Joker: Mental Illness Dealing With Violence

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and provides an alternative origin story for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent counter-cultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles.

Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, and Joint Effort, in association with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros.Forever alone in a crowd, failed comedian Arthur Fleck seeks connection as he walks the streets of Gotham City. Arthur wears two masks — the one he paints for his day job as a clown, and the guise he projects in a futile attempt to feel like he’s part of the world around him. Isolated, bullied and disregarded by society, Fleck begins a slow descent into madness as he transforms into the criminal mastermind known as the Joker.

Arthur Fleck is a wannabe stand-up comic who suffers from many mental illnesses, including one which causes him to laugh uncontrollably when he is nervous, and often gets him into bad situations. Arthur’s mental health causes almost all people in society to reject and look down upon him, even though all he wants is to be accepted by others. After being brutally beaten, having his medication cut off, Arthur’s life begins to spiral downward out-of-control into delusions, violence, and anarchy until he eventually transforms into Gotham’s infamous Clown-Prince of Crime.