Mental Health & Media Portrayals: Joker

Introduction

Joker is one of the most fulfilling and defining characters of the DC universe, it is dark, witty, and sometimes evokes the emotion of empathy and tragedy of the sufferings. The 2019 sequel of Joker provides a divergent perspective on the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Apart from that after a few scenes one would blur the traditional moral compass of righteousness and follow the series of events that leads to Arthur Fleck’s sadistic behavior. It rightly puts forward the stigma surrounding mental illness and how mentally ill people do possess the ability to express perplexed emotions.

Analysis

From the scene where he attempted to make the child laugh on the bus to his appearance in Murray’s show, Arthur Fleck’s character evolved from the desire to be the cause behind people’s laughter to being the subject of people’s laughter. The character instills in people, their compassion towards society. I felt like defending him when his boss asked him to return the sign and he replied that he got mugged. The peculiar aspect which went unnoticed by people was the early signs of his display of anger that turned into recalcitrant behavior, it started with him wanting to tear the shoe and kicking the trashcan and then when he first killed the two people in the train who were harassing the girl in the train in self-defense and chasing the third guy to kill him, after this incident, he considered his sadistic behavior as rational and went beyond the lines of law and morality. The feeling of empathy is rightly evoked amongst the viewers by his intrinsic need to be accepted, his interaction with children is the perfect example of the above statement and how he submitted and took care of his abusive mother or his desire of being validated by his idol Murray. To understand his Mental Illness one has to revisit his childhood trauma. He sided with his aggressor (His mother) at a young age instead of being mad at her he nurtured and took care of her by looking after her letter and giving her a bath. Since at an early age trauma is often not represented in the mind as a narrative or something that is remembered like one thing leading to another. In his conversion, his anger turned from being inward against himself, showing up as depression, to being outward to the point of a murderous rage when he killed his mother.

Intricacies

He says “The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t,” which might resonate with someone with a mental illness. The beginning scene with her therapist is the concrete expression of the above-mentioned phrase when he tried to stop his fidgeting and shaking legs, which is often considered as socially deviant behavior. Arthur carried a card with him to inform those around him of his pseudobulbar affect, which mentioned that he had a history of TBI. Arthur Fleck seemed initially to have an almost childlike intelligence, disorganized life, and a below-average IQ. He used simple language. His sketchbook seemed chaotic and also childlike. His constant desire for attention was gratified after killing 3 people and when he said “People finally see me,” and, “I was not sure if I existed, and people are starting to notice. His comments reflect his journey of being a clown that’d make people laugh and be recognized and then wanting to be a standup comedian, he liked being admired. Finally, Attention became the positive feedback that continued his violent path, leading to a cult of unhappy, lonely, and socially unaccepted people.

Conclusion

The Oscar-winning performance of Joaquin Phoenix as a mentally ill individual looking for societal support requires an in-depth understanding of the concept and gladly the movie lives up to the expectations. The fact that it doesn't glorify the violence or justifies it, fits rightly in the psyche of people holding two extreme perspectives, i.e violence is justified or if it's immoral to kill people. The movie depicts the non-gloomy aspects of mental illness and triggers all the right emotions among the masses which might help in fostering a healthy and sensitive civil society. What is not certain is if Arthur Fleck had Usually in schizophrenia, the most common auditory hallucinations are things that are derogatory and insulting, but he seemed to have more positive fantasies or delusions with hallucinations that show his desires for power and connection. People with schizophrenia in a psychotic place hear things like “you are stupid.” In conclusion, the makers opined a concrete separation of his illness from his violent act as patients with mental illnesses are often more the victim of violence rather than the perpetrators of violence, which was portrayed in the latter half of the film the recognition and “The Joker cult” motivated him to pursue his frenzied acts.

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