Written by by Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com
Warner Bros. had a surprise hit in 2019 with the Todd Phillips directed ‘Joker’ staring Joaquin Phoenix; the movie made over a billion dollars at the box office. Phillips’ idea was to “sneak a real movie” into the superhero genre, and to his credit he succeeded in that plan. Joker was a wildly popular but very different take on the DC villain’s origin story.
In his second installment of the franchise, Joker: Folie à Deux, Phillips seems to have set out to deconstruct and destroy his own lead character in way that left many audience goers disappointed. The film grabbed $81 million worldwide at the box office opening weekend (keep in mind that half those revenues go to the theater chains), and it cost over $300 million to make and market. Compared that to the first film, which made $247 million worldwide opening weekend and cost only $60 million. Joker 2 has also suffered the largest second week drop in receipts in DC movie history.
Folie à Deux reverses the entire arc of the first movie. This time around Arthur Fleck (the Joker) is trapped in an insane asylum after the vengeful murders of the previous film and is embroiled in his own trial. His rebelliousness has been subdued by medications and he struggles with his alter ego and an abusive prison system. He has musical fantasies in which he’s able to be the Joker again, but the scenes fall flat like most dream sequences in movies where the character wishes he was something he’s not.
By the end of the film Arthur fires his attorney and defends himself in court, calling out the asylum and it’s terrible treatment of patients. The psychotic prison guards return the favor by beating our main character and then, apparently, raping him (the rape is implied, not shown). After the rape, Arthur fleck abandons his Joker image and submits his guilt to the court. In other words, his rebelliousness was raped right out of him.
Finally, he is stabbed to death by his own cellmate.
There are no good guys in this movie, but the only message seems to be that submission to the system is the answer if you want to avoid a horrific fate. Not surprisingly, this did not go over well with fans. But why would Hollywood seek to sabotage a character that their audience finds fascinating? Well, they’ve been doing that for years now with every beloved franchise, mainly those starring straight white men.