Does the world need another opinion on this movie? Look, I love my job. When I walked out of The Dark Knight 11 years ago, I never could have dreamed that anyone would pay me to talk about movies. But I’m not even my own parents’ first call when they want to know what to watch. I realize that InQua is a couple (million) viewers away from being RogerEbert.com. If you are reading this, you already have an opinion on Joker or at the very least have read someone else’s opinion on it.
But I saw this movie as a critic, so I actually have to publish a critique.
This movie was good.
Now let’s talk about the Steve Miller Band.
Music
“Fly Like an Eagle” was the second song I ever bought on iTunes after “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I was too principled (read: didn’t know how) to use LimeWire at the time, so a song had to be good for me to buy it. To be fair, Middle-School-Me loved that song 100% only because of Space Jam. But it still got me in the door of the genre. Early 70’s rock in general is my favorite music genre basically because of Remember the Titans. I like movies more than music. Sue me.
But the Steve Miller Band is great. Especially that one song. About the picker. And grinner. Something about a lover and sinner?
The song “The Joker” should have been in Joker the movie for the following reasons: 1. “I’m a smoker.” Joaquin Phoenix is powering through lung darts this entire movie. Like the entire movie. When I watch it a second time (because I will, because I meant it when I said it was good) I plan to keep track of how many scenes he isn’t smoking through. The over/under is at 8.
Reason 2: The rest of the sound track is just subtle enough for it to fit right in. Boy if you thought Suicide Squad set the bar low when it comes to a nuanced DC Movie Compilation Album, allow me to introduce you to Joker ft. “Smile,” “Send in the Clowns,” “Laughing,” “Put on a Happy Face,” “Everybody Plays the Fool,” “Brain Damage,” etc. Also with literally any song ever to pick from for the soon-to-be-famous Joker Stairs Dancing scene, they play “Rock and Roll Part 2.” It’s the “duunn duh-dun HEY” song that you probably haven’t heard since your high school marching band played it on Friday nights at the game. Weird music choices all around.
Yet, no Steve Miller Band. Missed opportunities.
Let’s talk about some other tangential media in the movie.
Movies
Spoiler alert for Batman, but his parents get shot coming out of a movie theater. You might not know that if you have never heard of Batman. That’s your only excuse. Also maybe if you forgot this was a comic book movie. The shots ring out at Crime Alley and pearls get grabbed late in the film’s runtime, so it’s excusable if you just thought it was a normal Scorsese joint by the time the Batman stuff happens.
Anyway, I don’t care about if it was good or bad to tie the Wayne family into this movie. I care that traditionally the Waynes are watching The Mark of Zorro that fateful night. Get it, because Zorro is the all-black-wearing vigilante alter ego of a handsome, dashing, rich guy. Like Batman. Also Wikipedia taught me today that zorro translates to fox. So animal themed superhero name too.
BUT in Joker it is Zorro the Gay Blade that is playing at the theater. Is this an effort to be funny by a director hamstrung by woke-ness? Does it symbolize that this is Joker’s movie and he gets to make a mockery of Batman in his film? Or is it just because Batman has been around for so long that the movie they normally watch came out 100 years ago and it’s just time for them to have seen a more recent film, while still nodding to tradition?
Also, file this one under dumb things I write down when I take a notepad to the movies: a radio broadcast at the beginning of the movie places us specifically on Thursday October 15th. The Gay Blade (and Excalibur which was also on the theater marquee) came out in 1981. 10/15/81 did in fact fall on a Thursday. It’s fun to nitpick stupid things, but it’s even more fun when movies put thought into stupid things.
Music, movies, and television are the big medias of culture. So only TV to go.
Television
We got *diegetic music from our world when the Rich Dicks serenade Joker with “Send in the Clowns” on the train.
We also got real movies from our world at the theater where the Waynes met their repetitive fate. Seriously. They’ve out-died Uncle Ben by like 3 now.
- Definition Time With Cole! Diegetic music is when the characters can hear the song playing. e.g. Peter’s Awesome Mix in Guardians. He presses play, then we AND the A-Holes hear the music. Most epic soundtracks e.g. 2001: A Space Odyssey or Star Wars are just for the benefit of the viewer. Darth Vader doesn’t bring a little bluetooth speaker everywhere he goes to play the Imperial March. Or does he? Musicals may or may not be diegetic. Joker dancing to Rock and Roll is probably half-diegetic because there is definitely something playing inside his head, even though, obvious by the cops reactions, no music is actually audible.
But when Joker needed a plot specific television show to watch, and television star to idolize, the filmmakers created a new late night show exclusive to Gotham. De Niro is not playing Jay Leno (nor is he playing Rupert Pupkin, Scorsese fans) he is playing Murray Franklin, a new character to the DC Universe.
As much plot as Joker can muster is driven by the Murray Franklin Show producers getting their hands on a cringy stand up set by Arthur Fleck. Did I get this far before mentioning that Joker’s name in this version is Arthur Fleck? Oops. Joker idolizes Murray Franklin, he fantasizes about being discovered by him, getting affirmation from him, and he takes a final turn for the worst when his dream of being on the show is turned on its head by Murray mocking his clip during an opening monologue. And the movie climaxes with Arthur coming out officially as the Joker Live with Murray Franklin.
My least favorite part of this very good movie is how long Joker gets to toy with and exposit who he is live on the air. De Niro never pulls the plug, quite the opposite, he plays the part of talk show host as casually as if his guest is on a movie press junket. Sure tension rises, but Joaquin Phoenix himself has had shorter interviews than the fictional Joker MASS MURDERER was given. When the Joker is done with Murray, the camera zooms us back through the cameras of the show, and we see a control room playing the rising chaos on 18 screens.
Media isn’t just complicit in this landscape, they are more to blame for the state of Gotham by the end of the film’s runtime than Joker himself. They retrofit Joker’s first murders. They stoke the narrative of a class war on the streets of the city.
Joker’s infantile anarchy in this origin story takes form by the end where he goes from fighting against his crazy to embracing it. This was where the film shined. An underrated bright spot in this media world is that there were no real-world journalists on the TVs of Gotham. Just like they invented a talk show host, they invented their news reporters as well. This bucks a modern trend that lesser DC movies employ.
I have fun noticing movie related easter eggs and jamming to soundtracks, but the core of Joker is found in media. Those hundreds of other articles and media reports surrounding the #controversy of Joker are in a more meta conversation than we might realize. We are the media. And we affect more than a comic book world with fictional characters.
Joker is out in theaters today October 4. It isn’t any number of film in the DCEU because it isn’t part of the DCEU, but it is the 5th live action film with the Joker in it. So it has that.
Like Cole’s review? Want to read some of his other takes? Check out his articles here before you go.