As a social creature, we depend on others, therefore, we must live in a system. From global citizenship, to a nation, regional, until family unit, we can't escape from system. Our well-being depend on that system. Now what will happen if the system that suppose to protect and guide us is broken?
Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a mentally ill patient who just got out from hospital, and now he works as a clown-for-hire to support himself and his ailing mother, Penny (Frances Conroy). Besides mental illness, he suffers from a condition that makes him has a laughing fit whenever he feels nervous. One day, his coworker, Randall (Glenn Fleschler), gives him a gun for protection, after he was brutally beaten and robbed by a bunch of kids. That gun brings Arthur to a string of events that lead him to find out about his true self and unfortunately, bring out the worst in him.
What can i say about this movie? Wins Oscars, Golden Globes, and sparks revolution not only in the movie, but also in the real world. Director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix have done an amazing job to create a movie and a character that talks so deep about our nature, it inspires us to start a movement. But no matter how brilliant the idea or the screenwriting is, it can't accomplish its job if not supported by good cinematography or music. They say that good art is the one who can be interpreted differently by its viewers, and that's exactly what this movie has done. One of my friend said the color palette of a scene reminded him to a Van Gogh painting, and other said Joker's dances reminded him to Marcel Marceau, a famous French pantomime artist. That alone already speaks a lot about the quality of this movie.
When this movie came out, there was a hype saying that it talked about mental health. There's also an uproar saying that it was deeply disturbing and even issued trigger warning. First of all, i don't think mental health is the main topic in this movie. You can't ignite revolution in Lebanon, Chile, and Hong Kong by talking about mental health. Second, i think the uproar is very overreacted. Yes, the movie tone is dark. Yes, the murder scenes are brutal and realistic. But i can show you a lot of movies that are far more brutal and more trigger warning than this movie.
To discuss further about this movie, i need to tell the whole story including the famous twist about Arthur's parents, so Spoiler Alert!
From my medical perspective, i think Arthur suffers from severe depression with psychotic symptoms. The symptoms of his depression is:
- Depressed mood most of the day, he says to his counselor that all he has are negative thoughts.
- Weight loss.
- Restlessness.
- Feelings of worthlessness, he says to his counselor that for his whole life, he didn't know if he even really existed.
- Recurrent thoughts of dead, as he wrote in his diary, "I just hope my death makes more cents than my life."
The psychotic symptoms is his hallucination. Besides that, i think he also has personality disorder, although i'm not sure which one does he have, probably histrionic personality disorder, that explains why he wants to be a comedian, because he wants to be the center of attention.
But, again, mental health is not the main issue here. I mean, trust me, despite what Hollywood makes you believe, only very small percentage of mental illness sufferers who show violence toward others, most often they're the one who become the victim of violence. For me, Arthur's downward spiral toward madness is a metaphor for the downfall of system in Gotham City. As we know, Gotham City has been stricken with poverty, unemployment, and crime. Arthur is a symbol of how bad the system has f*cked up a person.
From birth, life has given sh*t to him. He was abandoned by his real parents, abused by persons who adopted him, and finally left by his "father". How can you expect a person to still be sane having childhood like that? I assume poverty and uneducatedness were what driven his "parents" to do all that they had done to him, so safe to say that poverty has ruined Arthur's family, and responsible to his poor life ahead. It's a metaphor of how failure of a system impacts the smallest unit in society, which is family.
After that, Arthur gets a job that often treats him unfairly, like when he must compensate for damage that happens because he is robbed and he finally loses his job because he's been framed by Randall. Arthur must put up in a job like that because there's not much job available at those hard times. Randall wants to get rid of him because of the same reason, he just wants to get rid of competitors, and Arthur seems to be the easiest target. And there's no labor union for Arthur to complain. Failure of system has impacted the workplace.
Social worker who supposed to help Arthur with his mental illness never seems to really listen or care about him. She just asks the same question every week. Finally, the city cuts funding across the board, including Social Services, and office that should helps Arthur are closed. The social worker even says, "They don't give a shit about people like you, Arthur." Because of that, he doesn't have access to his medicine anymore and now his symptoms are getting worse. Failure of system has impacted the support unit.
People who have are looking down to those who have not. Three people who Arthur shoots are snobs who try to harass a woman in the train. Arthur doesn't even try to defend the woman. Those three guys eventually assault him, and the shots are actually just a self defense. Meanwhile, Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), powerful man who plans to be Mayor, says, "Those of us who have made something of our lives will always look at those who haven't as nothing but clowns," to curse the murder. Just like comedy, system is subjective. It's they who have power who decide what's right or wrong. If it was Arthur dying on the sidewalk, people would walk right over him. Men like Thomas Wayne never think what it's like to be somebody but themselves. Failure of system has impacted the social equality.
Finally, Arthur who always looking for father figure in his life is being let down by a person who he idolizes so much and a person who he thinks is his father. Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), a TV show host, mocks his failed performances and Thomas Wayne, who Arthur thinks is his real father, tells him that not only his mother is delusional but he also has been adopted. Despite of how unfair his life is, Arthur just wants to spread joy and laughter into this cold, dark world. If he can't make himself happy, at least he can make others. At the end of the day, Arthur just wants someone he admires to hug him and says, "I'd give it all up in a heartbeat to have a kid like you." But all he gets is a punch in the face. It's a metaphor of how failure of a system has killed people's hope to have a guide who can lead them toward better life, just like Arthur's hope to find a father figure has been killed.
In the end, that's why this movie has become so political. Arthur's story is a statement of people who are fed up with the system that has been broken, and all the while they're just told to always "smile and put on a happy face". Just like Arthur who writes in his diary, "The worst part about having mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't." People are told to carry on, there's nothing wrong with the system, while the reality is things are getting crazier out there. Even Arthur says that he felt better when he was still locked up in the hospital.
We want to be matter. We want to have impact on society. And we always want to be noticed and acknowledged, it's our nature as a social creature. It's our right as a human being, and it's society's job to serve that right. If society fails to do that job, and we are thought to be nothing but clowns, it's only a matter of time until people start a riot, shout, "F*ck the system!" and say to you, "You get what you f*ckin' deserve!" before shoot you in the face.
No comments:
Post a Comment