‘God is dead’, long live Joker?

Joker is the must-see movie of the moment. That rare type of movie that succeeds in mirroring the cultural moment in which it was made, as Taxi Driver did in the seventies and Fight Club managed in the nineties.

It tells the story of Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian who, after years of alienation in a Gotham City that has lost all moral order, submits to nihilism. As Joker, Arthur finds purpose in chaos and destruction, acting out with increasingly extreme episodes of violence.

Joker is an intense and disturbing but beautiful cinematic experience that touches on many themes. Mental health, isolation and abuse being some of the most important. Everyone it seems has something to say about the movies cultural significance, splitting opinions, particularly along political lines, in ways that to my mind there is no precedent.

The left informs us Joker is a comment on class warfare and the grandiosity and failures of capitalism; others condemn it as a rallying cry for armies of incels waiting for such an anti-hero to justify going on the attack. The right heaps praise, calling it a middle finger to the ‘woke’ establishment and a fuck you to PC culture.

Admittedly, Joker dips its toe into a wide variety of political pools although it takes no particular line. A distinct political position would do a disservice…