Foucault quoted Dostoevsky's words in the "Writer's Diary" in the opening chapter of "Madness and Civilization":
People cannot confirm their sanity by confining their neighbors.
The reason why Dostoevsky used "people can't" is that we often do. First of all, I can frankly evaluate that I really hate the movie "Joker" in 2019 because this movie constructs the audience's mediocre understanding and imagination of the world in the most mediocre way. This movie not only allows us to confine our neighbors, it also allows us to confine our neighbors not with fear and awe, but with contempt and compassion.
This film reinforces mediocrity and tramples on will. But this may be the reason why its box office is so high and so widely praised.
A clown without will
This is what surprised and disappointed me the most. The Joker was originally a representative of "madness". In his words in the Dark Knight, he was a "agent of chaos." But the clown in this movie is not at all. Every action he does is "justified and well-founded."
And from the perspective of the play, this autobiographical film has created a character who is completely "no will" and "no arc", and without all the value judgments above, this film also fails. All his positive actions in the movie are unwilling and purposeless.
Why did the clown kill three Wall Street people? Because he needs self-defense, and the weapon of self-defense is not his own, but was given to him by others.
Why did the clown kill his mother? Because she has always deceived her and once condoned and abused her. In the movie, the mother kept talking about writing to Wayne, not caring about Arthur, nor approving of Arthur.
How did the clown get to Murray's talk show? It wasn't he who wanted to go, but the other party took the initiative to find him.
Why did the clown kill another clown in the same troupe? Because he first blamed the clown and made a small report to make him lose his job. Then his concern about the visit this time is also hypocritical. He doesn't care about the clown, but just hopes to get rid of sin.
What about the one who really cares about the clown? The clown let him go warmly (my reaction was, What?!).
How did the clown hit the two policemen who were chasing him? He did nothing, and the police were blocked by other protesters by accident.
Why did the clown kill the host Murray? Because the host used him and played his videos several times to humiliate him.
How did the clown escape after killing Murray? He did nothing, other protesters caused the accident.
How did he stand up and dance after being exonerated? It was not what he wanted to do, but the booing of the people around him encouraged him to do it.
Why did the clown kill the final psychologist? Because she and the original psychiatrist were very similar in appearance (it should not be the same), they were hypocritical and never really cared about patients.
Any action of the clown is "passive", "self-defense", "retaliatory", reasonable, and even justice is involved.
This clown pursues exactly the same things as us. He longs for success and passively seizes the opportunity of his career. He longs to be loved. He fantasizes about being accepted by others. He longs for the promotion of social class and hopes to be recognized by Wayne. , He yearns for self-esteem, so he enjoys that moment after everyone has made a fuss.
This is still a clown? Isn't this "everyone"?
Two Clowns: From "Bacchus" to "Shuangwen"
Whether it is the clown in the anime "Fatal Joke" or the clown in the movie "The Dark Knight", the meaning of this role is by no means an "ordinary mediocrity".
The Joker originally appeared as a counterpart to Batman. Batman symbolizes the perfect policeman in our imagination, with perfect skills and perfect morality, omnipotence, no mistakes, this is a very "sun god" image.
The clown originally entered the Batman story in the form of "Bacchus" (the virus used by the clown in anime is called "Bacchus virus"). The clown does not believe in all our beliefs, but it does not mean that the clown is a "nihilist" , Joker believes in chaos, believes in madness, he is not forced to be mad, forced to chaos, because he really believes in madness, believes in chaos. Just like in The Dark Knight, the Joker said:
This city needs a few criminals with good taste.
The clowns don't want money, don't succeed in the worldly sense, don't be respected. He is a thorough "anti-hero", and "anti-hero" is also a kind of "heroism." This is the difference between the clown and other criminals, because what else he believes, he has to prove his beliefs are correct.
Therefore, facing the clown in "The Dark Knight", we will be afraid, he is not cowardly, not stupid, he is super-willed, and lives in a completely different world from ours. None of us can call him an "alien" because we "cannot understand". The clown in "The Dark Knight", like Dr. Hannibal in "The Silent Lambs," is like a dangerous and huge flame, running with an incomprehensible core, compared to mediocre moviegoers. They burn vigorously with stronger "vitality". Because we understand that Batman's "life force" is an ideal imagination, an image that raises ourselves infinitely, which is false and unreliable. On the contrary, the clown and Hannibal embody a more authentic and credible "vitality".
From each mediocre person himself, to the idea that the mediocrity elevates himself infinitely, to the counter-ideology that corresponds exactly to this idea, it constitutes what Hegel calls a set of "dialectical concepts", and the tension of drama and the value of art, It runs within the tension of such a set of "dialectical concepts."
The 2019 version of "Joker" has completely lost this tension. It puts the mediocre on the screen in a completely catering attitude, and presents the mediocre life day after day in a cheap sympathetic gesture, its drama and network There is no difference in the "shuangwen" of the novel.
