Joker 2 Disappoints Fans with Grim Storyline: Analysis and Controversy
Joker 2 Underwhelms at Box Office After Dismantling Its Lead Character
In 2019, Warner Bros. enjoyed an unexpected success with the Todd Phillips' directed 'Joker', featuring Joaquin Phoenix. The film, a unique take on the origin story of the DC villain, grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. Phillips' intention was to infuse a "real movie" into the superhero genre, and he certainly accomplished that.
However, in the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, Phillips appears to have deconstructed and obliterated his lead character in a way that left audiences dissatisfied. The film garnered $81 million globally at the box office during its opening weekend (half of these revenues go to the theater chains), and it cost over $300 million to produce and market. In contrast, the first film made $247 million globally during its opening weekend and cost only $60 million. Joker 2 also experienced the largest second-week drop in revenue in DC movie history.
The Plot of Joker: Folie à Deux
In Folie à Deux, the entire arc of the first movie is reversed. Arthur Fleck (the Joker) is confined in an insane asylum following the vengeful murders of the previous film and is embroiled in his own trial. His rebelliousness has been suppressed by medications, and he struggles with his alter ego and an abusive prison system. He has musical fantasies where he can be the Joker again, but these scenes fall flat, as they often do in movies where the character yearns to be something he is not.
By the end of the film, Arthur fires his attorney and defends himself in court, condemning the asylum and its appalling treatment of patients. The psychotic prison guards retaliate by beating our protagonist and then, seemingly, raping him (the rape is implied, not shown). After the rape, Arthur Fleck discards his Joker persona and confesses his guilt to the court. In essence, his rebelliousness was forcibly taken from him.
Finally, he is murdered by his own cellmate.
The film lacks any good guys, and the only message seems to be that submission to the system is the solution if you wish to avoid a terrible fate. Unsurprisingly, this was not well received by fans. But why would Hollywood seek to sabotage a character that their audience finds captivating? This has been a trend for years now with every beloved franchise, particularly those starring straight white men.
They turned Luke Skywalker into a bitter, lazy nihilist. They made Indiana Jones a bitter, forgotten aging divorcee. They made James Bond play second fiddle to a 90-pound black woman before killing him. They replaced the Ghostbusters' men with unfunny women and pretended the original films didn't exist. There are hundreds of examples of this character assassination since around 2016. It's the reason why Hollywood is failing so spectacularly today.
The Director's Role
To be fair, Todd Phillips is perhaps not as skilled a director as people initially thought. The first Joker borrows a considerable amount of plot and character development from two of Martin Scorsese's best films - Taxi Driver and The King Of Comedy. The Joker is essentially a fusion of those two movies with a sprinkle of Batman lore. Arthur Fleck is Rupert Pupkin and Travis Bickle if they had descended even further down the path of rage. In the second film, Phillips was starting from scratch and it shows.
In the late 1970s to early 1980s, it was acceptable for Hollywood to portray the plight of disaffected young white men searching for meaning in a world that has forsaken them. Today, the progressive left views the character of Travis Bickle as a monstrous symbol that should never be replicated on the big screen for fear that he might "inspire" all those dangerous white men out there in the real world to act on their inherent terrorist impulses.
The entertainment media was in an uproar, accusing Joker of sympathizing with angry white males in a way that "excused their behavior." 'Medium' argued that The Joker is "actually about the rage that bubbles to the surface when white males are denied the future they think they are entitled to."
Salon claimed that the "American epidemic of white male rage fueled "Joker" to Oscar contention glory, but also the film's downfall."
White men are not allowed to feel disaffected or angry, because supposedly the "patriarchy" is built to cater to them. White men are so dangerous they have to be suppressed, lest they wake up one day and start a fascist revolution.
In the DC comics, the Joker is an unabashed psychopath seeking to prove that, deep down, everyone else is just as corrupted as he is. In the Todd Phillips movie, Joker is an empathetic character created by an abusive and broken society that only offers him drugs to numb the pain of existence. Again, you aren't supposed to feel bad for straight white men or understand why they might become violent.
In Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle decides he's going to go lone wolf from society and make his mark instead of living in obscurity. He has a choice to use his newfound freedom for good or evil. It's hard to say if he chooses to do good because he wants to or because it's easier, but in the end, he aims his aggression at terrible people and saves the life of an innocent girl.
In the first Joker, Arthur Fleck has no real choice. He must either embrace the clown and lash out or be crushed under the boot of the system. At the end of the film, Fleck becomes a symbol of chaos and revenge and, like Travis Bickle, finds a strange kind of freedom. In the second movie, Todd Phillips and Hollywood in general attempt to remedy their previous mistake by not only killing the character but absolutely humiliating him and then forcing him to abandon his ideals before he dies.
Many people might assume that the woke left is attracted to symbols of anarchy and chaos, but the truth is they only use those dynamics as weapons to gain power.
They love authoritarian order, as long as it's applied against the people they hate. Joker: Folie à Deux is yet another reminder of how the political left really thinks.
The underlying message of the movie? The corrupt system always wins, so conform or you'll be next.
Bottom Line
The sequel to the successful Joker movie has left many fans disappointed. The drastic changes in the lead character's arc and the overall grim message of the film have not sat well with audiences. The film's underperformance at the box office and the negative reception from fans raise questions about Hollywood's approach to beloved characters and franchises. What are your thoughts on this matter? Share this article with your friends and let us know your opinions. Remember, you can sign up for the Daily Briefing which is every day at 6pm.