I watched JOKER for a second time...Now, get ready for my passionate Batman rant

I hadn’t seen this one since its initial release, but felt I needed the refresher before the sequel comes out in October. Many of you know that I wasn’t a fan of the first film at all. But I liked it a lot more the second time. But I'll get my complaints out of the way first.

I’ve always thought the Joker as a character works better as an abstraction and as a symbol with no sympathy or background to draw from. The anti-hero angle here is obviously going for the TAXI DRIVER/KING OF COMEDY thing. For me it leans too heavily into that Scorsese nostalgic aesthetic, and feels watered down by comparison. Also the descent into hell for Arthur does not have the dimension or perspective that I crave. I don’t believe that someone like Arthur has the brains or bravura to one day become the legendary Joker, which is part of the problem as well. Seems more like a typical 1970s serial killer coming of age story, where the ties to Gotham felt a little too loose. OBSERVE AND REPORT serves as a more refreshing update of the anti-hero nihilism story than something like JOKER did for me, but that’s just my personal taste.

This is not to say that the film didn’t work for me. It was quite artful despite it feeling one-note at times. The victimization lacked some nuance for me. But more over…I struggle with the ending. So many people have told me that I am not smart enough to get the ending. I’m not sure what they mean. To me the whole dream insinuation is a cop out. A way to keep Joker in the abstract as if laying all that ground work for the social disarray he caused is meaningless. I think it would’ve been far more powerful had the film insinuated that many of the events are literal. The idea of blood on his hands as being a figment of the imagination potentially, makes the whole thing feel less impactful.

What I find the most interesting about the film, and just Batman in general, is how much they use these allegories as a reflection of the times. In the 1960s there was more a glamorization where Batman always gets the VIP tables at the clubs, shaking hands with the mayor at rope cutting ceremonies, and the like. Batman and Robin are accepted as heroes and as celebrities with all the perks at the front of the lunch line.

Nowadays times are different…Batman is viewed more as a rogue. He’s not trusted by the cops, or the politicians, or the people he saves. For me Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT always served as a great metaphor for the state of America socially/politically. Batman represents the powerful elite. He’s a man riddled with his own neurosis to such an extent…that he basically funds his own one-man military industrial complex as trauma therapy. He spends massive amounts of money to appear the rich excessive billionaire playboy in the public eye…and then doubles down, buying all these flashy gadgets and shit in the shadows so he feels like he’s personally contributing to society. In reality, a lot of that money he’s wasting would be better served through more humble endeavors. There are a million things he could’ve done to help his city if he really wanted to with less obnoxious implications. But no…Bruce Wayne is an egotist, elitist, hypocrite. He wants to be the hero out of selfishness and guilt because he can’t move on from guilt or face the fact that he is completely out of touch with the world. He's looking outwardly to fulfill his responsibilities instead of looking inward. All his bullshit existential angst only contributes to the increase in violence, chaos, and city damage in Gotham by my estimation. But the worst part of it is…he can’t even roll his sleeves up and take a life if he needs to, in the name of justice. As if there aren't many casualties during these huge car chases and explosions that were his fault to begin with. To try and begin an ambitious movement for change that involves violent implications, particularly when it comes to draining your own swamp… it will involve lives lost that you must learn to own up to. If you can’t handle that responsibility…then go to a therapist or go to a meditation retreat like a normal rich person. Leave the handy work to the people who have the stomach for it, who understand the world they are operating in, and the necessities for survival. Bruce Wayne has no idea what it means to get his hands dirty because he has never lived among the people he claims he wants to save. He will only go part of the way on his journey of self-actualization, which is why he doesn’t work as a character or hero for me. One terrible thing happens to him as a child, and he spends the rest of his life trying to prove to himself that he is noble, rather than just becoming noble out of obligation. He's a baffling and sad contradiction.

This is why we root for the Joker: the anarchist. The difference between Heath Ledger’s Joker and Batman, is that Joker is ultimate anti-establishment in his evil, which is why Batman cannot hurt him. The Joker has lived among the people plenty, and so he knows how to work things from the inside out. Batman is too busy running away from himself and what he really is, whereas the Joker knows exactly who they both are. He knows that Batman is almost no different from him, and he isn’t afraid of that fact. The only real difference is that Joker has been all the way through the seven circles of hell. He knows what it means to get chewed up and spit out by the world, and thus he has nothing left to lose. We never get a clear backstory, but enough is insinuated by his look/wardrobe and his behavior, that prove he was always working class. The way he carelessly and gleefully burns piles of money in front of the people beholden to it, only further establishes that transcendence beyond materialism. He is far less selfish in many ways, than Bruce Wayne. He has no fancy gadgets or cars and he doesn’t need them to make a point. He exposes the elites for what they are, before they can even analyze it within themselves…and he cannot be bought, cornered, intimidated, nothing. Hence the perfect abstraction and antagonist. Joker: anti-establishment, anarchy, and cynicism. Batman: weak, blind, elitist privilege, taking with one hand and giving with the other, all while lost in the savior complex. The Joker plays Batman like a goddamn fiddle. In THE DARK KNIGHT the winner is the Joker, and the loser is Batman.

But yeah…my point in brining all that up is…if Heath Ledgers Joker represented anti-establishment and Batman/Wayne represents the elites…then Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker fully represents the perspective of the American people pushed to the edge. The state of the world is such that the civilians become Joker out of desperation. That image of Phoenix lost in a crowd of identical clown masks ready to protest, where the cops cannot locate him...is a perfect metaphor.

JOKER is a blatant commentary on class structure, and the growing hate towards the rich in power. They are not subtle with the symbolism there. Obviously city riot images in the film touched a nerve for a reason…and echoed an eerie reality. Joker as Arthur in this film is a loser who no one cares about and no one listens to. The people like Arthur cannot pay for their own medications, their own rent, and the more they are gaslit by their leaders and by the media...the more they get destructive, angry and fight back for what they feel they deserve. When you’ve lost everything and you are morally compromised…who the fuck knows what you are capable of, for better and worse. The viscous cycle of oppression and mental illness becomes inescapable until you can learn to ride those waves. The way that was done in JOKER, I thought was quite well done. He made it down to the bottom, and then he relished in his newfound confidence as the city burned. He is finally home. They took the time to really take him there as a character, and thus his final dance at the end, is one of tragic liberation.

Again…it makes all the sense to me why this film emotionally hit the sweet spot with the public. I think it could’ve been a masterpiece with a better filmmaker/writer at the helm. But yeah…a bold but flawed movie. Looking forward to the new one.