![]() Because, it turns out, Arthur has some daddy issues too. Before long, he becomes a vigilante folk hero - his first signature act is to kill a trio of annoying Wall Street spuds while riding the subway, which inspires the masses to don clown masks and march enthusiastically around the city with “Kill the Rich!” placards.Īrthur also tries to work out a personal beef with rich asshat and aspiring city mayor Thomas Wayne, father of you-know-who. And yet we’re supposed to feel some sympathy for Arthur, the troubled lamb he just hasn’t had enough love. Killing - usually with a gun, but scissors or a good old-fashioned suffocation will do just fine - empowers him.īut it’s not as if we don’t know how this pathology works: In America, there’s a mass shooting or attempted act of violence by a guy like Arthur practically every other week. Violence makes him feel more in control, less pathetic. Read more: Here Are All the Upcoming Joker MoviesĪs you can probably guess, all of Arthur’s travails are leading up to a series of “See what you made me do?” brutalities, most of which happen while he’s dressed up in his clown suit. His wish will come true, but life will have beaten the poor lad down interminably before then. He dreams of being a stand-up comic and someday being on the show. It reads, “Forgive my laughter, I have a brain injury.”) The one bright spot of his day, or night, is watching a Johnny Carson-style talk-show host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), on television. (He carries around a little laminated card that he holds out helpfully whenever he laughs inappropriately, which is pretty much all the time. When the city’s social services close down, he can no longer receive counseling there, or get his meds. No one is ever kind to Arthur he’s the world’s saddest punching bag. ![]() ![]() He gets angrier and more isolated by the minute. On the job in clown costume, Arthur gets beaten up by a mob of nasty punks - and then almost gets fired because they stole and broke the “going out of business sign” he was twirling for a client. ![]() The movie is set in a Gotham City that’s a lazy approximation of gritty 1970s-era New York, complete with garbage strikes and “super-rats” overrunning the city. This is clear from the moment we meet him: he’s tense and nervous and he can’t relax. Arthur works for a sad rent-a-clown joint, and nothing ever goes right. ![]()
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