The Politics of Joker: Folie à Deux (Movie EXPLAINED)

Joker: Folie à Deux has flopped like few movies ever have or ever will again. The critical reception to this film has been an unmitigated disaster and this clearly has something to do with the fact that Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix appear to have gone out of their way to alienate the fans of the first film. But it does more than that. The entire point of this movie seems to be to undermine, not just the character of Arthur Fleck, but the thematic message of the first movie.
This will be an analysis of moral and political themes of Joker: Folie à Deux in light of the historical context of the first film as well as comparisons to other notable entries in the Batman filmography (...it's the Dark Knight. I'll just save you the trouble, and tell you now.)
Also, I tried a more informal, off-the-cuff format for this video. Often, I have ideas that I want to explore, but I don't really have the time to draft up a full essay on the subject. So I'm experimenting with making these less produced videos to pass the time between my more try-hard videos. Let me know what you think of it!
Do hashtags do anything anymore? I hear that they are basically useless these days. Well, here's a bunch of them anyway.
#jokerfolieàdeux #joker #toddphillips #joaquinphoenix #movie #analysis #politics
Music:
LowFi Study by FASS Sounds on Pixabay

[@thebarkingyears]

Hi folks, so about the speed of this recording...bad call on my part. I think that I spend so much time listening to my stuff at 2X speed during editing that I have trained my ear to think that the way I sound at 1X is infuriatingly slow ESPECIALLY when it's unscripted and I'm taking longer to express myself. So after cutting it up, I increased the speed by about 35%. It is very clear that nobody enjoyed this, lol. So lesson learned! I know it's a hassle and it comes with its own issues, but if you set the speed to .75, it'll sound mostly normal. I think it's probably more trouble than it's worth to re-upload this at the original speed, especially since there's another essay in the editing phase and I think it'd be better to put that time into getting something new out. This post was mostly just an experiment to see how people would feel about a slightly different format. Now I feel dumb for throwing in additional variables into the experiment, but oh well. C'est la vie.

[@TrentFinney]

As an editor, I completely understand. Listening to my own voice, or any of the people I normally listen to accelerated, at “normal” speed makes me feel like I’m having a stroke. It’s an exceedingly uncomfortable experience.

[@nikitaegorov3993]

Oh, I watched this video at mostly 1.5X speed...

[@thebarkingyears]

@@nikitaegorov3993 legend

[@Arionid]

I've heard unsped up people talk faster the complainers are boomers 💀

[@thebarkingyears]

@@TrentFinney Lol, yeah. For me it's more like I listen to myself at 1x and think "Did THIS GUY have a stroke?"

[@yomin2162]

"A society this callous and cruel deserves its monsters" I love how succinctly this sums up the first movie. No idea why they thought they needed to make a second one.

[@WorthlessWinner]

"We run society and If you rebel against us, we will sodomize you and kill your friends" is the message of this movie >_

[@KosmonautKong]

I agree that the "point" of the movie is to counter the original, but it seems like they couldn't help but tell on themselves a bit in the end. It's a good observation that the movie is saying that the Joker's violence is being used as justification for the system's cruelty. But then, when he surrenders, they kill him anyways. In the end, the message comes right back around to the unintended message of the original: You have no choice but to fight, because _these people want you broke, dead, your kids raped and brainwashed, and they think it's funny._

[@johnclements5535]

"A man without force is without the essential dignity of humanity. Human nature is so constituted, that it cannot honor a helpless man, although it can pity him; and even this it cannot do long, if the signs of power do not arise."" Frederick Douglass

[@cheeseman417]

I think you accidentally recorded this video at 1.25 speed or something because when slow down to .75 you actually sound normal, but at (normal) speed it’s all speeded up.

[@stillcantbesilencedevennow]

They didn't like how much we identified and empathized with Arthur. Is anyone surprised they did this? I'm not.

[@JohnAllenRoyce]

Interesting point, well said

[@adnanbosnian5051]

But the Joker harms or murders innocent people all the time as a character in that universe, he is completely mad. In the Matrix trilogy, Neo has a "choice", red or blue pill, the Zion and the Matrix are enemies but then the Zion and the Matrix UNITE and Neo joins the Matrix to fight the terrorist Agent Smith. Just like USA/Saudi/Israel and Russia/Iran are different opposed to each other, on TV, but then they all together tell same lies and invade Iraq and Afghanistan with coalition of 80 countries, they all lie ahat theres a invisible thing floating around that kills you if you dont let the sorcerers inject something in your blood, and more.

[@autism-is-unstoppable8017]

I think the SA breaking him makes sense because it was shown that the joker persona was a result of his sa as a child and expirencing that again as the joker showed him he was still arthur.

[@kadalsaurus6232]

the creator embarassed with first movie reception so he retcon everything in the sequel ? man i dont understand any of this. western politic is so dumb

[@thebarkingyears]

Where are you from? Does it make more sense there?

[@robertmusilbronson3118]

​@@thebarkingyears in eastern europe, where i am, politics is ugly but yeah, it makes total sense. Nobody likes the politicians, they re corrupt idiots and/or EU puppets, so both the plebs and the artists are against them. We just cant do anything to topple them, yet. In the US things seem to be different, at least half the country trusts the system and try to use it to inflict societal change . Here, everybody would laugh at the idea....

