To celebrate the release of Joker on bluray and DVD i have decided to write this essay on why i think Joker is a masterpiece. It’s gonna be a long journey.
Joker is an origin story for the famous Batman villain of the same name and upon release has taken the crown of my favorite film of all time. There are many reasons why this is and in this essay i will break down the reason for it and explain my reasoning to the best of my ability. Now to be able to do so there will be spoilers ahead so if you haven’t seen it…what the hell are you doing go and watch it right now and then come back a give it read. If you have seen it however then feel free to continue as i explain why the JOKER is a masterpiece and cinema at its best.
First of all the film centres around a wannabe comedian named Arthur Fleck played masterfully and effortlessly by the amazing Joaquin Phoenix, who nabbed tons of awards for the role including best actor at the Academy Awards 2020. He effortlessly fits in to the role and delivers a captivating performance as both characters, being broken and depressed as Arthur Fleck but Sinister and thrilling as The Joker but somehow leaves the audience still feeling sorry for someone who in the long term is a villian. However that’s the clever thing about this film it doesn’t have a “good guy” the film smartly makes everyone in this feature a villian, some in more obvious ways than others, but ultimately everyone in this movie is actually a terrible person.The film is also grounded in reality as it feels like this could actually happen. It doesn’t depict mental health as a plot, it treats it as a real thing and shows how people think about mental health even if they don’t show it. A great quote in the film is in Arthur’s journal and it says “The worst thing about having mental health is that people expect you to behave like you don’t” and as much as people say they are there to help most people would prefer if it wasn’t their problem and in this film no one helps Arthur and it shows the damage of when we don’t help people with these problem out..it could literally tip them over the edge to hurt themselves or others.
Todd Phillips surprised me so much with this film as I’d say before this the only ‘Great’ movie he has made was the first Hangover movie. So it’s fair to say I had my doubts but what was delivered was better than I could have ever imagined. It is a beautiful piece of art paired with artful acting and music score to create something i’d say is perfection.
I’m now going to break down scenes in the film with pictures and time stamps so you can check them out for yourself and i’ll split it into categories so it’s easy to find first of all we’ll start with subtle things in the film that adds to the narrative that you may have missed.
Clues and Subtle nods.
0:01:53 The sign Arthur is holding is upside down
0:02:03 Arthur spots the sign is the wrong way and doesn’t seem too bothered about it. This is a metaphor for his descent into madness. His life is flipped upside down and he becomes the complete opposite of what he is now but at the end he doesn’t really care. Also at 1:49:25 someone can be seen holding a sign upside down just like Arthur at the start. Throughout the scene you can hear people ever so slightly in the background criticise his clown act. Just showing what he says at the end of the Murray Franklin show about everyone being awful these days is true.
0:06:08 As the therapist looks through Arthur’s Journal we see that there are no jokes just weird scribblings. The film ends leaving the audience thinking if everything we see is a dream he fabricates things in his mind so who’s to say that Arthurs journal doesn’t actually contain jokes but contains scribbles from his fractured mind. This is further implied when he swears he told his therapist that he told her about his career change but she has no recollection of this.
0:06:50 Arthur says he was better when he was locked up in the hospital. We then cut to a shot of Arthur in Arkham State Hospital banging his head against the wall. Now this is a very important shot. It’s the same room at the end of the film adding to the theory that it’s all a dream and for a second he slipped out of the illusion and ended back in reality at the Hospital.
0:09:45 Arthur walks slowly up the stairs and is drained and fed up but later on in the film he walks down the stairs and is all joyful and happy with himself, but it is reversed as usually going up is reference to positive and going down is a reference to negative. This can also be seen at 0:19:18 and 0:38:06 however the flipped Staircase metaphor from 0:09:45 is used again but this time in a positive way.
0:12:17 Arthur gives us our first real clue that he can create his own realistic fantasies imagining that he is on the Murray Franklin show.
