For Those Struggling To Make A Connection Between Both Films:

Joker (2019)

-Arthur is troubled, sick, delusional, ostracized from society. Life is beating him down.

-Arthur is pushed to his breaking point when he gets fired and heads home on the subway and ends up killing three men.

-Arthur runs away and goes to the bathroom and has an epiphany that this persona he has is the real him, and he embraces the identity that he has not yet named (Joker).

-Arthur is delusional and experiencing hallucinations, and he eventually discovers that his mother abused him and was lying to him about everything. He eventually ends up killing her. Soon afterwards, he kills Randal

-Arthur gets invited to the Murray Franklin Show because of a clip that was found of him doing stand up. He says yes, and plans to kill himself on the show.

-When Arthur is in the dressing room he asks Murray to call him Joker and he finally identifies himself with the name Joker

-Arthur ends up changing his mind and kills Murray instead. This event causes riots to take place all over the world. He also gains a following and becomes a symbol. Something he did not plan or anticipate. He is then captured eventually and sent to Arkham. His final words were “You wouldn’t get it”

Final Thoughts: Should we be rooting for a murderer? Should we feel bad for someone who is deemed an unreliable narrator and is ultimately a murderer? Is Arthur really capable of being a criminal mastermind when he is mentally ill and unstable? Joker was probably never really the true Joker…Todd Phillips let us know this awhile ago…the audience watching this film was rooting for Arthur, but we have to ask ourselves, should we really be rooting for him?

Joker: Folie A Deux (2024)

-Arthur is in Arkham, model inmate, still gets bullied, mistreated regardless. He has stopped taking his medication. We find out that he has a following outside of the prison, and that a tv movie was made which has catapulted his fame to new heights. Joker is struggling with maintaining this identity and loses his spark. Uses music to balance the fractures in his mind throughout. He is also in an ongoing trial for his murders. Harvey Dent is seeking the death penalty.

-Arthur encounters Lee who we find out is “in love” with him and influences a lot of his decisions. Arthur is infatuated with her and believes that she loves him for who he is. When he meets her, Joker comes alive again and he starts to sing and unlock the true music that was always inside of him. It turns out that Lee is actually just a delusional, obsessed fan of Arthur and did things just so she could be closer to him.

-Arthur eventually reveals to the world, to the audience, the jury, that he really is not Joker. That it was just an act, a character he played and that he was tired of it all. He realized that he couldn’t keep up the act and convince everybody of his innocence. This created a huge let down for fans across the world. The people that rooted for him, the people that looked to him as a symbol, as a hero, were deceived and ultimately angered. Lady Gaga then falls out of Love with Arthur because he is not the Joker. She tells him when they last encounter that all they had was the fantasy. Arthur also comes to a realization that he’s tired of singing. She then leaves him and he gets locked up.

-At the end, Arthur is leaving to go see a visitor, and an inmate, who was fascinated by Arthur, followed him, saw him as a symbol, etc., approaches him to tell a joke. Arthur is giving the inmate at the end a shot at a joke, the same shot that nobody gave him. At the end of the joke he says “you get what you f***ing deserve” and stabs him to death. The inmate carves a smile into his face (homage to Heath) alluding that the symbol of Joker and who Arthur represented still carries on. Joker even says at the end “I want a fine young son, to take my place.” Thats Life.

Final thoughts: Arthur’s life was always a tragedy. That’s life. Arthur was never the true clown prince of crime. He was just playing a character that he ultimately could not keep portraying. The joke was on us. The society in Joker is a mirror of us. We were all let down by the reveal that the person we were rooting for was ultimately not Joker. We were all cheering on a murderer and we found it acceptable because he was Joker. But is it really acceptable? Joker was just the symbol/inspiration for the real Joker to take place. His legacy will live on.

Additional thoughts: if you were confused and disappointed, didnt like it, it was already anticipated that you wouldn’t. Arthur said it himself “you wouldn’t get it.” The first film is called Joker not The Joker. This was an origin story, not THE origin story. The idea was that this wasn’t THE Joker it was an inspiration for the actual one. Also, Arthur was significantly older than Bruce Wayne which would indicate that it’s impossible for him to be the Joker that Batman would face in the future. However, it makes sense that Arthur would be the symbol/catalyst/inspiration for the future Joker that Batman will encounter. The only thing that Arthur has is the Legacy of Joker that he created even though his life was a tragedy.

Movie is so good