The build up was intense.. for a year we saw inklings of what the Joaquin Phoenix portrayal of the famed Batman criminal would be.. This weekend: The movie finally has been released.. after all of the fanfare.. after all of the FBI warnings.. after all of the dreadful rumors of violence..
Warner Bros is raking in cash.. with a big number of almost $40 mil on Friday alone, final box office numbers for the American theaters coming in over $94 mil, and worldwide totals hitting almost $188 mil.. VENOM’s October record has been effectively crushed..
Even more success stories: For director Todd Phillips, Joker reps a career opening record, besting the 3-day domestic start of The Hangover 2 ($85.9M). It’s also an opening record for Joaquin Phoenix, far exceeding the $60.1M 2002 opening of Signs..
But the successes have not equaled an absence of weird box office stories from its release..
One person on Twitter opined: ‘Literally just walked out of a screening of Joker. Way too terrifying to be there with all this going on the way the movie glamorizes gun violence and mental health issues.’
More from the UK DAILY NEWS on that:
In Huntington Beach, California, one theater cancelled two screenings Thursday night after receiving a threat, police said. Friday showings have resumed as scheduled.
In New York City, police responded to a screening after one audience member sparked fears by spitting on others and clapping loudly every time the Joker killed someone.
Fearing he had ill intentions, police escorted the man out of the theater. A witness reported that the man had poured a bottle of tequila into his slushie before the movie began.
‘S**t was scary – like a 4-D movie experience,’ the witness tweeted.
Some more Tweets:
‘By unanimous decision, the four of us walked out of the Joker movie. I haven’t walked out of a movie in years… I have never walked out of a theater more uncomfortable than I am right now walking out of Joker…
And another
‘What a f**ked up movie… Literally just walked out of a screening of Joker. Way too terrifying to be there with all this going on the way the movie glamorizes gun violence and mental health issues.’
The salient points:
Personally, I’ve always found the rabid fanbase that surrounds The Joker and Harley Quinn to be a little unsettling. It’s easy to see why these characters have become so popular. And finding these characters fascinating is understandable. The internet consistently reveals that there are people out there who have taken the basic tenants of fandom a little too far. Those socially askew individuals who don’t just seem to enjoy the psychotic fictional antics of The Joker, but find some kind of real-world truth from his madness. People who aren’t just entertained by the character but seem to be actively rooting for him.
MORE..
As an audience, this is when we should all be having a laugh at The Joker. Ultimately, the joke is on him. His mad world view is rebuked by the people of Gotham and (hopefully) the audience. There are elements of The Joker’s perspective that can be appreciated. The fact that humanity puts too much faith in the idea of saviors. That everyone is capable of being corrupted. But in the end, the people of Gotham prove that for all his bluster, The Joker is just a deranged killer looking to justify his actions with high-minded ideals.
And finally..
In some ways, Todd Phillips’ Joker feels like a test for society. Like that aforementioned moment at the end of The Dark Knight where humanity was given the opportunity to put their finger on the trigger and act on their most base instincts. It would be nice if a movie like Joker could be just that; a movie, and not some kind of litmus test regarding the uncontrollable influence of art on an impressionable public.
Here’s hoping that our society proves to be as sane as the citizens of Gotham in Nolan’s masterpiece.
One comment on the DAILY MAIL tonight is as poignant as ever:
Considering the amount of violence shown in typical commercial films, Joker is not very violent, not sevEN states “ultra violent”. The previews I saw for other films were much more violent and thrown at us out of context, including a body cut in half and a person’s head bashed into a pulp. That was a preview! But Joker was not that type of film! Perhaps viewers who complained were upset by the psychological condition portrayed. Maybe they recognize themselves.
And that is the final and true fear.. the thought that the JOKER is … us.. the JOKER is the people who that deep awful truth that lurks beneath their daily surfaces.. That indeed is the scariest thought of all.