0:14:00 “She always tells me to smile and put on a happy face” this is a nod to him becoming The Joker which we all knew would happen but just a nice little bit of foreshadowing the blood smile scene at around 1:51:00
0:15:39 Arthur ripping up his shoes, arched over looking like some sort of monster foreshadowing the ‘monster’ he will become.
0:18:54 Arthur savagely beats a trash bag but from the angle it looks like he’s stepping on someone (presumably he is pretending it’s his boss) showing off his violent potential.
0:20:35 Arthurs gesture of blowing his brains out is a foreshadow of his plan later for the Murray Franklin show.
0:23:25 this shot makes it look like Arthur is on a tv screen giving us another hint that what we see might not be what it seems.
0:26:00 We get a shot of Arthurs Journal and it tells us quite a little about the last portion of the film. The journal has written in it; Work the Crowd , Make observations about the audience and always make funny observations this tells us what he is going to do on the Murray Franklin show. All this points to when he talks about the audience saying that they are all awful and terrible people before insulting Murray with the same insult. And saying that the 3 men he killed on the subway couldn’t carry a tune to save their lives ‘observing’ that they were singing just before they were killed. It also read sexy jokes are always funny and he kisses Dr Sally on the Murray Franklin show as a joke. The rest of the page just points out The Joker’s final look and him killing murray “Slick hair, dress nice but casual, make eye contact which he does when he shoots murray in the head.
0:27:00 we see that Arthur is talking to Sophie (Zazie beetz) but this is all an illusion and what gives it away is Sophie calling him Arthur despite the two never introducing one another. Another clue is she was shown to have a child but throughout their time together in the film she is never shown to be there despite it sometimes being really late at night.
0:29:00 Arthur shatters glass with his head after getting fired.This is a metaphor for his totally shattered and broken mind.
0:41:05: “For my whole life I wondered if i even really existed…but i do and people are starting to notice”. Beside this line being absolute poetry it’s also a subtle nod to Arthur fabricating everything we see before us.
0:43:00 a subtle nod that Sophie isn’t really there at Arthurs comedy show as she is the only audience member who isn’t in shadow.
At 0:51:05 he puts a picture in his Joke Diary of Thomas, Martha and Bruce Wayne a reference to the ending where Arthur thinks of a joke when he is locked up and we then cut a shot of the Wayne’s dead that’s his joke.
0:57:20 Arthur gives a Joaquin phoenix level performance and flawlessly lies to the police.However at 0:58:10 the Police ask if the condition of him laughing is real or a clown thing and part of his act…to which he responds “what do you think?” We see that he laughs throughout the film when he is nervous on multiple occasions but why not now? Talking to the police about something he did would be pretty nerve racking. Nodding towards maybe all isn’t as it seems
0:58:40 Sophie is seen without her daughter again late at night a subtle nod to her not being real.
0:59:50 Murray Franklin say “Check out this Joker” a set up to his name”the film acknowledges this later on
01:01:10 Foreshadowing Him killing his mother with a pillow at 1:21:30.
01:07:10 This Transition shot.
1:11:06 Arthur changes the way he speaks to match Tyrese Gibson’s character. again just small nods to Arthur creating things in his head.
A shot at 1:12:34 and 1:47:40
1:14:00 We see that Penny Fleck is capable of making up fantasies. We see later that Arthur also does the same
1:15:10 Penny says “I never heard him crying. He was always such a happy little boy. This is referencing his condition which states on his card uncontrollable laughter then doesn’t match how they feel. Then Arthur began to laugh despite being upset.
1:16:00 parallels a shot later on at around 1:30:15.
1:22:15 Arthur watches a guest on Murray Franklin and later on copies what he sees exactly.
1:22:35 Arthur creates his own illusion but again this time just like 0:22:00 the sound is from the TV and not in his mind so we actually see it playing out in real time.
1:26:01 Arthur grabs the scissors to take to the door to presumably kill them without knowing who it is showing he has completely gone off the rails.