Three sinister and cowardly perspectives of mediocrity
The process of watching the movie makes me very uncomfortable. The protagonist seems to be mobilizing the potential of the whole body and shouting "Poor me" in the movie. This should not be the tone of "Joker".
The protagonist is simply a poor textbook-like creature, adopted, adopted by her adoptive mother, mentally ill, abused by her adoptive mother’s boyfriend, lonely, bullied by strangers, wronged by her boss, blamed by colleagues, ridiculed by others, ignored by others, working hard but not Success, I also have mental illness.
This is the portrayal of all modern people who complain about their own lives today. This is not what young people complain about on the Internet. If Batman is an enlarged version of our philosophy, the Joker is an enlarged version of our self-blaming.
What about the other protesters in the film? Brutal, savage, brainless, and smashing facial images, they are countless self-pity and magnified mediocrities.
And Wayne? He seems to look like a positive figure, standing high, running for mayor, bloody punching the clown to protect the children, and finally sacrificing to protect his family.
So at the end I was very puzzled, what exactly is this movie going to show? The rich are noble and just, and the poor are savage and stupid?
There are three kinds of people in the movie, 1 those who are rich because of luck, 2 those who are unfortunate but complaining, and those who endure themselves 3 those who are unfortunate but resist. The first type (Wayne) is portrayed as powerful, responsible, and responsible; the second type (lady neighbor) is portrayed as open-minded, humorous, friendly, and caring; the third type (clowns and other protesters) ) Was portrayed madly and savagely. The movie bluntly locks in a kind of prejudice. If you are a lucky and rich person, please change this society. If you are a unfortunate person without money, you can complain, but please keep your own business, you do everything. can not do this.
If you are unfortunate enough to have no money, do you still want to resist? Then you are either bad or driven crazy.
This movie is straightforward and reveals that all reasonable and normal people will endure humorously and openly, because they are rationally aware that they can't do anything. The rebels are bad guys and lunatics. The world is still waiting for Master Wayne to save.
The class is solidified, life is not worthwhile, and the rebels are crazy, stupid, and bad. What is this content? Isn't this what we look at on the WeChat public account every day?
Four imprisoned neighbors and true lunatics
Those who are excluded from this narrow and cowardly world are those who are confined by this movie.
A brave and promising rebel.
This society cannot accommodate brave rebels, and the system cannot accommodate them because they are dangerous. Ordinary people can't tolerate it, because these people bring out their ugliness and weakness. Therefore, we created this 2019 "Joker" and set the tone for all the "resistors". They are the same as us, but they are more pitiful, worse, and more persecuted than us.
So far, all those who can't bow their heads and endure silently are just mediocre people who are more miserable, have lower moral standards, and lower intelligence. And although we seem to be cowardly and patient, it is because we are more wiser to realize that resistance is useless, and we are more morally unable to do ugly actions. And why can't we do anything? Because we are not lucky enough to be born with a golden key. Besides, we are more ethical than those who are lucky and motivated. What can we complain about?
A negative, but wise and ethical mediocre person was born. They were repeatedly strengthened and spoiled by the public accounts and variety shows that wanted to make their money. Today, we made a movie called "Joker" to continue to spoil their mediocre imagination. This is undoubtedly a great success. This is already the highest-grossing R-rated film in film history, and it may win numerous awards next year.
They can’t see that the real change in this world, the key to the next era is the brave and promising rebels, and it is the Wayne masters who are also oppressing them who hope to eliminate these rebels. . The lords are of course happy to see everyone stigmatizing and condemning the rebels, and they only use to weave these mediocrities with myths or intimidation that makes them more mediocre and cowardly.
Who the hell is a lunatic? Is the clown in the movie crazy? Isn't he just pitiful, who is a mediocre person in reality who has not had an emotional outburst? Who has no thoughts of revenge in his mind, and who doesn't want to completely destroy himself? Are the brave and promising protesters crazy? The world is so bad, even the mediocre himself knows, what's so crazy about bravely and patiently changing the world?
Who is really crazy? Speaking of this terrible world as a person of a beautiful age, or thinking in my heart that people can and should endure all this, can endure high pressure, endure ordinary, endure without dignity. And I believe that over time, from this kind of life, by relying on theory and group behavior, we can gain beauty, gain dignity, and get a good life. This is really crazy, isn't it, how crazy is this? They do not sleep at night, nor can they fall asleep, insomnia bothers them, they go crazy with consumption and entertainment, they suffer from depression at a young age, and they give up social and intimacy. Don't forget, there is a concept of Stockholm syndrome waiting for them.
So who is the real lunatic here?
But after all, this is a contest of will, not a contest of box office, not a contest of volume. The mediocre would of course want to confine this rebellious neighbor, because vaguely, they themselves are lunatics. But will this happen eventually.
Fortunately, this is not up to them.
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