Textual Analysis
Identifying a representation for me was easy, as I'd recently watched the film Joker and instantly knew I was going to analyse identity in some form, whether it be class, disability or gender. The idea of mental health is predominant in the narrative and structured around this, therefore leading me to analyse how mental health in men is portrayed in the film, Joker. There is an array of mental health issues portrayed throughout the film with many characters, however, I am solely focusing my attention on the men as I feel the stigma with men having health problems needs to be addressed more openly.
The film begins with an establishing shot that shows the protagonist, Arthur Fleck (Joker) seated alone, suggesting that he may have disassociated himself away from his fellow colleagues. Furthermore, being reinforced by the next few shots that reveal him applying his clown makeup, his expression and attitude being juxtaposed to the role of a clown, this forming the start of the sadness that he feels. A quote his mother says later in the film 'she always tells me to smile and put on a happy face', is highly significant here and to the beginning of the film, due to the fact he is doing said act, however, you can see in his eyes and from the tear the despair he is actually feeling.
In this scene Arthur is beaten by a group of adolescents down an alleyway, immediately after the beating Arthur reaches for the flower that squirts water, this may have acted as a way of bringing humor to an awful situation, as his mother always says to 'smile and put on a happy face', however at this moment of despair he cannot because of the pain he feels. This beating in the street may subconsciously have reminded him of his childhood abuse which is an added factor to his current situation.
The diagnosis that Arthur has is called Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) also known as 'emotional incontinence', this is a condition that's characterised by episodes of sudden uncontrollable laughter or crying. PBA occurs in people with certain neurological conditions or injuries. We later discover that as a child Arthur was beaten and developed severe brain damage as a result. As he was uncontrollably laughing before handing the women the card she gave him a disgusted look, thinking bad of him before realising he had a mental health condition. Watsky's theory of 'People automatically perceive disabilities to be something automatically visible or detectable from their conceptions of ''normal'' people' (Watsky, p.503) is strongly represented through this scene.
Arthur is already on 7 different medications, suggesting that he has numerous mental health conditions or even masking physical pain. He receives three new medications prescribed by his counsellour, she of which does not fully support Arthur in the slightest as Arthur says 'you don't listen, do you? You just ask the same questions every week, hows your job, are you having any negative thoughts? All I have are negative thoughts but you don't listen anyway', this being a clear reflection that no help is being given to him. Furthermore, the department is being shut down due to budget cuts, this clearly representing that society disregards the mental health sector and the patients, that they feel they can cut budgets from this area to use for others.
Throughout the entire film, we see that Arthur does not eat nor drink anything, thus implying he cares very little about his health and wellbeing. Side effects of many mental health issues can be the lack of or even loss of appetite. O'Sullivan et al (1998) detailed that a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorisation and evaluation, in certain ways this can apply to mental health in the fact that a doctor will evaluate a patient to determine their diagnosis. However, each individual is unique and may not conform to certain 'stereotypes' of a particular mental health issue.
In many shots, Arthur is alone, which heavily implies he's a lonely person, a lone wolf in a sense, that he has been outcast by society. He is also sat amongst the trash, representing that society thinks of him like this, or that they look down on people with mental health issues.
A quote from the film which significantly stands out to me is 'the worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you DONT'. Arthur clearly feels as though he can not behave as his true self and therefore feels the need to develop a character, one that he wants people to accept.
Society has treated him so badly from his childhood abuse to being physically beaten down in the streets that it developed mental health issues for him. The additional verbal attacks he endures just builds to this, creating manic outbursts because he cannot tolerate it no longer. Society is represented as the catalyst for his mental health issues. A lack of empathy from society leads to the lack of connection, which makes it difficult to have a purpose, some people resort to horrific acts to feel like they matter, to get noticed.
Arthur is questioned about the subway killings, later one of the detective's questions his laughing condition, saying 'is this condition of yours, the laughing, is it real?'. The detectives totally disregard his feelings to question him on his own mental health. Watsky's theory of 'People automatically perceive disabilities to be something automatically visible or detectable from their conceptions of ''normal'' people' (Watsky, p.503), again this is prominent because the laughing is physical the reason for it isn't, they do not believe that this condition is real and think its constructed. This representation of how his mental health is approached is significantly negative.
Arthur is belittled on national television by Murray. Murray not knowing his mental issues say's 'here's a guy who thinks he can just keep laughing, it will somehow make you funny', this degrading act upon him is a way of helping his mental health to deteriorate largely. Murray carries on to say 'I love this guy', however, what he loves is laughing at him, not his jokes. The way television and society are represented here is in a negative light towards mental health as they just innocently joke about a man they don't know with many mental issues.
In this clip, Arthur seems to go off the rails regarding his mental issues, the mental and physical abuse endured in the film is seen visibly through Arthur's enraged expression and attitude, this is aimed towards Murray and society. A quote that Arthur say's in this scene is 'What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash?! I'll tell you what you get! You get what you fucking deserve!', he then shoots Murray. Richard Dyer argues stereotypes are a way of reinforcing differences between people and representing these differences as natural, however here Arthurs's mental health stereotype is clearly different from how others would react to a situation, thus juxtaposing the way of reinforcing differences.
Towards the end of the programme a voice is heard saying 'This is a symbol to those who have been ignored by the system', a clear representation of society failing mental health sufferers. Furthermore, this is very faintly heard, just like those ignored by the system.
References
https://www.homeworkmarket.com/files/week9notes-pdf-3936687 .Watsky, J. On the Spectrum, Looking Out.
Jeremy. (2009). Understanding Representation & Stereotyping. Edusitesmedia. https://media.edusites.co.uk/
Hall, S. (1997). The Spectacle of the Other. London. Sage in association with the Open University. https://seminar580.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/hall-the-spectacle-of-the-other-pdf.pdf
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