1:34:20 The make-up goes so well with his expressions his little dance he does just screams The Joker to me and there is a cool shot where he is seen putting his clown mask in the bin this symbolizes his good natured clown he used to be called Carnival is no longer and there is only The Joker
1:47:40 mirrors scene where he is in Arkham at the counter at 1:12:34
The Meaning of Taxi Cabs.
Taxis are shown as a negative influence to the narrative of this movie at 0:02:28 Arthur runs out in the road and almost gets hit by a taxi chasing the hooligans and screams.Then later on in the movie at 0:24:25 Arthur stops suddenly when crossing the road and a taxi driver drives past and he is almost hit again at 0:24:34. At 0:46:00 Arthur see’s a man wearing a clown mask in the back of a taxi and the two make eye contact. I think this is a vision and Arthur is seeing what he wants to see and the film again is showing taxi’s in a negative way as it shows Arthur is going down a dark path. Since he is happy about killing the three guys in the subway and also the clown mask the man in the taxi wears resembles Arthurs clown persona “Carnival the clown” these foreshadows later on at 1:31:55 when the tides change and its Arthur getting chased instead of Arthur chasing someone like at the beginning, he gets hit by the taxi and it doesn’t bother him as he is now no longer Arthur he is The Joker. At 1:47:51 a taxi is shown to crash at the end giving us a metaphor that The Joker is now in control and as he says on the Murray Franklin show “Nothing can hurt me anymore”
How the music is used.
0:03:00 Hildur Guðnadóttir score begins to play after arthur has been beaten up. The same score is used all the way through the film for example; After Arthur kills the 3 guys on the subway and he runs to the bathroom and the film uses the same Music score in this scene but now Arthur is on the other side of the conflict he dealt the damage.
In the scene with the therapist a violin is played from Hildur Guðnadóttir score but it only plays whilst Arthur is getting all tense and soon as he snaps out of it the music comes to a sudden halt and then continues. The music plays whenever we are in Arthurs head. The music adresses what he is feeling. Just like when he goes down the staircase in the now iconic scene at 1:30:35, Rock and Roll part 2 plays. He now feels like a Rockstar, the star of his own show. He dances in sync to the music playing but in that actual world there is nothing playing it’s all in his head.
0:12:17 Arthur gives us our first real clue that he can create his own realistic fantasies imagining that he is on the Murray Franklin show. The violin song plays when the film shows us we are in Arthurs fantasy.
At 0:18:30 music plays as we go into Arthurs mind again. It’s the same violin score that can be heard throughout the film, again showing we are in his head.
At 0:22:00 we see Arthur begin to create another scenario in his head but this time we dont cut to a fantasy in his head we instead see Arthur acting it out that’s because the music that is playing in the background is coming from the TV not from his mind. So because his mind isn’t creating the entire “scene” we don’t have a cut to an illusion which normally happens in the film. Except for one scene The aforementioned bathroom scene at 0:34:50.The now iconic dance starts and again the music is playing in Arthurs head this contrasts the scene earlier at 0:22:00 where he was fantasising about dancing and the fact this was a last minute edition and the dance was improvised by Joaquin makes it oh so more special.
0:26:54 We again see a shot of Arthurs journal but this time we see jokes but at the bottom. We see a quote that says the worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave like you don’t. Now this obviously isn’t a joke but it ties back to what i said 0:06:08 “As the therapist looks through the book we see there are no jokes just weird scribblings. The film ends leaving the audience thinking if everything we see is a dream and he fabricated the whole thing in his mind” this is also shown by the music in his head again. So again we see that Arthur is seeing what he writes in his journal as Jokes but in fact it’s just rambles about his mental health.
0:44:50 we see a shot of Arthurs journal and again there are no jokes just crude images and then we hear the song Smileby Jimmy Durante and then people start to laugh. This means we are now in Arthurs mind again as mentioned before.
1:24:30 This entire scene is great. It also tricks us to think the music is in his head so it could be an illusion, but if you listen closely when the doorbell rings you can still hear the music and it’s actually on the radio so everything we see is real.
