Joker: Good, Bad, & Ugly
Toxic Masculinization, of White Male Rage, & Saneism
My Own Thread
I wrote this thread immediately after seeing the film. I have seen more critiques I appreciate since then. I link to them below.
I initially took the film as a critical narrative on how toxic masculinization, trauma, and relational isolation (inceldom) radicalizes into a politics of resentment. I do think that stuff is still there, and so are the problems I had overlooked. I include it all, though if I were to rewrite my own thread, I would hold more space for the critiques in my initial praise…
For my Twitter thread on a film I 100% stand by, check out my piece on Abby Martin’s Gaza Fights for Freedom.
This is a common Incel refrain: “I am being so good/nice. Why are you not giving me what I want…?”
Because when mired in Individualism, an Individualist worldview feels apolitical…
I got too stuck on this question of glorifying the character of Joker. Others, as included below, have noted that the question of justifying his behavior is far more relevant. I agree with this, and I do think the movie is far more guilty of justifying his behavior than it is of glorifying him. This is what allows White fascist misogynists to successfully co-opt this and other films.
Bitchy Shitshow (formerly Vegan Princess Warriors Attack)
Liz Roderick
“I think the biggest reason non-psychotic folks write us into their stories, however, is because they want a vehicle to live out their violent revenge and power fantasies — and a vehicle which they can view as “other”: different enough from them that they’ll be spared the guilt brought on by identifying with the character’s motivations, and saved having to identify and examine their own non-socially-acceptable violent urges.”
