Why I really don’t care to bother with the film.
So if you pay even a minimal amount of attention to what movies are currently being released, then you’ve at least seen a picture featuring a scary looking clown in a suit dancing awkwardly on a staircase.
This is the new DC comics film which is the story of Batman’s arch-nemesis, The Joker. Holy sh*t, has the hype gone entirely off the rails for this film.
I want to preface this by saying, I have not seen the film, and I likely won’t for some time. But, since I’m so sick to death of hearing about it, here we are.
When it was announced that a solo Joker film was going to be made separately from the DCEU (no I will not define that, at this point you should know), I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I could not wrap my brain around why DC and Warner Bros. would even bother with such a film. With a cinematic universe that is undeniably failing, quite pathetically if I do say so, how could an interesting spin possibly be put on a character whose entire existence depends on the presence of Batman who is not in the film?
That’s a rhetorical question because I have no intention of trying to find that answer. My point, is that we just came off the heels of Jared Leto being announced as the new Joker, and endlessly being compared in every conceivable aspect to Heath Ledger’s interpretation of the character. Every time there is a new Joker, or a new Batman announced for a live action film, the world goes nuts as if this is somehow on the level of finding out who the new Pope is (which also doesn’t matter, but I’ll save that for a future post).
So here’s the deal, it does not even remotely matter who is playing the Joker. I know that’s a hard pill to swallow, but this is a fictional character. It, yes it, does not exist. So all the people putting Joaquin Phoenix on this ridiculous pedestal is obnoxious and unnecessary. (And I realize the paradox I create by writing about it here, but it’s my blog, not yours so bite me.)
Since it doesn’t matter who plays the character, then why in the blue sh**ting f**k should I rush right out and get a ticket to see this film? Why should I care about a character who barely exists on its own without Batman? I’ve read various comics detailing multiple variations of the Joker’s inception, why is this one special? Just because it’s now live action?
If it’s that it’s live action, then you’ll have to try harder because the best thing about the character is the story lines where you don’t know his origin. I don’t want to know where he came from or why he is the way he is. I do not want to feel sympathy for him as the “sad clown”. Do you have any idea just how incredibly lame that sounds? So I’ve not been given a good reason to care. Not a good start.
I also happen to be the type of person that, the more you tell me to do something, the less I want to do it. Remember Avatar? Yes, the one with blue people. Well I’ve never seen that for the same reasons. Everyone blew it so far out of proportion that I cannot be bothered to care. Later I came to discover that Avatar is just a CGI, run-of-the-mill romance, so no thanks.
I also don’t believe that Joker is worth political debate. Tiring is the conversation of whether the film, or the character incites mentally unstable people to commit horrific crimes. It doesn’t. It’s a film, both it and the character are works of fiction, and if you can’t tell the difference between that and reality, then there’s obviously a larger issue at play and you should probably seek professional help before the goblins in your head eat your skin.
Generally, these are my grievances with the hype train around this film. Don’t spit box office numbers at me either because that validates absolutely nothing. This madness has to stop. In ten years, it won’t matter and some new dweeb will be playing the character. I have my preferences for best Joker just like the next dick in line, but I don’t pretend it’s the end-all game in comic book movies. So calm down and quit fighting over a character that looks like a cross between Caesar Romero’s Joker and Pogo the clown. And, don’t shove it down my throat that I “need” to see this film. I don’t need to do anything.
That’s it for now. Feel free to leave your hideous insults in the comments so I can promptly ignore them. Have a fabulous day.
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