JOKER ANALYSIS

   

Joker is a 2019 movie. Our main character in the movie is Arthur Fleck. The fictional location of the film is that the city called Gotham City is similar to the imaginary but real metropolitan cities we call dystopia. The upper class rules the city. The city is in filth, the streets are full of garbage and many homeless people. Our main character, Arthur, is a clown with lots of laughter. Freud defines psychosis as "Narcissistic neurosis". In other words, this situation is the domination of the libido, which does not address external objects, to the ego. That is, the individual cannot find an object of love for his libido. The constant exclusion of Arthur by the children outside; can affect psychology due to the weakness of social relations. Freud introduced the death instinct, which is the opposite of the life instinct. In other words, life consists of lifelessness, and every living thing has the possibility of returning to inanimate life, which is suicide. Arthur has a serious suicidal dream. Freud's other concept is the psychosexual theory of development. There are 5 stages in this theory: oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital. These stages develop in certain stages of a person's life and the person can get stuck in one stage. And we also see that; Joker getting stuck in the oral phase. Because the joker constantly licks his lips throughout the movie. If the individual is implanted in the oral phase; enjoys biting, chewing, and smoking. Freud argues that the formation of the personality is completed at the end of the oral-anal-phallic periods. In fact, the formation of the superego occurs as a result of the successful resolution of the Oedipus complex experienced in the phallic period. Since Arthur's father is not known, there is no father figure to match the Oedipus result. Since there is no father figure, his superego is not formed properly. 

    In this movie, we see Murray Franklin imagining a father figure for Arthur. Arthur impersonates Murray. The mirror scene in the film develops a psychic idea that, according to Lacan's theory, the imaginary record gives the subject a sense of unity. There is often a mirror scene in the film. this situation gives a sense of wholeness to the subject who constitutes his ego. Wayne Murray is Arthur's imaginary father, and the reason Arthur killed his mother is that he addressed the imaginary father. Because killing the father is out of a dream and the formation of identity in the social world. he suffocates his mother in his bed and starts laughing. It is at this time that the joker is born and it takes the "society" responsible for this situation. The Joker leaves the superego when he meets Murray, but the political upheaval in Gotham creates a new superego.

  The id part of the Joker's mind is more dominant. The joker achieves satisfaction by committing crimes and acts of violence. The wildcard constantly seeks satisfaction for the id part of the mind. The Joker's superego tells the Joker not to commit crimes, not to rob a bank, because this is against society's expectation from the person, but the Joker terrorizes Gotham. While the superego wants to obey the rules of the community, the wildcard violates this rule. In Joker's mirror scene there are two themes. The psychoanalytic symbolism of mirrors and the dialectical relationship of opposites. Arthur's mirror is Lacan's mirror. The man looking in the mirror is Arthur's true, socially awkward self; Reflection is her ideal-me, the successful comedian she wishes she was. 

“My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose: to bring laughter and joy to the world. "

Here we see Jung's concept of persona. the so-called "happy" persona was given to him by his mother. Arthur does not have the persona of his choice, it is a mask forcefully affixed to his face.

Arthur is aware of his position, “People are disturbed by my presence, they say I'm strange,” and “It was as if no one saw it. I didn't even know whether I existed or not, ”he says,“ Everyone acts as if I don't exist ”, emphasizing the current position he is in.