By Renaza Ahamadeen –

Renaza Ahamadeen

When I first heard of the movie release I was counting days and when it was finally out in cinemas, the first thing I did was check the reviews and ratings expecting exceptional reviews to have bombarded. No sooner did I realize that I was wrong; it was disheartening to witness negative reviews and such low ratings for a movie and especially a character most of us spoke highly of. At the same time, I was curious to understand the reason for its flop.

My opinion about the movie might sound different because I sort of liked it despite the general backlash from the fans.  As the movie came to a close, I figured out a  different interpretation about the storyline of Joker: Folie à Deux . I think the movie itself conveys the audience’s expectations and reaction through its narrative intentionally portraying Joker as a weak character.  I see this movie as a reality check, serving as an experiment for Joker enthusiasts to gauge their reaction to the new Joker movie that lacks his typical character traits.

Joker is expected to represent a distinct attitude, a characterized psychopath, the one that engages in violence, executes amazing stunts and overall  his mysterious nature that had always captivated the audience. His unruly nature being the typical badass is the significance of his character but none cares for his past, what made him the joker, or his mental struggles. How many of us actually feel sympathy for the Joker? It might feel weird to even feel pity for him because Joker embodies the badass character that resonates with a strong resilient villain. Therefore the audience is unwilling to witness any display of weakness which contributes to the perception of his vulnerability. The movie talks about his mental sufferings and what made him become the Joker throughout the movie which seem to have been ignored.

The main heroine, Harleem “Lee” Quinzel enters the scene, who volunteers to commit herself to Arkham to get closer to the Joker all the while claiming that she is in love with him. But as the movie progresses, it turns out that she’s in love with the character “Joker” in him and not for Arthur’s personality because as Arthur renounces his famous Joker persona, she in turn rejects him. This sudden change in the Joker also incites anger among those present at the court trial (representing Joker fans). What I observed through the negative reviews is that through the characters such as Harleen and people in the court trial, the writers try to reflect “us” as in the audience and the actual Joker fans who expect Joker to continue to portray to be villainous, mysterious, violent, raw and bloody which concludes the the sad truth that people don’t really care or empathize with  the actual, troubled life of Arthur behind his mask. And him renouncing his Joker persona is the downfall of his character in the people’s eyes which would definitely ignite disappointment in the fans. I see this movie as an exact reflection of the audience’s reaction and a subtle yet powerful social experiment on the Joker fans, as well as the apparent reason for the movie’s failure. But maybe it’s a genius execution of a movie than we thought.