1:30:35 Now that Arthur has fully become The Joker, his illusions are no longer fabricated and even though we see that the music clearly coming from his head his actions are now his reality. Or so we think for now until we’re hit with the ending. Where the “That’s life begins to play” as he wanders around Arkham but we will get to that later on.
Arthur’s Emotions.
0:03:43 We cut to a shot of Arthur and he is laughing but sometimes it appears he is upset this shows us arthurs conflicting emotions fighting each other to get out and and towards the end the laughter wins “I used to think my life was a tragedy. But now i realise its a fucking comedy”. This is a quote at 1:21:08. There are more examples at 0:08:29 when Arthur begins to laugh again and it looks like he is upset again showing his conflicting emotions.. And at 0:29:05 we see the train scene and here we see multiple examples again of Arthurs emotions fighting to take over him again. He is laughing but he looks upset. And again at 1:15:10 when he finds out he is adopted. If i showed someone (who hadn’t seen this film) this image and asked what emotion arthur was feeling then they would definitely say upset. It can also be seen at 1:19:17
Attention to detail.
0:00:00 Warner Communication Company logo is the same logo they actually used in the 80s. The era the film is set.
0:00:35 Batman can be seen in the mirror.
0:08:00 Just a fun little detail Arthur has a little bit of white makeup still on his neck and chin and again at 0:20:35 It can also be seen again that arthur has make-up in the same place he had left it last time on the bus scene.
Arthur uses a Snub nose Revolver that can hold 8 rounds and that the amount that he shoots before the ammunition is up. It was the top selling gun in the 1980s, the time setting for this film.
0:33:48 there is a faint ringing that films sometimes utilize to show PTSD (something that is caused from severe trauma) and killing someone would be considered traumatic to some.
0:59:20 Attention to detail Murray Franklin mentions the garbage strike and huge pile of trash can be seen around Gotham for example around 0:18:54 when arthur is in the back alley and 0:45:00 when he is in the diner with Sophie and at 1:09:59 when Arthur visits Arkham.and when he is running from the police.
1:22:35 The Tv reacts to Arthur as if he is on the show.
Just small things I personally liked.
0:41:05: The quote “For my whole life I wondered if i even really existed…but i do and people are starting to notice”
0:37:40 “oh i forgot to punch out”
0:45:29 Arthur Mimicking the clown in the paper is just a cool little shot that love for no particular reason.
0:52:58 Bruce Fucking Wayne
01:09:46 This shot is beautiful.
1:28:45 Arthur Mimicking Gary is a great little gag as well as jumping when he walks past him. Not to mention this scene is so tense i thought he was going to kill gary.
The Look of The Joker.
JUST LOOK AT THIS SHOT…LOOK AT IT.
The ending
The ending of Joker is the biggest and best thing from the film. The film ends and implies that the entire thing was in his head. And what supports this is we see he has been in hospital before at 0:06:50 and he looks pretty similar. He isn’t as slim, he no longer has green hair and we see throughout the film that he can fabricate his own reality and think it’s real. So how much is actually real, that’s the thing we don’t know Todd Philips crafted an ending that is meant to be discussed and that’s a reason i love. It leaves it for fan speculation and we can create endless theories and it makes the film that more enjoyable because it gives us something to talk about. I won’t go into the ending any further as there are plenty of videos on youtube about it and also you can create your own which is the fun part it leaves it open to interpretation…How much actually happened?…Is he really the joker?…Are the Wayne’s dead?…Who knows?
Hopefully this gives you an insight on why i love this movie so much in my eyes it’s everything i ever wanted in a joker origin and more. It’s beautifully directed, flawlessly and i just hate that i can’t ever experience it for the first time ever again but it will always be down as my favourite film of all time.It deserved every award it got and it will go down in history as a tremendous piece of cinema. This isn’t a review but it would give it 10’s all across the board no hesitation. It may not a have won best picture but to me it always will be the best picture.
There is so much more to add but you need to experience some of it for yourself as time goes on and re-watch after re-watch i might notice something new, so you never know there may be a part 2 of this essay but its long enough…for now.
Head Over Reels 