Film Theory: Why Joker Is All A Lie

1. The Arkham Inspired Outfit

Arthur's Joker costume is no mere clown suit, nor is it just a nod to the comics. A normal clown - as he proves earlier in the film - would wear something more traditional. Instead, Arthur consciously chooses something that mirrors the colours of the stairwell in Arkham as we see when he gets flees with his mother's records.

It's not a coincidence either: this is Arthur telling us, subconsciously where he really is. This is another hint of his unrealiability, but it's also more of an explanation of where he is and why we shouldn't believe him. He's adopting the comfort of Arkham, which he even says is wher he felt most at home. He's most at home there because he never left.

There's another hint of that too, because his physical demeanour very much mimics that of someone wearing a straitjacket. He's hunched, with his shoulders curled inwards and his spine curved. Arthur even writes a joker in his diary about a straitjacket that is too tight and it's telling that he also seeks comfort at another point by emptying his fridge and climbing into it. These are all big hints that Arthur is actually in Arkham all along, having imagined the whole story. Or at least large parts of it.

Remember, all Arthur wants - his dream for his whole life, he tells Murray Franklin in his fantasy - is to have an audience. To understand what makes them love people, and his entire demeanour is crafted with that in mind. He's a mimic of everyone he interacts with in some way and builds his Murray Franklin show appearance on seeing another one, he laughs when he thinks he's supposed to, he models his stand-up on other people and he even leans on the doorway the same way Sophie does when he meets her.

There is nothing of him that is real. It's all a construct and so is his story.

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