Photo: Pixabay
Even before Joker’s theatrical release on October 4th, 2019, the movie had earned both critical acclaim and notoriety. Joker received an eight-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on August 31st, 2019. Soon after, the US Army warned about possible mass shootings by incels at Joker screenings. The combination of this appeal and hysteria triggered what can aptly be called the Joker Effect , which set the box office on fire and earned kudos from critics worldwide. Joker became the first and only R-rated movie in box office history to gross more than a billion dollars and the most nominated superhero movie in Oscar history with 11 nominations.
Photo: Warner Bros.
Joaquin Phoenix dropped more than fifty pounds to transform himself to play the Clown Prince of Crime. “You start to go mad when you lose that amount of weight in that amount of time,” Phoenix told the Daily Beast. But in the end, it all paid off. What became of Phoenix was a feeble and pale Arthur Fleck who is booed and bullied and beaten until he loses it and transforms himself into the Joker. In Fleck own words from the movie, “For my whole life, I didn't know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice.” And that is true to the word. Anyone who watched the movie (and we are talking about of lot of people here) couldn’t help but notice Phoenix’s brilliance in the now-iconic Fleck-to-Joker transformation dance and not say, “He deserves a freakin’ Oscar!”
The Oscars are not new to Phoenix. He has been nominated three times previously - Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator, Best Actor for Walk the Line and Best Actor for The Master - but hasn’t won any. His latest nomination for Best Actor for the Joker, however, is in a league of its own. Heath Ledger earned a posthumous Oscar for his take on the same character in The Dark Knight. If Joaquin wins, this will not only be his first Oscar, but also the only time the portrayal of the same character has landed two Oscars. We will only know on February 9th, 2020 at the 92nd Academy Awards if Phoenix will join the elite list of actors and actresses from around the world who have won Oscars for acting, as shown in the world map of Oscar Winners, Acting above. The United States has produced the largest number of Oscar winners for acting, United Kingdom takes the second spot. In the US, New York leads with the largest number of Oscars for acting, followed by California, as shown in the US map of Oscar Winners, Acting below.
With superhero movies and their sequels becoming top grossers and some of them also achieving critical acclaim, there is little doubt that Hollywood will continue to churn more out. Up until recently, it was standard procedure to limit superhero movie gore and destruction to PG-13 or lower. But, the R-rated Deadpool changed all that and the Joker has now doubled down on it. Movie studios can’t help but wonder if the sequels to some of their PG-13 superhero movies should be R-rated so they can take the Good v/s Evil fight to extreme levels. But is that what really make a superhero movie super? To an extend yes, but there is a different side to it too. In the ultimate Good v/s Evil fight, Good prevails, giving us a sense of safety and hope, and that is the primary appeal of superhero movies. But when the collateral damage is too high, one starts to wonder if this fight for justice is even worth it. In other words, how much gore and how much destruction is too much gore and too much destruction? Do we need to take this to the point where all we are left is to repeat what Arthur Fleck said at the end of his failed standup comedy in Joker, “Well, no one's laughing now.”
Photo: Warner Bros.
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