The Joker is a body blow to our collective psyche, quite intentionally. It is a villain who supercedes all our heroes, to the point where he is not even a villain, just a truth-teller.
This movie, I think, is satanic, and will be taken as such by many. The Joker represents the spirit of the mass shooter, the rioter, the gleeful sadist and anarchist. But everyone is dressed the same, I think. They all have the same mask. The ability to express their rage and hatred comes at the price of personal conformity. All amygdalic attributes.
I watched the psychic creation of this character. He was struggling, and then a female “bruja” gave him what he needed, including his face. I read the plot summary, and this female energy would be both his mother and Sophie.
For some time, in American–and probably other, since Hollywood has influenced most of the world–movies, there has been the righteous retribution motif. Someone kills your dog, you are John Wick, and John Wick 4 is being planned. The Punisher. Batman, in directly relevant ways. Outlaw Josey Wales. Most Rambos. This is a basic theme of a very high percentage of action thrillers. Bad guys do bad things, then the good guy becomes a bad guy who is really a good guy. Why? Because he recognizes LIMITS.
Joker, seemingly, takes this retributive motif, and simply directs it at “Society” as a whole. Everyone is guilty, or nearly everyone. As the mass shooter, you might spare that one person who gave you the money for a cab or a Coke or something, but then shoot some woman right next to him you have never seen before in your life.
I’m actually going to go out on a small limb here, but with a high degree of mythic/psychological confidence: I think Martin Scorcese has major unprocessed mother issues. He was the psychic backing of this film, which was on all accounts modeled in part on Taxi Driver, which I’ve seen, and King of Comedy, which I haven’t and won’t. I read Scorcese initially wanted to be a priest, but failed out. You can’t get subtle psychological dynamics, obviously, from Wikipedia. The stuff that matters the most, usually, is often invisible to those involved. That, in any event, has been my experience. I’ve been doing some processing of my own I’m not talking about.
Based on my reading of the plot, finding out his mother was a sort of disgraced whore was the final unraveling, the final humiliation, the final shaming.
This is a mythically powerful film. Its potential for evil should not be underestimated. I personally have no plans to see it. I am not immune to evil, although, having seen a great deal up close, having been visited by many demons, I think my resistance through recognition is quite high. It’s the demons you don’t see which get you.
I am washing toxins out of me right now, toxins I was unable to feel before. Things are going well with me, but not well with our society. We need new, better dreams. We need hope. We need civility, but won’t get it back as long as a large segment of our populace depends on what I will call “Amygdalic Politics”. There may be a large crash before, hopefully, things get better.
I am reminded of a movie by Federico Fellini, called “The Orchestra Practice”. As I recall it–having seen it many years ago–it may be a good metaphor.
Back to bed. I had to write that, before sleep erased what I had to say.