"Joker" fell from the Venice Golden Lion, crazy praise to general praise, and it only took one resource time. This article intends to address the four major flaws of the "Joker" spread on the Internet- lack of originality, a poor imitation of "Taxi Driver"; moaning without illness, cutting the leeks of literary and artistic youth; three wrong views, advocating that the world owes me; the ending is shallow, pretending to be deep ——Propose some of my personal opinions to explain why, at least in my mind, "Joker" is a good movie: it provides a private experience of contemporary social animals.
(1) Huge complex system
First of all, it is obvious that Martin Sicoses himself participated in the production of "Joker", which pays tribute to "Taxi Driver". But what is more obvious is the difference between the two films. "Taxi Driver" has the background of the Vietnam War. The protagonist's delusion and subsequent crazy behaviors are rooted in the economic recession and Vietnam War injuries. It is the confusion of the veterans after returning to the metropolis . It is essentially the product of the battlefield and the city. .
In 2019's "Joker", all the "mourning" designed for the protagonist Arthur in the film are particularly suitable for the pain points of ordinary people in the metropolis during the peaceful era . In terms of situation, Arthur is doing a very ordinary job; in performance, he habitually pleases others; inwardly, he is very lonely and longs to be loved; in terms of feeling, he does not know what to believe, so he always feels deceived; in the end, especially In pursuit, his dream of a comedian has been repeatedly frustrated. His trauma comes from the metropolis itself.
It is the qualities of Arthur's serious life and even struggling middle- and lower-class citizens that make me suspicious of statements such as "The Clown cuts the leeks of literary youth". I humbly believe that its real audience may be a social and livestock group far larger than the number of literary and artistic youths-the $1 billion box office may also serve as proof. The temperament of the film, especially the "community animal", is that photography, art, performance, etc., are all creating a sense of fatigue and powerlessness that only a social animal can appreciate .
Because it comes from the behemoth "modern super city".
Arthur is powerless to dreams. He wants to be a comedian. It is modern and normal: a comedian, unleashes creativity, does not launder money or engage in capital operation, and brings pure happiness to everyone, and what he gains is true respect. For this, Arthur devoted himself to it. A lot of hard work. I have a lot of sympathy for this part: I also like writing very much, and I made countless pranks about it. But this kind of dream is encouraged by the society: the idols in the mass media are glamorous, full of chicken soup, and kind. They encourage you and have opportunities. You must live a life that is constantly productive and widely recognized. Talented or capable person. But Arthur didn't know how to really be called a comedian: the city is too big, there are too many uncertainties, the probability of realizing his dream is too small, and his failure is not just that he can't tell jokes.
Arthur can do nothing about life. Many things have overwhelmed him: it is difficult for him to really make others laugh (lack of work skills), he is deceived by colleagues (lack of interpersonal skills), he is always hurt in heterosexual interactions, and he does not know how to improve his life (lack of skills). Ascending channel), in a word, he is a metropolis ordinary person trapped in his own class. The booming metropolis always uses the hoarse mass media and large enterprises to ask people to rise up and declare that they value everyone’s feelings. This makes ordinary people even more frustrated: we will never reach that goal. What do we live for?
Even Arthur could do nothing about information. In this huge city, there is always a variety of opposing information, as small as product information-XX substances can treat hair loss, OO substances can cause cancer; as large as international events-everyone is laughing Believe that the people on the other side have no brains, each side is madly activating the media machine; and then to personal experience-am I the illegitimate son of the rich? Say yes for a while, say no for a while, false and real, true and false, everyone is reasonable, everyone is hysterical, so what should I believe? The noise between different messages just made people feel weak on the subway returning home late at night. Ah, the world is really noisy. I don’t know what to do. Why do you keep arguing...
If Arthur does not want to be a popular and worthy urban successful person, he can probably calm down and take a look at the good aspects of life. For example, if his mother is seriously ill, he will arrive before the ambulance is home; for example, he does not need 996 to go to work. , There is still time to engage in a comedian career; another example is that the home is quite spacious, and he is also on popular TV shows... But he has already participated in this game and has undoubtedly been in the bottom, even if the initial points are still reserved. As a result, he will still realize that he is much worse than all other players.
