I walked out of the movie hall after watching Joker, thinking “Boy, the right-wing is gonna hate this film”. It’s a total liberal agenda in every respect. So I sat down with a cup of coffee to read the reviews (I always read movie reviews after watching them). Totally prepared for the right-wing outrage.
To my surprise, the right-wing loved it! The reason? Apparently a few liberals were angry about some anti-PC stuff, and the right-wing crowd just overreacted all the way. Apparently, they’re perfectly content to support a film, ignoring its actual content, as long as it pisses off the libs. Lol!
So what’s so left-wing about the Joker? All of it!
It Advocates for Better Government Programs
Arthur’s descent into the Joker is a series of little pushes. One major push however, was the government cutting funding for programs meant to help him with his mental health, and the drugs he needed to keep his psychosis under control. This is straight out of a liberal’s talking points.
Conservatives are usually the ones talking about the need to cut government spending, and eliminate public programs for people who can’t afford it. That would presumably include free counselling sessions for mentally ill patients.
By showing that Arthur’s condition was exacerbated by the loss of a key support system, the movie highlights the good that the government does. I would think this would set the Right’s head on fire. But no!
It Focuses on Income Inequality
The movie makes the point that income inequality inevitably leads to civil unrest. When most of the city is living under unbearable conditions, it irks them to see obscenely rich people in their midst, untouched by it all. Even worse, when those rich people refer to poorer people as losers and clowns!
Conservative philosophy has always clung to the notion that poor people make their own bed. That this is America, and being poor is the result of bad life choices. As such, they view glaring inequality as a just outcome – rewarding those who work hard, and punishing lazy grifters.
So when Joker demonstrates the negative effects of this inequality à la French Revolution, I expected a host of right wing commenters to pounce on this with their reasons why such a view is misguided. I expected them to chime in saying that the income disparity actually inspires people to work hard, etc etc.
But no – conservative viewers seem to happily accept the movie’s premise that huge income inequality leads to an unstable social environment, just waiting to boil over. This is so weird. Who would have thought?
It Shows the Dangers of Easy Firearm Access
Without a doubt, Arthur’s first two shootings were an act of self-defense. But after that, it unlocks something in him, causing him to chase the third, and happily start his path down casual murder lane.
This goes completely against traditional right-wing talking points, where the insistence is upon the maxim “An armed society, is a polite one”. So the movie’s depiction of firearm ownership as being a catalyst for Arthur’s behavior should have drawn conservative flak. But no – it didn’t seem to bother them.
Moral: “Owning the Libs” is All that Matters
And that’s fine, really! If, in the guise of “pissing off liberals”, conservatives show support for better government programs, addressing glaring income inequality, and gun control, then let them I say! If conservatives can adopt liberal principles while at the same time feel good about annoying the left-wing, that’s a positive outcome for everyone.
In fact, liberals should use this strategy more often. They should start objecting to openly liberal literature by making up some PC bullshit, and then watch as conservatives forget all about what they’re “supposed” to stand for, and end up supporting the very policies that liberals have advocated for all along.
Because as we’ve seen, “Joker” is a liberal movie to the core. Just don’t disabuse the Right of that notion!
Ties in nicely with the National Review’s opinion piece by Kevin D. Williamson.
Dude, you are truly delusional. Why don’t you do the world a favor and stop “blogging” before I’m forced to spit in your food again.
You are absolutely right, Bhagwad. The right will agree to almost anything as long as it “owns the libs.” Do you know why that is?
Because the liberal elite has now pushed the right wing into thinking like an underclass. A permanent underclass that is dispossessed. They have no stake in anything. Their thoughts, words and expression have all been essentially criminalized.
A few months ago, there was an opinion piece in the LA Times where the author asked what to do with her RW neighbors. What had her RW neighbors done to her? She was new to the neighborhood, so they cleared out the snow from her driveway as a welcome and smiled at her. For this, she wrote in the LA Times that their politeness reminded her of Nazi occupiers in Europe!
Imagine living in a world where you are called a Nazi for clearing the snow from a neighbor’s driveway as a welcome to the neighborhood.
That’s why the right is reacting like this. They cannot believe that there is an actual movie with some jibes at the global liberal elite, no matter how few. The underclass is celebrating the mere idea that the rule of their overlords is not absolute.