resembling compassion. Not even his government-appointed therapist treats him with kindness–while she is not cruel, she is certainly not warm.
A moment in the film that encapsulates the savagery of his community occurs when Arthur is on the bus; noticing a child staring at him, he begins to make silly faces, earning the boy’s laughter as a reward. The interaction is key to the narrative, as it shows Arthur achieving something he never thought possible: actually making another person laugh.
The glimpse of hope is dashed when the child’s mother snaps at Arthur, telling him to stop “bothering” her kid. Arthur begins to laugh maniacally, and when he hands the woman a card that details his medical condition, she only becomes more cold and callous.
Subsequently, the men on the train that are the first “victims” of Arthur’s destruction refuse to acknowledge his mental illness before beating him to the point of being half-dead, forcing him to defend himself. When Arthur appears on his favorite talk show, he is brutally laughed at, antagonized, and bullied. In Arthur’s mind, there is no end in sight except for revenge against those that are unrelenting and remorseless in their abuse.
Throughout the whole movie, one can’t help but notice that a kinder, more compassionate, and less brutal society could have prevented the rise of Joker to power. If the citizens of Gotham had simply lifted Arthur up instead of casting him aside, the world would have been far more peaceful.
Joker encapsulates the issues we have in our own society regarding mental health; so often do we fail to help those that really need it. If we simply opened our eyes to the possibilities before us, we could help thousands of people. The society of the film is fictional, and yet it felt so real. The brutality that plays on the screen should be shocking and horrifying – instead, it felt familiar.
I was not surprised to see Arthur treated in such a vile fashion. Why? Because, in our world, we have come to expect the same lack of humanity from the very people we call human.
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