The ending of Todd Phillips’ Joker is meant to be a joke of sorts on the audience. We’ve just been treated to this entire origin story of Joker. We’ve seen how Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) went from a street clown with a mental illness to the unintentional leader of a riot against Gotham City’s wealthy elites. It’s a story where Arthur is painted at turns as a tragic figure who never received the love and support he needed from his mother, his co-workers, his neighbors, or society as a whole. The film crescendos with unhappy Gotham citizens wearing Joker masks tearing the city up, and one of those rioters kills Thomas and Martha Wayne, thus making way for Bruce Wayne to become Batman. What a twist that Joker was responsible for Batman rather than the other way around!
And then it turns out it’s just a story being told to a psychiatrist in a mental asylum where Arthur Fleck is kept. The film ends with him having killed the psychiatrist (denoted by the bloodstains coming from his footprints) and being chased around the asylum.
So which is it? Is this the true origin story of the Joker or just another yarn spun from a psychotic mind? The answer is that it doesn’t really matter because Phillips wants to have it both ways.
And then it turns out it’s just a story being told to a psychiatrist in a mental asylum where Arthur Fleck is kept. The film ends with him having killed the psychiatrist (denoted by the bloodstains coming from his footprints) and being chased around the asylum.
So which is it? Is this the true origin story of the Joker or just another yarn spun from a psychotic mind? The answer is that it doesn’t really matter because Phillips wants to have it both ways.
