When Art is Dangerous

An In-Depth Analysis of the Film JOKER

*What follows is a critical analysis of the film JOKER. It contains information that some may consider to be spoilers about the movie. You have thusly been warned.

The best iterations of art, are those that stir people up. Art that gets labeled dangerous, gets put on ban lists, and has people lined up to protest its showings. Art that takes up space in forums where its content and value are debated and argued over for pages and pages and hours and hours of intellectual battles of perspective, of opinion, of divisive dialogues where every party believes themselves to be the expert. It’s been a while since a work of art has garnered this much attention, but right now Todd Phillips seems to have set the world on fire with his tour de force film JOKER.

Make no mistake, JOKER is a masterpiece of cinema that itself comes to its audience disguised, a clever and insightful social commentary of a film that clothes itself in the clown mask of a comic book movie. When it debuted at film festivals, it received an overwhelmingly positive response. It was given standing ovations. The reviews hailed it as a stunning achievement. Movie of the decade. Immediate Oscar contender for best film and best actor. Perfect scores abound. Phillips had taken the concept of a comic book film, and turned it on its head…