Perspective – Joker?

Hanif Alhady Lubis | Economics

“Don’t you love farce? My fault, I fear

I thought that you’d want what I want

Sorry, my dear!

But where are the clowns

Send in the clowns

Don’t bother, they’re here”

“Send in the clowns,” a tragic yet beautiful song, written by Stephen Sondheim, portraying how when we, individually or as a society, are found in an unfortunate situation, are told to medicate by looking to something that makes you laugh and things will get better.  Always try not to dwell too much on the situation and it will heal itself over time.  If not, then just send in the clowns, laugh, and it will all be ok.  What happens though when a group of people becomes the “clowns”  for the normal to turn towards to lighten the mood?  Even more, how does the view of this group of “clowns” evolve both individually and in society as a whole?  Unfortunately, we look to those who suffer from mental disorders as the “clowns” to boost our own self-esteem.  

The movie Joker sets the stage to give us an idea of what happens when society discriminates and abandons those who suffer from a mental illness. Arthur Fleck, the main character, is mentally ill with a psychological disorder, usually resulting in bursts of uncontrollable laughter, and considered as a lower form of a human according to social standards.  In addition to this, there is a sense of conflict between wanting to live an ordinary life without the judgemental glares or snide remarks and accepting who he is in society.  Different from your typical supervillain movie where the villain is corrupted by greed or power, Joker takes the aspects of a normal society, ie news/tv, career, social interaction, and lets us see how chauvinistic society is by letting us experience not only the difficulties a mentally ill person faces in everyday life but also the added pain of discrimination from society.  It leaves viewers confused about who the villain really is.  

We should question how a “normal” society really looks? What is right and wrong? How do we label a certain action as unacceptable or abnormal in a society? According to Rene Descardes, a French mathematician and sociologist, the concepts of right and wrong are formed through the accumulation of individual actions within a society, which obviously can have different definitions in different societies across the world.  In other words, an action that is viewed as unacceptable in Asia might be passed off as completely normal in Europe.  According to ordinary citizens,  those who are abnormal are usually met with menacing glares and are considered to be a socially incompatible person.  From this, social norms are formed and are different for each socialized group.  In addition, it makes sense that we would accept the differences we have, but that is a rare occurrence.  The reason why these norms come about is that individuals act respective to their own benefit and since individuals share a lot of these common benefits, societal norms start to form. 

Therefore, we can conclude that every society has a set of mutually accepted rules and regulations referred to as the social consensus or norm.  When we are born into a society, after a certain age we begin to interact with others in that society and start to socialize. This is when we are introduced to this set of unwritten rules in culture. So what happens when someone does not fit this norm?

“People expect you to behave as if you don’t.”  This is what Arthur Fleck wrote as a journal entry after talking with a social worker.  It is apparent the people around him silently enforce the idea that people who suffer from a disorder, are expected to go against the status quo.  Multiple times we see how severely and violently being different is reprimanded by the society in which we live.  The reason why those who are different are fought off is that they in theory cannot uphold the customs which are viewed as beneficial to society.  Of course, this is an oversimplification of the matter, but from a general standpoint, if you are different, you are not accepted. 

Being different usually renders society, as a whole, to believe they are made to be laughed at and shunned.  Before the social worker lets Arthur know they are cutting the program, she says to him “They don’t give a **** about people like you, Arthur.  And they really don’t give a **** about people like me either.”  Coming from a person who is trained to help those who are hindered by mental illness, her truth hits hard as we realize we are all conditioned to believe this.  People start to cause physical and mental violence to those who do not fit in.  We see Arthur being taken advantage of by his co-workers just to get an extra laugh. He is referred to as a freak and portrayed as a weak target for the overly proud to prey upon.  He gets weird stares from people in the streets and is always spoken to in a different tone by those around him.  There is even a scene of children beating and kicking him because he is different.  Why? Because that is how people are nurtured to think by society.  All of these actions are condoned because that’s how we are taught to treat those who are different.   

“What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you ****** deserve!” This is what Joker angrily screams during the climax of the movie right before killing the popular tv show host, on live television. This was the result of built-up emotions within Arthur after the host made fun of Arthur’s stand-up routine.  Keep in mind both incidents mentioned were on a live tv show where hundreds of thousands of people were tuned in to watch.  Arthur explains throughout the movie he “Just wants to make people laugh,” however, as the movie progresses, Arthur is faced with the dismal reality of who he really is in society: a joke.  “I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it’s a ****ing comedy,” is what he explains to his mother right before he mentally snaps leading Arthur to further transform into the villain we know as Joker.  

We need to ask ourselves though, is Arthur really the villain or just a by-product of the villain, i.e. the society of Gotham?  Joker, being very much different from the majority in this society, was treated with hate and resentment and therefore got to the point of severe lucid hallucination of riots, murder, and companionship.  His hallucinations are a reflection of his bottled up anger and desire.  He desired human companionship, acceptance, and love.  He also was very angry at the society therefore he fantasized murder and betrayal along with people generally opposing him.  His desire for acceptance led him to imagine his neighbour girl being supportive of the “clown” who committed those murders.  The Joker portrays how societies shape us, and if we refuse to conform to society, no matter how hard we try, we will never be considered a part of society. 

“I haven’t been happy one minute of my entire ****ing life” is what Arthur says to Penny right before suffocating her.  It is a tragic moment as we, as the viewers, realize this was not only the result of society abandoning Arthur, but also his mother.  When there is such huge segregation between classes, society makes it hard for anyone stuck in the lower-class to move out of that position, possibly over multiple generations.  Power, once attained, is not easily shared or surrendered without a fight.  In this society, the rich seem to feed on power and profits and wherever financial cuts can be made, they will be executed without a second thought.  When some of these programs are cut, families in the lower class settings lose their independence.  This societal impairment is what keeps elite people in authoritative positions, by making sure to keep those less fortunate, dependent on those with power.  By Penny not having the ability to find the help she needed for her mental instability, this trickled to her adopted son also having to live the same  tragedy. 

As the movie finishes, people are left with different opinions about the movie that affect how we perceive it depending on where we are in society. As we know that people will take it based on their personal life experience, in short, Joker can be a victim or a villain, or maybe both for them. For almost two hours we can see how society reacts towards him. The way society treats him somehow is the mirror of how society works in our life right now. People around him are the main contributing factor of how Arthur becomes Joker. 

From beginning to end, Joker does nothing new, this movie is a beautiful reflection of reality.