[@adnanbosnian5051]

Its fake. The left vs right, republicans VS democrats, Trump or Biden, USA or Russia, Saudi or Iran, west vs east, Zionism or Nazis, veganism or torture the animals... its a fake choice. Like in the Matrix, Neo has a "choice" between red and blue pill, Zion and Matrix are enemies, but in the end of the trilogy they are joined together to defeat the real terrorist Agent Smith. USA, Russia, Saudi, Iran...are all one same thing acting on TV to be different, they are Kabbalist/Zionist Satanist Freemasons. The elections are not only rigged, its completely fake, its a TV show, and the Ayatollahs and kings only puppets and actors. The news is literally fake. Trump is an actor on TV, same as others. War between Israel and Iran is fake. Russian invasion in Ukraine is fake. Nukes are fake. The invisible thing floating around that can make you die if you dont let the sorcerers inject something in your blood is fake. Palestine only a trick, we are ALL occupied.

[@tylerscott2116]

Joker 1: African proverb you used: Arthur becomes a hurricane in response to society, people that directly interface with him once he werewolves in an abrasive manner, bare the harsh consequence of being abrasive to a hurricane. They dont deserve to die, but their ungraceful nature mixed with a perfect storm led to their demise. (Unforgiven; deservins got nothing to do with it) Joker 2: This force within Joker that is a secondary personality, has done horrible things. Arthur has a chance to have grace, to not get what he deserves for killing innocent people, but be seen as someone who needs help and is a prime example of someone being a victim of their circumstance. His hubris, derails him from grace. He exchanges his lawyers defense that couldve worked for narcissistic supply from Lee. As a consequence, after the events of his dialoug with Puddles when he finally does repent, he gets what he deserves instead of graceful consequence. He lived by the sword, and died by it. His story was a tragedy based around his hubris...He didnt want help that would imply somethings wrong with him but rather narcissistic supply instead.

[@roseyvision]

Imagine making a movie called Joker, a sequel with Joker in the title and then condemning the audience for wanting Joker while also claiming we don't care about Arthur when practically everyone was sad when Arthur got killed because we were literally made to feel empathy for Arthur by Todd himself. 🤦

[@superpotato2387]

I enjoyed the first movie because Arthur is treated like shit and then gets his comeuppance. I truly truly did not consider the political ramifications of it during my initial viewing. This 2nd one just seems like a fuck you to the character and that's a shame. Also, from a political stand point the message "oh well the powers that be can be violent if you are" is to me such a lame message. Good video

[@kodyk124]

Man, I am so glad I listened to your analysis of the film instead of watching it. It sounds like a frustrating watch. Also, there were aspects of the first film that you helped me understand better. I didn't know that the first film hurt the image of those invovled. That's pretty hilarious Thoughts on the video: 1) I understood immediately why you chose to bump the speed up. I've really come to like the pace and tone of your speech, so I set it to .75x. 2) While the more polished scripting of your normal videos is really good, as a regular listener, I didn't mind how off the cuff this was. Even unscripted, your ideas about pop culture, philosophy, and (shudder) POLITICS are way more insightful and interesting that most. So if it helps you post videos more often, especially for time-sensitive topical stuff like this, I think it's totally respectable for you to post videos like this.

[@ironichoneybadger5066]

I saw the other comments talking about the speed of your video, I want to weigh in that I like listening to your normal cadence and voice, you have a great speaking voice, I wouldn’t sweat about the legibility from people who aren’t here for you or your writing

[@thebarkingyears]

Thanks for saying so. I'm afraid that the blame for that decision is entirely on me. While I was playing back the original audio, I just felt like it was agonizingly slow and thought "this will drive people crazy." So it was just a bad call on my part. Appreciate you sticking with it though!

[@aradvila2000]

This is much needed context thanks for the true to name explanation

[@masscreationbroadcasts]

I'm also recording a political review (yeah, I read your disclaimer) of the Joker, should be finished today.

[@thebarkingyears]

Nice man! Let me know when you're finished and I'll go check it out.

[@HorizonHipHop]

Reupload with fixed speed please

[@roseyvision]

The movie looks great but Todd completely ruins it with a shit script that is so shockingly bad.

[@NerdilyDone]

There is non-political art. Saying there isn't means that you have a warped definition of politics.

[@janthran]

no, saying there is means that you don't understand politics. it's impossible for someone in a society to create art that doesn't reflect that society. making "non political" art would be normative art, which will appear politically dated in 10-20 years because there's no such thing as "normal" politics.

[@thebarkingyears]

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[@channel1344]

22:14 what is the political message of a stock image of an apple?

[@honkykong610]

1. Thats not art, theres no creativity. Its just an apple. Its like saying the apple in my fridge has a political message. However, 2, the apple being cut open, or the apple rotting away, definitely can have political messaging if given in the right context. The Pine Tree Riots, literally created a flag that used a Pine Tree as a symbol for violence and the divine right of moral force against the immoral British, because of the context.

[@n_n_n_n_n_n]

7:41 After completing the video, this statement stuck with me. A sentiment I've never heard expressed in such simple terms.

[@k-1llmatic832]

Mamamah Joker Face Mamahh Joker Face🎵🎵🎵

[@roseyvision]

Talking too fast

[@shoopoop21]

Bob won.