Why So Serious?

Image result for the joker

The Joker is one of the most well-known villains in comic book history. The new Joker movie released on Oct. 4th, 2019 and follows the origin story of Arthur Fleck and the events that led up to his becoming the Joker: clown prince of crime. While anticipation of the movie was on the rise, the potential dangers surrounding its release could not be ignored. The Joker is seen by many as a psychopath. What movies such as "Batman: The Dark Knight" and the new "Joker" made you sympathize with the villain as apposed to seeing him for just the bad guy as many previous superhero movies did. In 2012, opening night of "Batman The Dark Knight" there was shooting in Aurora, Colorado. 12 people were killed and another 58 were severely injured.

The Joker origin story coming out has the same atmosphere around it. This movie was criticized for glamorizing the criminal act committed by Joker. The US government released a warning alerting military about potential violence that could take place when the movie releases. Today, Joker is the highest grossing R-rated movie ever made hitting the $850 million worldwide. Its popularity has grown even in protests of governments. Protesters in Chile, Hong Kong, Lebanon, and Iraq were spotted dawning the clown maker seen on the Joker as the protested corruption and elitism.

The media is powerful. I wanted to bring light to this movie to show the affects of media on every day society. The makers of "The Dark Knight" and "Joker" did not intend for society to react in the negative ways that they did. The power of influence that movies, social media, and other sources of information have is underestimated. All across the globe people are taking hold of the idea of Joker and bringing it to life. This does not mean we have to never allow ourselves to be exposed to anything, but I encourage giving thought to what we allow in our minds and how that impacts us and society as whole.

Until Next Time,
James

Comments

  1. AbbyOctober 30, 2019 at 2:17 PM

    My husband and I saw the movie on opening night and we absolutely loved it. We thought it was the epitome of a psychological guessing game. Joaquin Phoenix's acting was award worthy and will go down in history as one of the great jokers. However, I can see why glamorizing the joker can be dangerous for society and social media regarding the movie could be seen as negative. It was a very dark and disturbing movie.

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  2. Alexandra GeslerOctober 30, 2019 at 6:30 PM

    I've seen all the other Joker movies but I haven't seen this one yet! I think you bring up some interesting points with the movie. The media does have a huge impact on peoples' lives and I find it interesting that this movie shined a light on that.

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  3. McKenna NewmanOctober 30, 2019 at 7:16 PM

    I am not a fan of scary movies so I never hear much about them, except for this one. I have had multiple friends tell me about this movie and the scary violence behind it. I have warned friends about watching this because I heard the producer respond to a question about mass shootings with, "It's not my job to worry about mass shootings. My job is just creating good movies." I have even had friends leave the movie early because they felt uncomfortable. It's crazy what kind of effect the media and movies like this have on the world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael BernerOctober 31, 2019 at 12:54 AM

    I understand where people and critics are coming from when they say that the Joker glamorizes a mass shooting because of how the Joker is praised in the movie for his wrongdoings. However, I felt as if the directors intended to have you empathize with Fleck to show you the dark side of mental health issues and lower class citizens rather than to influence any kind of violence. With that said, I thought the movie was great and Joaquin Phoenix was a phenomenal Joker.

    ReplyDelete

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