By:Osbert Reynaldi Sudjana
Even though Joker is a movie based on a superhero villain, it
brilliantly portrays mental health struggles in modern society
through Arthur Fleck's adversities and descent into madness.
_poster.jpeg)
The portrayal of mental health through the movie Joker represents mental health in modern American society through symbolism, metaphors, and other comparison techniques. Previous research has highlighted the main character, Arthur Fleck's diagnosis and psychological struggles which include Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder and Pseudobulbar affect. The dominant claims of critics and researchers state that Joker offers a potentially misinformative portrayal of mental health struggles due to all the violence depicted in the movie.
Through qualitative data from surveys and quantitative data from ratings, the reaction of the American public can also be seen in which a majority of watchers agree that the portrayal of a mentally deranged character makes them unsettled and uncomfortable.
Contrary to what has already been researched, the movie does actually do an excellent job of representation. The counterarguments such as the correlation of violence with mental illness can be seen as a boon. This correlation represents the public's misinformation towards mental illness and serves as a message for the public to be further educated on this topic. Although Joker does have it's shortcomings, it does an overall amazing job at symbolic representation of the American modern society.
Joker is a movie known for its amazing writing, script and director. It highlights and symbolises issues pertaining to real life problems in mental health through the main character, Arthur Fleck.
His past and current activities as detailed in the plot of the movie shows the brutality of society towards people with mental health issues and also highlights the casues and effects of mental deterioration.
Although the movie is set in the fictional city of Gotham, it is clearly a representation of 20th century New York City, depicting how dark those times were towards people of lower economic classes and people with mental health issues.
Through analysing the causes and symptoms of Arthur Fleck's mental health problems based on past research as well as doing a personal deep dive on the movie, this research paper aims to analyse how exactly the movie depicts mental health in modern America.
Modern America faces the problem of ignorance towards mental health. Most people are not educated about the causes of mental health problems and what exactly are mental health issues. What makes this problem worse, is that people generally do not seem to care.
Past research has already highlighted how Arthur Fleck's character in Joker portrays the severity of mental illness. Although it is never specifically mentioned in the movie, past research has also managed to diagnose him with a few disorders through psychological theory.
Critic reviews and surveys also show that Joker received mixed reviews from the public with an average of around 60% being fond of the movie due to the discomfort that this movie suposedly brings to its audience.
Berger, Kevin. "Why We Still Need Monsters” Monsters: A Bedford Spotlight Reader, edited by Andrew J. Hoffman, Bedford, 2016
Cancilla, Christian J. “Review: ‘Joker’ Holds a Mirror up to Society.” Dailyemerald.com, Daily Emerald, 8 Oct. 2019, https://www.dailyemerald.com/arts-culture/review-joker-holds-a-mirror-up-to-society/article_284d884a-e974-11e9-9d47-8fa9ae3995ba.html.
“Create a Pie Chart.” Create a Pie Chart, Free . Customize, Download and Easily Share. Just Enter the Amounts, Pick Some Colors/Fonts, and We'll Take It from There!, https://www.meta-chart.com/pie#/display.
Driscoll, Annabel, and Mina Husain. “Why Joker's Depiction of Mental Illness Is Dangerously Misinformed.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 21 Oct. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/21/joker-mental-illness-joaquin-phoenix-dangerous-misinformed.
Fitriani, Yustina. “Analysis of Psychological Aspects of The Main Character in Movie ‘Joker’ Based on Sigmund Freud Theory.” Journal on Language and Literature, vol. 6, ser. 1, Dec. 2019, pp. 119–127. 1, https://doi.org/10.30812/humanitatis.v6i1.559.
Goins, Zach. “Exit Survey: 'Joker'.” Inside The Film Room, 5 Oct. 2019, https://insidefilmroom.com/2019/10/05/exit-survey-joker/.
Jiang, Emma. “'Joker': The Study of a Man Who Has Lost His Mind.” The Paly Voice, 7 Feb. 2020, https://palyvoice.com/153136/culture/entertainment/joker-the-study-of-a-man-who-has-lost-his-mind/.
“Joker.” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joker_2019. “Joker.”
“Joker (2019).” Fandango, 4 Oct. 2019, https://www.fandango.com/joker-2019-214548/movie-overview.
“Joker (2019 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Mar. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(2019_film).
Metacritic, 3 Oct. 2019, https://www.metacritic.com/movie/joker.
Obenson, Tambay. “'Joker' Makes a Strange Connection between Arthur Fleck and the Struggles of Black Women - Analysis.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 19 Oct. 2019, https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/joker-race-problem-black-women-1202182613/.
Phillips, Todd, and Scott Silver. Joker an origin. https://d2bu9v0mnky9ur.cloudfront.net/academy2019/screenplay/joker/joker_new_final.pdf.
Ramirez, Miguel. “‘Joker’ Brings Societal Issues To Light And Does Not Glorify Violence In Viewers.” Stmurattlernews.com, St. Mary's University, 23 Oct. 2019, https://www.stmurattlernews.com/home/2019/10/23/joker-brings-societal-issues-to-light-and-does-not-glorify-violence-in-viewers/.
Robinson, Chauncey K. “'Joker' Exposes the Broken Class System That Creates Its Own Monsters.” People's World, People's World, 30 June 2020, https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/joker-exposes-the-broken-class-system-that-creates-its-own-monsters/.
Sharf, Zack. “'Joker' Set in the Past Because Todd Phillips Wants Nothing to Do with the DCEU.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 20 Sept. 2019, https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/joker-setting-period-movie-separate-dceu-1202174964/.
Sharf, Zack. “'Joker' Director Spent One Year Convincing Warner Bros. to Say Yes to R-Rated Vision.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2019, https://www.indiewire.com/2019/08/joker-r-rating-director-warner-bros-clash-1202169517/.
Skryabin, Valentin Yurievich. “Analysing Joker: An Attempt to Establish Diagnosis for a Film Icon: Bjpsych Bulletin.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 7 Jan. 2021, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-bulletin/article/analysing-joker-an-attempt-to-establish-diagnosis-for-a-film-icon/73EAAA5833A820B3B8EC1096FF55710F.
Spielman, Rose M., et al. Psychology 2E. OpenStax College, Rice University, 2020, pp. 384 - 620
“Symptoms and Types of Personality Disorders.” Bell Foundation®, 13 Jan. 2020, https://www.bellfoundation.org.au/symptoms-and-types-of-personality-disorders/.