Control Review: The Joker
I, Dalton Lewis, hate the Joker — the character, not the movie. He is an example of a crazy person who laughs maniacally and runs around blowing up hospitals and murdering authority figures. He kills judges, prosecutors, police commissioners, and tries to kill the mayor in the movie The Dark Knight. He also hires a schizophrenic goon, and Batman says that mentally ill people are more likely to have minds that draw them to work for the bad guys like the Joker. Total. Unbelievable. Bullshit. I am mentally ill and don’t want to work for the Joker, guys.
Anyway it’s been ten years and they need to recycle everything in Hollywood so we get an emo Joker from 1981 in this movie. Apparently they set it in 1981 to separate it from the hated DCEU — which I never minded. This one stars Arthur Fleck, a struggling comedian with a terrible life. There are slow, painful scenes of a hurting Arthur being bullied at work. There are slow, painful scenes of a social worker pretending to listen to him and look at his notebooks full of notes and drawings. A local late night host provides Arthur with joy and notices Arthur in the audience — but, like everything else, this delight turns to ash as Arthur’s life deteriorates. He hates himself and his life and all the successful people that don’t seem to notice him. He starts a class war against the rich and successful people like the talk show host and Thomas Wayne, the richest person in town, who may have a secret connection to Arthur.
Arthur loves his sick mother and makes her food and bathes her and helps her to live. She insists that Thomas Wayne will take care of them, but Arthur disagrees. She is proud of her son, but no one else seems to notice him. There’s a neighbor who shares his terrible, pessimistic view of the world, played by the actor from Deadpool 2. She shows up a couple of times, but no one is a lead opposite the Joker, played by Joaquin Phoenix. He degenerates into someone who breaks down and turns into a villain, angrily fighting back against a society that hates and fears him.
I am fascinated that the slow and dreadful shots have a certain charm and pathos. They don’t just feel uncomfortable — they make us feel for an awful person like Arthur Fleck. They make us want something to do with someone who is destined to become the worst person that has ever been. I know that mental illness is something connected to violent and outrageous behavior by society and the government. I appreciate that a fully interesting and well-developed character can be a protagonist who is mentally ill. I appreciate the attempt to understand someone who is different — a freak.
The concept of incels is disturbing to me. They are involuntary celibates — men in their twenties and thirties who are not sexually active and cannot find a girlfriend or wife. Arthur seems like one of these people, and they seem mad, really mad, furious beyond belief, and jealous of the people who make it in life. They don’t seem to have the toolset to get a good job or get married or feel anything for the world around them. I don’t want this movie to get incels mad or make them want to shoot people. I don’t advocate that — I just think that this movie is about being angry and a man. If this movie shows people what it is like to be mentally ill and a man and confused and scared, then that is a positive.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
