The Evolution Of The Joker - Movie Timeline
1. Joker (2019)
After years of never finding out where Joker came from - largely because the conversation was a redundant one until it became so definitive in the Ledger Joker's story - the latest Joker seeks to offer shape to how Joker was created. And there's a big reason why it's necessary.
This movie isn't merely an attempt to demystify the character, it's more a means to reframe him and tell the story of how the Joker inspired Batman, rather than the other way round. We've seen that before, of course, in Batman 1989, but there's more to it here.
In stark contrast to Ledger's Joker - which will always inevitably be the most valuable comparison point, given its success - Arthur Fleck is not a reflection of Batman. Yes, he's a walking contradiction, marked by difference and almost all of the other defining characteristics of the other Jokers, but he's more of a reflection of Gotham itself.
Joker thrusts us into a Gotham breaking apart, torn from within by insidious greed and implied corruption as the real people - like Fleck - are chewed up and spit out. His perverse blossoming is in a cocoon made by the city's wilful neglect of him and of everyone like him and he rises like Gotham's saviour (though it's not something he personally embraces) - which is something we saw in Nolan's Joker too.
The allegories in Joker are the most pertinent part of the film and the one most likely to fire up discourse after its release. Because Joker isn't just a product of his Gotham, he's a product of our world too. He's the result of the same kind of celebrity cult worship, the same kind of mental health system failings, the same disconnect between rich and poor and for Phillips at least, he's a response to the perils of supposedly "woke" culture. Let's leave that bit alone, for now, but he's holding a mirror up to our world again.
In a world where tyrants occupy actual seats of power, where truth no matters counts if it's less entertaining than a lie and where morality has been diluted to the point where "the people" reinforce the messages of "the man" and "the establishment" as some corporate hero, of course there'd be no superhero to take on Joker.
Joker holds a mirror up to our faces more than any of the other Batman arch-nemeses before him. Arthur Fleck has gone from being Batman's mirror image - a phenomenon created by Batman's very existence - to being an impulse reaction to OUR existence. If he makes you feel uncomfortable, maybe ask yourself why a little more.
This latest Joker is just as much about contradiction, but he's the logical result of what happens when a society sees things it doesn't like about itself and tries to hide them. Gotham and Thomas Wayne made a clown of him, amplifying what was already there, and if they hadn't failed Arthur, there'd be no Joker. There's very much a message here about looking to our own that we cannot ignore.
Which Joker do you enjoy most? Share your observations below in the comments thread.