Joker 2: Billions Must Not See This Film

A Demoralization Campaign to Subvert the ‘Chuds’ and Sensitive Young Men and Women

** Spoiler Alert! If, for whatever god-forsaken reason you decide to go see this film, be warned there are major spoilers in this article!**

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I am not one to indulge in film analysis all too much, but as a fan of the 2019 Joker, I feel it be in my best interest to spare you, the reader, from wasting your money on this movie, and provide a salient critique on the new Joker film, Joker: Folie à Deux.

 I have never seen a film so openly hostile to its audience.

When I was exiting the theater, I realized this film was released the month before Election Day. How strange the timing was. Then, it dawned on me: this movie was a strategic demoralization campaign to discourage and spiritually disarm the perceived aggravators of modern society.

What Was Good About It?
As someone who abhors musicals, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the musical scenes were rather enjoyable and entertaining. (Maybe it was the performative violence during the musical numbers?) In fact, I would venture to say that the only redeemable quality of the film was the musical portions, especially in the first half which allowed Joaquin Phoenix the flexibility to embody the theatrical nature of the Joker. During the first half of the film, we also get to see Arthur Fleck build the initial stages of his relationship with Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn (simply referred to as ‘Lee’ in the film) who, in an arsonist attack within the walls of Arkham Asylum, inspires Arthur to capitulate to her charm and cultivate an almost believable friendship. Through Lee’s admiration, Arthur reawakens his Joker persona in order to satiate her fantasies surrounding the alter-ego, and stops taking his medication. 

Sadly, removed for all of that, the rest of the film was clearly intended to disempower the fans who related to Arthur in the original movie. 

The main themes in Joker (2019) clearly emphasized progressive narratives on societal incongruity. It depicted clear divisions of class and the lower-class struggle against persistent ailments of the mind and body. It also demonstrated societal scorn and disdain for the mentally ill and criminally misunderstood. It encapsulated the painful effects of cultural expectation, social norms, and other mores placed upon those who just simply fail to perform everyday conventions accordingly, whether that be due to dysgenic or less-than-usually agentic reasons. Arthur Fleck was originally intended to aggrandize Leftist frustration on Capitalist structures of social and economic organization. Yet, the film ended up resonating with a different crowd of people.

Joker (2019) quickly became a cultural touch-stone for the Right-Wing (RW). It embodied all the failures of modern ‘Woke’ society, and depicted a socially maladaptive man’s rise to stardom through the one act society discouraged  him from doing: embracing his natural role as one who was born to ensue chaos. What does ‘chaos’ look like in today’s world? It perhaps entails refusing yielding to major institutional forces telling you that the sky isn’t blue, water isn’t wet, and that boys are girls and girls are boys. It is refusing to accept nonsensical beliefs promulgated in the formative years of childhood education, teaching children that being white is bad and that America doesn’t belong to Americans.

Prior to the 2019 film’s initial release, the “clown world” meme was circulating the corners of the Internet. It originally emerged as a clown version of Pepe the Frog, named “The Honker,” aiming to signal the state of nonsense of factual inaccuracies perpetuated by paternalistic curtailment of progressive thought imbuing artificial mainstream culture. Naturally, the dissemination of this frog’s clown-like visage was swiftly replaced by Aurther Fleck’s clown-face once onlookers applied the message the film (“we live in a society” tier-level commentary) to their own plights with declining Western society. Removed from that, the message of the film was also just generally intriguing and easily applied to almost anyone. 

Campaign Season Struggles
What do I mean when I assert that this film is a ‘demoralization campaign. Immediately after the release of Joker (2019), COVID-19 era policies were instituted nationwide, closing down small businesses and removing children from classrooms, further worsening the collective mental state of Americas. Shortly after that, January  6th also happened. 

