From Script To Screen: Investigating The Film Joker To Influence My Work

 After watching Shutter Island, I wanted to further investigate films which trick the audience in order to see how different directors execute the idea. This lead me to investigate the 2019 film Joker, based on the famous DC Comics supervillain. I wanted to investigate this film as it is a full character study. There are only really 3 main actors throughout the film, with the primary character Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix) being in every single scene. This is important to the plot because of what type of film it is. 

The film Joker is Todd Philips depiction of the origin story of the comic book character The Joker. This itself was very controversial as one of the key points about The Joker is the fact that he has no origin. He is just the unstoppable force which rises up to counter Batman's force of justice. 

The film is set in a 1981 Gotham city. Based on what is seen throughout the film you learn that this city is under major stress from the battle between the different class systems. The poor are being dominated by the rich and are even shamed being called lazy. At its core the film is about how unforgiving our society has become and shows the difference between the two different lifestyles. Among those who are struggling against the system is the main character Arthur Fleck. By day he is a clown, however his true goal in life is to become a world famous comedian as he loves bringing joy to those around him. He lives in a small apartment with his mentally challenged mother in which he takes care of, who claims he is the son of Thomas Wayne the current mayor of Gotham city. Arthur has many mental issues including depression, PTSD, social anxiety, schizophrenia (learnt later on), narcissism, unresolved identity disorder and most importantly Pseudobulbar affect. We see him struggling with these many challenges throughout the film especially Pseudobulbar affect, which could be to blame for his lack of high paid job. This puts him at a supressed state in society and makes him an easy target to those around him. One way this is shown if through his comedy club routine. Simply put, Arthur isn't funny. His mental issues hold him back, with his inability to stop laughing when put under pressure. He is later ridiculed for his performance on live tv by his hero Murry Franklin and even on invited on the show to be laughed at.  

The film accelerates when he takes the life of three corporate worker (which work for Thomas Wayne), who are attacking him. Its important that the first two murders are for self defence and the last is just murder as he hunts him down. This murder is taken as a political statement and will go on to cause the rioting seen in the city, with the people adopting the clown make-up in their statement. Meanwhile Arthur has been fired from his job and his access to his free medication is no longer available due to funds being transferred elsewhere. The only thing he has left is his newly formed relationship with his neighbour as well as his mothers belief that Thomas Wayne will help them. After confronting Thomas Wayne we learn that Arthurs mother made up the whole situation about him being Arthurs father after working for Thomas's company, where she was then sent to Arkham mental institute. Even more desperate Arthur goes to the institute and takes his mothers file to learn the truth about everything. This is when we along with Arthur learn that he was adopted and abused by his mother and boyfriend. He was abandoned, malnourished, beaten and was found chained to a radiator. All this abuse is what resulted in his many mental disorders. At this point Arthur is no longer a Fleck or a Wayne, making his origin once again a mystery. The only thing he has left is the clown. 

On his return home he goes to speak with Sophie, his neighbour in which he has developed a close relationship with, only to find she doesn't know who he is. He hallucinated the whole thing. This isn't the first time we see Arthur hallucinating as seen nearer the beginning, he wished to be on The Murray Franklin show and so hallucinates it. This is a more obvious hallucination done on purpose to show that its something he tends to do. 

After all that happened the only true things Arthur has left is his clown side and the Murry Franklin show. He intends on going on the show and ending his life in front of the world. However when it finally gets to it Arthur realises that all his problems are a result of the toxic environment he's grown up in. Murray is no better than anyone else and even went so far as to humiliate him in front of thousands. In the spur of the moment he decides to end Murrays life instead of his own summing up the whole film with the line "What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society which abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you f***** deserve!" This again is treated as a political statement by the public however Arthur no longer cares as he is finally being paid attention by those around him. The film cuts to black and then we see a scene of Arthur in a mental hospital. This isn't the first time we have seen this through flashbacks in the film and it subtly hints that Arthur made the whole (or at least part) of the film up in his head. 

Overall the film Joker is very powerful and introduces a lot of themes relevant to my project. Once again the audience is presented with an unreliable narrator who does his best to survive in a cruel world. I really like how so many subtle things are done throughout the film which end up having a larger impact in the end. For example his decision to shoot down three men resulted in the subplot of the revolution against the rich and as a result you start seeing more crimes occur and people wearing joker masks. The world building is incredible and really helps to show how bad some people have it in life. Another useful bit of information I identified from researching this film is what sort of mental disorders a person has to have in order to create a story like this. It was also interesting to see how they portray the illness in a way that tries to not shame those who have it but instead to shine light to help those to understand. Although Arthur is seen to do bad things, the audience never truly feels bad as they have seen what Arthur himself has had to go through.