The Mindless Dissonance of Modernity

Part 1 – The Joker

M. D. Kwak

A spectre is haunting the world. It is the spectre of false hopes and empty promises that mark the death of the Human Dream.

The world of Todd Phillip’s Joker (2019) is one at its pinnacle of decay and decadence. It is jarring to comprehend the dissonance between the promises of politicians on TV, and the utter abandonment faced by the disenfranchised who cower under an uncaring state. It is uncomfortable to withstand the scornful derision and callous abuse of strangers, family and facetious idols. 

And when you break free from the veil of insignificance, when you violently shatter the city’s illusion of glamour and fulfilment, you are nothing but a mental disorder. Your rebellion is mere narcissistic delusion. Your struggle is a grandiose coping mechanism. Yet Phillips moves beyond Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness; he identifies the violence and callousness of the city that birthed the Joker in the first place. The film is introspective as much as it is didactic. It questions assumptions and demands scrutiny… Is Arthur Fleck just another insane villain or is he an offspring of the city’s nihilistic and violent monstrosity?

Philip’s characterisation of mental illness explores the root causes of today’s mental health epidemic. Mental health problems do not merely arise as a consequence of suffering and mistreatment. Rather, they are the product of a dissonance – a dissonance that’s caused by the jarring disconnect between the cold realities of our lived experiences and the projected world of glamorous promises and apparent expectations.

This is why Joker doesn’t portray Fleck’s suffering as being within a vacuum. Arthur is not merely politically disenfranchised – he is goaded and let down by the hollow promises of politicians. He is not just fatherless – he is deceived by his ‘mother’s’ lies before discovering he is utterly alone and orphaned. Poverty and decay not only surround him – he is perpetually reminded of the destitution of his existence by the glitz and glamour of the wealthy elite. 

The polar opposites of suffering – the notions of happiness and fulfilment – are tantalising dreams of what his life could and should be. The bite of suffering lies in its subversive nature. It is when expectations are crushed, when one’s reality falls tragically short of the fantasies and lies promised by society. Lies give hope. They shatter the ignorance of those sitting in Plato’s Cave, who know of nothing better and hence expect no more of their existence. Like an Aristotelian tragedy, lies elevate the ego into the realms of metaphysical greatness, making its inevitable downfall all the greater. Thus, lies are the progenitors of mental illness – for they peel back the veils of euphemism and deceit that shield us from the subtle horrors of the human condition.

In a way the human imagination will always fantasise and expect a better existence than their current one; the upshot of which is disappointment and suffering. But the lies that cause 280 million people to have depression globally are more potent and deliberate. They are exacerbated by shifts in our world like globalisation and technology. They come from cycles of cultural conflict and from the failures of old generational narratives to deliver on their promise of giving solace and meaning to the lived experiences of youth.