This film was intended to be an ‘October Surprise’ of sorts, disheartening the ‘chud’ vote for Donald Trump. Millions of dollars were poured into this film to purposefully clown-on and despirit the fans of the first film; those of us who identified with Arthur Fleck by recognizing the declining elements of Western culture and accepting ‘our’ socially ascribed “destructive” and “chaotic”  roles in modern society, just a month before Election Day, 

Harley Quinn’s Woman Problem
Harley ‘Lee’ Quinn was entirely inconsequential in the second half of the film. Her only intended role was to personify the original film's newfound fanbase that were enamored with Arthur’s antics. Without any indication of internal conflict, Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn steps in Arthur’s life already infatuated with his Joker identity without any hint of character development. In other words, she appears completely un-agentic; a common issue with female characters in fiction. She has all the implements already available to her, not requiring the writers to formally introduce and mold her into a likable, redeemable, conflictual, or otherwise relatable character. She is essentially an empty slate for the fans to project themselves onto. Additionally, the sad reality is, the ‘jokerfication’ of Harleen Quinzel could have been a captivating character arc made for a compelling character with intense moments of self-doubt, but, alas, such an opportunity was not taken.

The metamorphosis of Harleen Quinzel to Harley Quinn is a story that captures the experience of many, and could just be as relatable as the Joker’s character arc of the film film. However, writers of this film had different intentions. Harley Quinn in this film was not intended to be a riveting story of conversion and a breakdown of self-concept; but rather, she was a self-insert for Joker fans. This is best exemplified in the scene when Harley Quinn exits the courtroom following Arthur Fleck’s confession in the courtroom following his heavily implied rape by the prison guards. Speaking of which, let’s talk about the infamous ‘rape scene.’

That Scene
Although it wasn’t shown in graphic detail, Arthur Fleck was implied to have been raped by the prison guards at Arkham Asylum following him embracing his Joker identity in the courtroom.

Everything about that scene was so poorly executed, it is difficult to decipher whether it was intentionally written that way or if it was put in at the last minute. Stranger still, the only prison guard (who happened to be Irish-coded) that had befriended Arthur in the asylum was the one who led the effort. It is difficult to say whether the Irish guard was gay or state-assigned father figure. Regardless, it seems the intention for the scene was to have the Irish prison guard actively discipline Arthur from embracing the Joker, keeping him under the thumb of social expectation yet again, like his mother's overbearing nature did in the first film. But intention is also subverted by the fact that the scene follows with a rape. Perhaps there is a layer of psycho-sexual analysis here that I am missing that makes this entirely explainable. But, as of now, such an explanation escapes me. 

Adding insult to injury, Lee formally leaves Arthur after the rape. As if Arthur’s humiliation ritual wasn’t already bad enough- he loses the girl of his dreams, so to speak; all from having embraced the Joker as well. This was intended to be a warning to the viewers that, accepting their destiny as purveyors of chaos of modern social order, that they do will essentially be ‘raped’ and have their muse taken away as a result. 

There was a brief moment where Arthur had one last chance  to consolidate his Joker identity after a hidden car bomb demolished the courtroom and gave  him a chance to escape. He does - but only momentarily. Loyalists dressed in Joker regalia find him in his hazy stupor covered in dust from the rubble, leading him into their vehicle where they drive him away from the scene as fast as they can. However, instead of going along for the ride, Arthur opens the car door and runs away, effectively from himself, only to be turned away from his inamorata once again. 

***Major spoiler ahead***

The Bad Ending
In the end of the film, after being tried and found guilty in court, Arthur awaits execution back in the asylum where he prematurely dies by being stabbed multiple times in the abdomen by a psychotic inmate. It turns out this inmate was the real Joker all along, as could be determined by the characteristic laugh and him carving a smile on his face. The scene is of little significance, as the film abruptly ends after, and the inmate was not once foreshadowed prior to the stabbing. Well, that is not exactly true – we do see him standing menacingly in two shots in the background of a couple musical numbers shots and background scenes, but he doesn’t share a single line of dialogue prior to the murder.

What do we make of this? 

Nothing. The real Joker is not a character nor resembles anything of value. He was put in at the last minute to salvage the identity of the Joker for the sake of the canon whilst killing the potent meaning of the first Joker film. 

It is  imperative, dear reader, that you do not give this film your money or time, especially if you appreciated the first film like I did. If you have a hankering for spending $15.00, I suggest contributing to my Patreon or becoming a paid subscriber to The Dialectic Project!

My Patreon can be found here.

The Unlikely Union of Idiots