READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. There may be some spoilers below.

Joker’s trailer has undoubtedly intrigued us as it seemed to present a closer, in-depth treatment on the main character, detached from the usual shared-universe approach of Marvel films.

Now I am convinced why he is one of the all-time favorite superhero villains. Joker did dreadful things, but this film has ‘humanized’ a character who has always been seen as the mere bad guy. This was not about Joker at all. This was about Arthur Fleck, a clown-by-day, struggling stand-up comedian by night who was also suffering from a serious mental illness. The whole length of the movie was not, by any inch, funny.

It’s about time that superhero villains get that standalone back stories they deserve — better late than never.

Mental illness amid societal ills

Arthur was living by the the daily conflicts of a city under a great socio-political turmoil and civil unrest set in the 1980’s. A part of those less fortunate in Gotham, he surely had it worse but his portrayed placid demeanor after being consciously humiliated by people around him somehow showed the ambiguity that comes along his illness. From the get-go, it was clear how the film attempted to be a social commentary.

The crises brought by social inequalities in Gotham have victimized the likes of Arthur Fleck with the inaccessibility to their basic necessities such as psychiatric services and medication. He was mentally ill and socially-deprived thriving through the margins of the city with the few people among his social class. The disadvantage that comes along the poverty of someone with a complex, serious condition was a hard pill to swallow.

Notwithstanding its brutal implications, Arthur continued to chase his dream of being a stand-up comedian as if it was the only thing that mattered. Never mind how much of a nuisance he was to most of the people, he fought hard to deliver the jokes written on his comedy book. After all, he didn’t owe anyone much explanation of why he was ‘different’. He was a simple guy trying to live by the norms, seeing comedy even in his moments of pain.

The villain as a victim of madness

The film was a slow wrap-up of the extreme madness of Arthur’s transformation into Joker. As his ‘fabricated’ real identity began to unfold in the second half, he has shifted to a vengeful persona coming right back at those who have ridiculed him. His emotional explosions led one brutal event to another, and even these will never be justified. The disturbed and turned-violent Arthur Fleck tells us that monsters aren’t born, they are created by this cruel world.

Without a doubt, Joker has left a devastating and grim sensation . It sure needed a trigger warning, and even debriefing, especially in these trying times when we all struggle to learn and unlearn a thing or two on mental illnesses. Needless to say, this is a film of our time.

The narrative of how Joker came to be took a whole new level of the ‘darker-is-deeper’ film tradition. He was no political symbol, nor was he a messiah for his fellow unfortunate souls. He was a disturbed guy who needed understanding in this unforgiving world. There are far worse monsters and criminals who need not wear masks. They don’t wear those rugged, tattered clothing, but they are this world’s biggest thugs. Every inch of their comforts was stolen to cause others their agonies. From the mere acts of self-defense, lack of humanity might have pushed him over the edge.

The ending could’ve done a better job without losing its flavor of ambiguity but it sure fixated on the big juxtaposition it wanted to purvey — the comedy-tragedy that is Arthur’s life. His brutal deeds, despite the cruelty inflicted on him, will never be justified — and maybe that made him the greatest villains of all time.

As for me, the most unsettling part was the lingering realization of how everybody loves the villain, until he starts to be himself. ###