Author: nightprahler
A freelance writer and cinephile.
Arthur Fleck the Antihero
We sit in agony watching Arthur Fleck. His involuntary laughter is unbearable, his social skills are cringe-inducing. Even the way he expresses joy with his ugly little dance is disconcerting.
Too painful to watch, too weird to look away.
Let’s talk about Arthur’s laugh. There are three versions: sometimes he gets stuck in an endless fit of convulsions, almost to the point of suffocation, angering bystanders and drawing bullies. It’s disturbing to witness, but most cruel about his condition is that he’s crying on the inside.
We feel terrible for the guy.
Then there’s his carnival clown cackle. It’s a laughing noise rather than an actual laugh to disguise how humorless he is. In fact, Arthur is so tone deaf that when he watches a stand up comedian, he fake-laughs in between the jokes, not at them. Such a bad attempt at pretending to be a normal person is hilarious, and we find no fault in him for it – he’s still just an awkward loser at this point.
But Arthur Fleck’s third laugh is a glimpse of his sinister side, the psychopath, Joker. Unlike the others, this laugh is authentic. What amuses Joker is cops being stomped by a mob, turning his apartment into a bloodbath with a slain co-worker, or watching Gotham City razed.
A villain giggles at stuff like that.
And though he’s definitely a villain, he’s the hero of his own story. We see how life is stacked against him, and his personal vendettas are completely understandable from his point of view (even though he’s Tyler Durden-level deluded). For most of the movie he is an underdog: friendless, fatherless, and miserable.
In a sense, Joker is both victim and perpetrator; some of the people he kills seem deserving, others totally innocent.
Two parts villain, one part antihero.
A wonderful thing about the film is that there is so much to discuss: is Arthur a half-brother to Bruce Wayne? Is he a good person driven to do evil? Did he kill his ‘girlfriend’? What really happened and what’s just a hallucination?
These unsettled questions can be a lot of fun. They allow us to take the movie home and argue our little theories with friends and family. That’s one way to know you saw a good movie.
A freelance writer and cinephile.
Arthur Fleck the Antihero
We sit in agony watching Arthur Fleck. His involuntary laughter is unbearable, his social skills are cringe-inducing. Even the way he expresses joy with his ugly little dance is disconcerting.
Too painful to watch, too weird to look away.
Let’s talk about Arthur’s laugh. There are three versions: sometimes he gets stuck in an endless fit of convulsions, almost to the point of suffocation, angering bystanders and drawing bullies. It’s disturbing to witness, but most cruel about his condition is that he’s crying on the inside.
We feel terrible for the guy.
Then there’s his carnival clown cackle. It’s a laughing noise rather than an actual laugh to disguise how humorless he is. In fact, Arthur is so tone deaf that when he watches a stand up comedian, he fake-laughs in between the jokes, not at them. Such a bad attempt at pretending to be a normal person is hilarious, and we find no fault in him for it – he’s still just an awkward loser at this point.
But Arthur Fleck’s third laugh is a glimpse of his sinister side, the psychopath, Joker. Unlike the others, this laugh is authentic. What amuses Joker is cops being stomped by a mob, turning his apartment into a bloodbath with a slain co-worker, or watching Gotham City razed.
A villain giggles at stuff like that.
And though he’s definitely a villain, he’s the hero of his own story. We see how life is stacked against him, and his personal vendettas are completely understandable from his point of view (even though he’s Tyler Durden-level deluded). For most of the movie he is an underdog: friendless, fatherless, and miserable.
In a sense, Joker is both victim and perpetrator; some of the people he kills seem deserving, others totally innocent.
Two parts villain, one part antihero.
A wonderful thing about the film is that there is so much to discuss: is Arthur a half-brother to Bruce Wayne? Is he a good person driven to do evil? Did he kill his ‘girlfriend’? What really happened and what’s just a hallucination?
These unsettled questions can be a lot of fun. They allow us to take the movie home and argue our little theories with friends and family. That’s one way to know you saw a good movie.
