THE JOKER AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead!
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the movie, Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular character. Many of the complaints around the movie center around the violence carried out by the main character, Arthur Fleck, as he goes through a series of events that eventually lead to him becoming The Joker. As I was watching this movie, it was hard not to view it through a mental health lens (it’s my bias).
I can understand the concern around the movie. Arthur is a troubled man, in desperate need of support, and I think that many people fear that this makes him a sympathetic character, and people will condone the violent acts he commits in the movie. The theme of mental health is quite clear throughout the film, and what troubles me is that it does make it seem that anyone struggling with mental illness will inevitably become violent and hurt others, however the opposite is true. Those with mental health conditions are more likely to be the victims of violent crimes, rather than the perpetrators.
In truth I do sympathize with Arthur, but his choices are still incredibly disturbing. The movie does this on purpose, Arthur does have potential to do well. He cares for his ailing mother, he dreams of being a successful comedian and aspires to bring happiness into the world. I believe the movie does an amazing job of highlighting the struggles of those who are isolated, under constant trauma, and have little to no support.
That is one thing the film gets right about mental illness, the lack of resources and neglect of mental health, especially for those who may not have the financial resources to seek their own care. Not to mention his social worker was just awful. That my own personal gripe. It is rare for mental health professionals to be portrayed accurately in movies, however if she was better at her job, we would have had a very different movie and this is a film at the end of the day. The movie does take a degree of artistic license with how bleak and hopeless life is for Arthur, and it needs to in order for him to become The Joker by the end of it.
Arthur demonstrates how complex mental health can be, and how fragile the traumatized brain is. It would be simple to slap a diagnosis on the character and be done with it. Antisocial Personality Disorder, or Schizotypal Personality Disorder, but it is rarely ever that simple. The movie beautifully demonstrated how genetics, chronic childhood trauma, physical abuse, lack of resources, and building societal pressures can contribute to the decline of an individual’s personal well-being. It would be reductive to simply say that his character would have gone down a different route with a round of DBT or CBT, however if the other characters in the movie demonstrated more empathy, if he had a support system around him, and he wasn’t bullied and isolated because of his mental disability, Arthur’s character arc would have gone down a very different trajectory. That’s my two cents. I’d love to hear what your thoughts were!
We may make more blog posts about movies and mental health. If this something you all would be interested in, let us know!