(2) Small social animals are frustrated
Finally, who am I, where I come from, where I want to go... This vague influence becomes despair: the future is far away, the situation is difficult, and the information is full of deception. There is no need to laugh at Arthur's low ability: even the middle class and even the elites will be powerless to do these things, but face things differently-the middle class can't know whether they can really create so much value, and they will worry about being laid off. Replaced by new technologies; elites can't manage team management, corporate financing, and customer relationships...Even if it's done, they can't stand deep thinking: Does your value come from this system, or you yourself? The city is too big and the division of labor is too fine. We blind and feel the elephants, and we are very haggard.
Therefore, the situation in "Joker" is essentially the individual's powerlessness in the face of a huge system: our time pays special attention to personal feelings and particularly encourages the realization of self-worth, but the individual is very powerless, no matter whether it is a part-time job or a company, it has a bit of experience. In the future, it is difficult to say "My destiny is in my control", which also makes the true self-realization obscure. Just like Arthur is confused about how to become a comedian, it is also difficult for us to reach the other side we want to reach.
To understand on this basis, those in "Joker" at first glance are saying that "everyone is aiming at you" at first glance. It can also be said that they are expressing capital (Wayne, the rich man who said that the poor are not capable) , Class of birth (mother), colleagues in competition (colleagues who gave him a gun and thrown the pot), and friends (black female neighbors) have jointly woven this huge complex system . In this way, "Joker" successfully portrays when the individual is no longer satisfied with being a muddled screw, but really wants to achieve what value (becoming a comedian), or what truth to look for (am I the illegitimate son of Wayne's rich man after all? ), you will inevitably face depression. This is called hitting a stone with a pebble.
(3) Chaos and complaints
This complex system is actually closely related to the well-known worldview core "chaos" of the character "Joker". Arthur himself was in a huge system full of chaos. He was at a loss and powerless, and was suppressed so that he could not get up. This was the beginning of chaos; finally, after a complete explosion, he became the creator of chaos, with us in " As seen in the Batman series, the chaos worldview and the clown are both mature.
I don’t think this breaks the continuity of the image of "Joker": if this Arthur is the one in "Batman", this is a complete character growth process, and it fits the value standards of modern society—— The growth of a young man from the bottom of depression to a criminal with a high IQ can be regarded as "capacity improvement" and "personal realization", which is more ironic; besides, if according to some comics, this Arthur may be just one of many clowns. This strengthens the "chaos" of the film even more: we don't even know if this clown is real!
So the whole "Joker", especially the criticized ending, has become a large-scale catharsis of the "feeling of powerlessness": cheers and destruction, the wealthy Wayne is shot...It is helping the powerless people to be released through images , Release a frustration. Some commentators pointed out that it promoted populism, hatred, and narrow-mindedness... My feeling is that "Joker" is not very realistic, which also makes it impossible for me to connect the above words. The root lies in the enveloping it. Surreal atmosphere.
Back to the image style of "Joker". First of all, no matter how realism it is, it is still a comic book from DC, especially the debut of Batman. Various elements have been reminiscent of the superhero wars we have seen many times later; secondly When I first watched Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, I didn’t think it was as good as the legend has it. Later, when I looked back, Fang Jue’s amazing sense of drama was like a stage play where the language of the movie lens once again magnifies the emotions. Between the real and the false, it weakens the political nature of reality and is closer to human nature and the heart. In other words, a wide-ranging, emotional performance, large-format photography, seemingly bright but gloomy and strange tones, from Arthur to the clown, from ordinary people to criminals, from ordinary to excellence... "Joker" is changing +Under the double blessing of Joaquin, it has become a fable , faintly and looming. It is not an allegory about politics, but an allegory about the plight of modern people—the unknowable truth and the hard-to-reach end.
However, I don't think "Joker" is a classic. Instead, I feel that it looks a lot like first love in a movie-that is, when I don't know much about movies, it will feel very deep. However, the delicate and subtle insights of "ordinary people in big cities" are enough to make me feel sad. Making a movie is not writing a essay to make a plan. It cannot solve the problem of unhappiness in a modern metropolis. At most, it can only let you release and examine your own powerlessness in these two hours. The psychiatrist does not communicate with Arthur, but "Joker" communicates with you: Are you upset? I will complain with you. Buy a ticket.
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