I have a habit of watching my favorite movies again and again. Today I was watching "Joker 2019" for the fourth time. While watching movie I fell for thoughts that- is Joker really a villain ?
I really liked Todd Phillips' depiction about Gotham City. It was an amazing thing that in this picture we were getting more aspects of the city. This was not a special city. Normal people live there. Movie was heavily focused on that city. As it is not a real city but a fictional one so we can't understand completely about the nature of people living in it. Because places affect the nature of people living in it. What is the nature of people, what facilities they have, what culture they have etc.
By compiling the information movie gave, we can say that the city has honour. And this honour comes from their Riches because they directly represent the city.
Put aside the wealthiness, lets talk about the power of city which comes from its under recognize population. And this under recognize population produced "Joker".
This movie's title character is one of the most well known villain throughout the history. This movie didn't portray his title character in a way we think it is. This picture clearly shows the differences between the rich and poor. These distances are so huge that even in extreme violent situations their rich don't give a shit about it. They don't even care about the situations until the people raise their voice. For example when three bankers shot dead on the railway station, seems like madness of the whole city came out. This is the obvious thing. Like some inhabitable thing happened.
To understand this we have to look back at the scene of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight, where Joker says "Madness is like gravity.... All it takes is a little push". And we have seen that Arthur's actions were that little push which produced madness.
But I am not completely agree with this. I think this "push" was applied way before this story starts. This madness didn't start from the scene where Arthur kills three bankers, not from the start of story where some boys beat Arthur, not even before the Arthur's birth where Wayne did whatever to his mother.
I know you are thinking that from where this push started then ? Actually, as I said that this push started way before the story starts. When people's attitude, their actions, reactions and their way of living were becoming a viral parasite. Everyone's mentality about the rich is same that "Rich don't give a shit about us". Even in the start the movie Arthur's doctor gives the similar statement- "They don't give shit about the people like you Arthur. And they don't really give a shit about the people like me either."
If you are a science student, then you probably know that sometimes gravitational effects of push takes time. That's what happened in this movie. Todd Phillips' movie showed the final moments of the push, where gravity destroyed everything due to its madness. Movie showed us that the whole city pushed to chaos. But for me it was the final result of the push.
The whole city was at the edge of madness, Arthur was just a physical avatar to them, who led them to chaos. People of the city see him as a Hero. They think whatever Arthur did was right. Above all discussion make focus to a single point that Todd Phillips' Joker is very different from other versions of jokers of Heath Ledger and Jared Leto. Todd Phillips' Joker is not villain but a Victim.
He is the victim of social injustice, personal injustice of the behavior he faces from the other people, even from his family and friends. He is the victim of society which stole his mental health, treatmen and services. After not giving him the treatment and services they never treated him like a patient. This thing made him so sad that to find happiness he choosed chaos. And then he adjust himself in a way that other felt unadjusted.
May be he is a bad guy. No doubt, he is a criminal. But if watch carefully, putting attention to Arthur Fleck, then we will come to know that Arthur is just a final push which makes under recognize population mistreated by the rich to come forward. This thing started a so called revolution which will change the face of the city forever. Now whatever happens next both the sides will payout for this. Mistakes are made from both sides. Now they have to wait for the reactions and consequences.
In that specific situations, Todd Phillips' Joker is infact a Hero. Because only the people who are reading this article know that Arthur was a victim first, then he became a villain for the Rich and now for the people of the city, He is Hero. And all the three things (Victim, Villain, Hero) meet together to form Chaos.
What do you think about the Arthur Fleck? Is he Victim, Villain or Hero to you? Let me know in the comments below.
If you want to share your views on this, feel free to comment down your views. I will read and reply you all.
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