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When asked what he would say to audience members apprehensive over how the film Joker depicts a violent killer in this modern, fear-filled age, executive producer Michael Uslan offered these thoughts:
“I would almost turn that question over to the teachers of film around the world, to the academicians, as to what is the role of cinema, thematically (and with regard to) responsibility.... Look at what I consider some of the most important films: What have they done? They’ve held up a mirror to our society, and there are times when people don’t want to see that reflection, they want to run from it. They don’t want to acknowledge it because sometimes the reflection shows warts and all, whether it’s biases and prejudices or what’s happened to our society, reflecting the times.”
He mentioned specific issues that films such as Joker could help the public contemplate.
“If anything, I believe movies can shake people up and bring issues to attention, whether it’s about guns or the need to treat mental illness or the need for civility and for us to start talking with each other instead of at each other again. You can’t suppress that; you can’t censor that.”
Some topics are so difficult to talk about when discussing real people that it can be easier to get people to think about those same real issues when talking instead about characters. Star Trek, for example, covered topics that no one else on television was talking about at the time. The filter of fiction can be useful, even necessary, to get people to step away from existing assumptions in order to look at real issues, especially the darkest issues in many cases. Students in a forensic psychology class might be so unnerved by the disturbing nature of true crimes that they miss the point of what the lecture is covering, and yet they may learn those same points and show greater readiness to think about them through fictional examples based on what we know about real people.
How a fictional aggressor is depicted matters greatly. Is it presented as a role model, a cautionary tale, or a more complicated exploration of the darker parts of human nature? Does the character appear to be someone worth emulating? Does the character suffer devastating consequences? Is the suffering of their victims shown to be wrong and unpleasant? Does the story itself blur lines of straightforward good and evil in order to touch on the complicated issues of human life?
We need to take hard looks at the worst topics. We need to understand them. Obsessing about them can be sensationalistic or destructive in other ways, but if we turn a blind eye to them, we cannot consider how to improve our world. Demonizing the world's worst criminals to the point of ignoring their human qualities may feel reassuring, but doing so will not help us understand what creates, drives, or even deters such individuals. Looking at the humanity within the world's fiends can be more unnerving than looking at their worst qualities, and yet doing so may be necessary if we hope to see the big picture and do something about it.
When weighing the pros and cons of fictional depictions about the kinds of people we fear the most, consider this: The alternatives could mean either ignoring problems at one extreme or depicting real-life mass, spree, or serial killers and making them more famous at another. Do we really want such people to look forward to seeing movies made about themselves? However wary we might be of giving them fictional models that speak to them, how could looking only at the real-life criminals be better? The mere possibility of getting news coverage or seeing films about themselves may excite certain serial criminals. A few have gone so far as to suggest actors they think ought to portray them. Shining the spotlight on life's real villains may reward them and inspire others. Just as we have to use special devices in order to view eclipses of the sun safely, we may need to hold a mirror up to society in order to see its truths more clearly, because staring directly at the sun carries its own risks.
"Delving into the Joker's mind can be unsettling, to say the least.... We are here to look at human nature but through the filter of fiction. Despite real-world examples along the way, we're analyzing characters to help us talk about human nature. We are not generally analyzing living people or even the recently deceased." - Langley (2019), p. 313, from the afterword to The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them.
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References
Biese, A. (2019, September 26). Joker executive producer: 'Movies can shake people up and bring issues to attention.' Asbury Park Press: https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/09/26/joker-executi….
Langley, T. (2019). Final word: Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! In T. Langley (Ed.), The Joker psychology: Evil clowns and the women who love them (pp. 312-314). New York, NY: Sterling.
