Joker 2 Misunderstood

[XxBones 854]

I gave in and got Joker 2. I was watching some of it again last night and had a few thoughts:

I honestly feel like Joker 2 is misunderstood and will be popular in the future. I think it is hated for a few understandable reasons, one being that it insults the fans of the first but also that the message was not widely understood. Or if it was understood, it was unexpected and not well received.

I believe that the first movie was set out to show the mental illness of Joker and that society should not ignore and deal with it before it becomes bad. What ended up happening was people celebrated Joker at his worst and neglecting why he became this way and the messages of the first movie.

Joker 2 in a way is meta to this message as the beginning cartoon points this out. People cheering Joker on but neglecting the mental illness. Gaga’s character Harlequin also represents these fans because she is this rich, educated girl who likes Joker so much she fakes her mental illness to be in the same asylum as Joker. She ends up finding out he isn’t this amazing Joker persona she thought he was and leaves him. This represents what is basically happening in real life. The fans want Joker so bad that they find out he isn’t Joker, but Arthur Fleck, and they hate it. Joker himself starts to realize this fact. This is why he sings “but he’s only funny by mistake” and “they don’t see his lonely heart break”. A song about realizing people only love him for being Joker even though he struggles.

Lady Gaga confirms this with her song “Happy Mistake”. Although Gaga has talked about this song and related to it personally, it is also on the movie companion album and relates to the movie. The song basically talks about celebrating something that shouldn’t necessarily be celebrated. The lyrics “cheering on a scene absurd” and “I could try to hide behind the makeup, but the show must go on” speak to the fact that even when someone is struggling, even as a performer, people care more about that than the person inside.

It’s understandable why this movie is hated because it really is a big F you to the Joker fans of the first, forcing them to see a reality they don’t want or care to see. But it also sticks to its morals that we shouldn’t ignore mental illness. For this reason, it makes sense why Gaga wanted to be a part of this project because she has advocated for this cause. I think in the future, when there have been endless amounts of cookie-cutter villain movies or people fear how badly mental illness can lead someone, people will crave a movie representing that, and Joker 2 will come back.

 

Shortened pop translation: Joker 2 is ARTPOP and will be appreciated and understood later. The “music not the bling” message was not understood, and the executives of the album hated it because they didn’t like being criticized and don’t care about the music; they want the bling.

[Borisapillar 8,137]

Hi! So unfortunately it’s just bad

[Roughhouse Dandy 8,300]

It really is so much better than the initial reception made it out to be. It's got an easy path for cult classic status. 

[JohnWayne92 2,100]

No. This film was a bad film for an absurd amount of reasons, and this is coming from a Gaga fan, a Joker fan, a fan of Phoenix’s acting, a cinefile and a writer. 
 

The pacing was awful, there is a literal lack of plot, especially when you compare it to the first film. They did 0 things to truly expand the character of Arthur, created another, more interesting character with Lee and then completely neglected to flesh that out too. This film was exactly what you said - a middle finger to the fans of said film. Mix that with the incredibly misleading marketing and it was a recipe for disaster. 
 

Have you watched Halloween 2018-Halloween Kills-Halloween Ends? 
 

Halloween Ends takes something that 2018/Kills tries to set up and then completely dismantles it and gives the audience the exact opposite of what they came to see. 
 

As someone who loves it when an artist takes a chance, they have to know how to do it correctly. I’m sorry, but this was nothing more than a cash grab and way for the director to put the nail in the coffin he didn’t want to reopen in the first place. 

[ShayCristoforo 10,488]

Yeah it doesn’t deserve all the hate. The performances were good, and the story makes total sense if you can relate to delusion and obsession and escapism through music. We are Lady Gaga fans… of course we can ALL relate to that 

[63grekke 1,141]

gaga did the best she could with the material given but at the end of the day, it was a poorly written movie with no plot whatsover.

let it go.

[monstrosity 3,857]

It’s an amazing movie, way way better than the first, it is indeed misunderstood and people will get it 10 years from now, including Gaga stand that trashed it … 

[monstrosity 3,857]

Just now, 63grekke said:

gaga did the best she could with the material given but at the end of the day, it was a poorly written movie with no plot whatsover.

let it go.

A movie does need a plot to gross a billion dollars; but doesn’t need it to be good; also it does have a plot 

[HotLikeMexico 4,425]

2 minutes ago, monstrosity said:

It’s an amazing movie, way way better than the first, it is indeed misunderstood and people will get it 10 years from now, including Gaga stand that trashed it …