This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux.
Director Todd Phillips recently unpacked Arthur Fleck’s shocking realization at the end of Joker: Folie à Deux. The film deconstructs Arthur’s arc in the first movie. Throughout the film, he uses his inner fantasies to fight his impending trial. However, instead of completely succumbing to his Joker persona during the trial, he acknowledges to himself and to the jury that Joker was never real. He’s Arthur, and he’s always just Arthur. Unfortunately for him, this means he loses the love of Lee Quinzel, who was only drawn to him for the power and chaos of Joker.
According to Phillips, Arthur realized that he never really wanted to be the anti-establishment hero he becameSo he sheds that false identity. The director said Entertainment Weekly:
He realized that everything is so corrupt, it will never change, and the only way to fix it is to burn it all. When the guards kill the child in the [hospital] He realizes that putting on makeup, putting on this thing, it’s not changing anything. In some ways, he accepted the fact that he had always been Arthur Fleck; He was never the thing that was put on him, the idea that Gotham people put on him, that he represents. He is an ignorant icon. This thing was put on him, and he no longer wants to live as a fraud – he wants to be who he is.
Joker: Folie à Deux Play with the idea of becoming a figurehead For a broader movement and how it can conflict with one’s inner demons. Although the message does not necessarily resonate with all fans, it is a creative zeal. The first film, which earned $1.08 billion at the box office, struck a chord with audiences, but it drew criticism for making an individual who murdered six people so sympathetic, but the story was compelling nonetheless. Turning that on its head and Arthur realizing his actions didn’t change any of the social issues that created his Joker persona.
What Arthur’s confession means for Joker 2
Joker: Folie à Deux May be a controversial sequel, but that doesn’t mean it has nothing to say. Joker Shows what happens when society leaves people who need help behind and how a life of apathy can lead someone to their breaking point. Its sequel addresses what happens when a victim-turned-perpetrator is thrust into the public eye. Arthur gets the attention he always lacks but never the love and empathy he needs. As in the first film, he reaches a boiling point. Only this time, Arthur resigns himself to the fact that he cannot change society for the better.
Beyond continuing to show how invisible Arthur’s feelings are, his decision to refuse the Joker mantle shows another way in which society failed. Even after he commits irredeemable acts, Arthur is trapped in a mold of what others want him to be. The people of Gotham want the psychotic clown burning the city to the ground. Despite his disillusionment with society, Arthur struggles with this, as someone who has spent his entire life coping with mental illness. Because of his laughing circles, he was attacked inappropriately. Now, he’s labeled an icon, whether he wants to be or not.
Our end of Joker 2
While fans of the first film could not connect with Joker: Folie à DeuxIts moral complexities are interesting. Phillips subverted expectations by delivering a bleak sequel in which Arthur does not celebrate his past actions because they never changed his place in life. He is still not understood. The director explained: “The sad thing is, he is Arthur, and nobody cares about Arthur. [Lady Gaga]S Lee never says Arthur [until she leaves him in the end].” In this sense, Lee represents the people of Gotham and the audience. by Phillips, “[She’s] I realize I’m on a different journey, man, you can’t be what I wanted you to be.”
The Joker The overall ending of the sequel is another discussion entirely, but Arthur’s decision to accept himself makes sense in light of the director’s comments. Joker: Folie à Deux Now playing in theaters.
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips’ critically acclaimed comic thriller Joker. Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Academy Award-winning performance as failed comedian Arthur Fleck, and revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone DC Universe continuation.
- Director
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Todd Phillips
- Release date
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October 4, 2024
- Figure
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Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Jacob Lofland, Sharon Washington, Troy Fromin, Bill Smitrovich, John Lacy, Ken Leung.
- runtime
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138 minutes
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Source: Entertainment Weekly