Recently, my friends have been talking up the movie Joker.
After the movie, many people that watched it have been heard to copy the catchphrase in the movie “justice is never late”. Others simply full into a state of dispassion and silence.
In the movie, the Joker wants to expose and laugh at is the ugliness of human nature.
Today, I will analyze the four laughs that Joaquin Phoenix exhibits in this film.
JOKER TRAILER
In this film, Arthur’s (the Joker) laugh is full of meaning throughout.
There are four types, each represents a different state of mind.
To understand the movie, you have to understand these four kinds of laughter.
One is just a normal and happy smile.
It was the warm, innocent smile Arthur had wanted all his life.
The film is extremely depressing, and the few tender moments are especially rare.
For example when Arthur meets the girl of his dreams and his heart goes out to her.
Once Arthur took the bus, looking out of the window, feeling sad, he feels that life is hopeless.
At that moment, there was a black child in front of him, teasing him, pouting, with a serious expression, it was very cute.
Arthur laughed, so he made faces to amuse the child.
The child was amused and Arthur was happy.
Although this scene is very short, I felt the warmth between these people.
The child was innocent, and Arthur, like the child, was simple and eager to be happy.
However it’s not that simple.
The mother of the child sitting next to him turned and said, please don’t bother my child.
I think everyone can relate to a similar situation in their own lives of kindness that isn’t reciprocated！
Arthur was so affected by this experience that he began to laugh wildly.
The sound echoed in the bus.
It was sharp and terrifying.
All the passengers on the bus tried to distance themselves from Arthur.
This is Arthur’s second laugh, which is pathological, because he has a unique mental illness, and when he gets excited, he can’t help but laugh, completely out of control.
It was an agonizing laugh, a sort of physical torture.
The third laugh, the psychological one, can be understood as an ordinary sneer. It was a forced smile to hide his pain and try to express indifference.
It was a smile of the utmost helplessness, ironic, dark, and sad. His ego was damaged.
The fourth kind of laugh is from the depths of the soul, self-confident, perverted, expressing pleasure from dark situations.
It was a release from depression, a bloodthirsty pleasure more exciting than earthly pleasure.
The first is a happy smile;
The second is a painful laugh;
The third is the ironic laugh;
The fourth is bloodthirsty laughter.
Arthur was a laughing boy since his childhood, but he was gradually transformed by the ugliness of human nature from the first smile to the fourth laugh.
How Joaquin Practised the Iconic Laugh
Have you seen this movie? How do you interpret Arthur’s smile differently?
PS: Maybe you would like to hear the podcast Joker.
(Photos taken from the film)
Mise en Scene 