Korri Palmer
I first met the Joker through “The Dark Knight,” as most partially committed comic/super- hero fans do. I may be biased, but the Joker is the best supervillain to ever exist. He gives very little backstory to examine his insanity, but just enough for fans to desire a solo movie. This year, we (partial and fully committed Joker fans) got what we’ve been asking for: the “Joker” movie. Through watch- ing Batman over the years, fans can expect some of the Joker’s in- sanity to be explained in the film, but with the recent importance that has been placed on men- tal health, some people say that the film was too much to handle.
I think that this film provides the perspective of the mentally ill, and the creators of this film did a great job of providing a first and third person view of the Joker’s character throughout the film. They touched on mental illness being hereditary, even though we later discovered that the Joker is adopted. This was shown through his relationship of his mother who showed symptoms of anxiety and relied on the Joker to be her main caretaker. They also acknowledged the mistreatment and ostracization that people can face from society when they are having to explain their mental health in public spaces. This was shown through the Jok- er’s medical issue with uncontrol- lable laughter, which led to others bullying him on a consistent basis.
There often is not a conversation around the fear that people face af- ter they are diagnosed with a men- tal illness. The fear is that if they tell people about it, then they will be treated differently. It is almost as if all of a person’s credibility disappears if they suffer from a mental illness, and that a part of them will always be broken. I feel that the Joker’s breaking point was when he finally got tired of being the victim for having one element of himself that he couldn’t control.
As humans, we are no stranger to flaws, yet we always judge peo- ple when we discover their’s. Even if we are open about our flaws, as the Joker is about his mental illness, people view that as a weakness to capitalize on. Through all the bul- lying, bruised ribs and misunder- standings, it is understandable that the Joker eventually “lost it” and re- alistically had a mental breakdown.
Although I don’t have the urge to brutally stab someone when I am stressed about everything in life or want to shoot someone after jump- ingmeonatrain,apartof meun- derstands the Joker’s struggle. All of us want to live in a fantasy world where we meet the love of our life or finally are considered talented for our jokes, but that’s not real- ity. We all want to be understood and maybe a little coddled when we find out that something is wrong with us that we cannot easily re- pair, but that is hardly ever the case.
I think the “Joker” film intro- duces us to a hard truth that we as humanity do not want to face. We do not want to face that we all have flaws. We all have pasts that come with dark secrets and dam- age. Lastly, we all must accept the fact that mental health issues do not make anyone less human and we have the power to make sure that people are aware of that truth.