Capitalism is no Joke
“Shocked and disturbed” is how my comrade described how he felt after we saw the new Joaquin Phoenix film, The Joker. The famous Batman villain now has his own movie with a dark and, at times, hard-to-watch origin story. He starts as a mentally ill and down-trodden worker, Arthur Fleck, and descends into madness, being transformed into the title character.
This film tackles societal issues which are symptoms of the capitalist nightmare we live in. Be that as it may, why would capitalist media want to massively sell such a film which promotes violence and shows the reality of the decaying of capitalist society?
The movie is set in a decaying Gotham—New York in the 1980s. This is when the Reagan administration was discarding the Mental Health Systems Act and attacking the workers’ standard of living, all of which combined to lead to the homelessness crisis we see today.
Fleck, who works as a clown, is victimized by some young people. A friend gives him a gun for protection. He suffers from mental illness and sees a therapist who is overworked and on the brink of losing her job due to budget cuts. The crisis in the movie is when he shoots three Wall Street men who are harassing a woman on the subway.
Not only does he feel no guilt, but he confesses to this murder on TV. This puts the city in an uproar. Masses of people go to the streets in clown masks in solidarity with the subway clown killer who attacked the upper-class men. Riots ensue as the city burns and Joker is saved by the masses from the police and praised as a hero.
Arthur’s mental illness is unfortunate, but the isolationism and the decline in resources that he and many people like him face is what leads to anti-social behaviors. These result in mass shootings, stabbings and other act of violence towards our working-class brothers and sisters.
Arthur laughs to keep from crying as he suffers through his illness alone. No one checked on Arthur the way he needed because the psychiatrist was already overwhelmed with patients dealing with similar issues.
In a communist society this won’t be the case. We will all build long-lasting relationships with our community that will extend beyond blood relatives. We will look after one another and produce all the resources we require for a quality life for all.
Capitalism needs the working class to be disturbed, horrified and left feeling hopeless. By doing this, the capitalists win the masses to the idea that there needs to be a superhero to save us from the villain. The bosses don’t want us to be our own heroes and realize that they are the ultimate villain. They rob us of our labor and resources while they keep the abundance of profits for themselves and give us the crumbs.
Capitalist media expects us to sit back and laugh before we cry, but the working class must fight before we die.
Front page of this issue
