Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Environmentalism is one example of anti-hegemonic masculinity. The movement preaches (though does not easily achieve) gender equality (cf https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/sociology/Masculinities-RW-Connell-9781741145199 …) Weeks after global climate change protests, there is still an audience keen to cheer Arthur's destruction & misogynypic.twitter.com/BkLH865GDn

Can you be an environmentalist & still enjoy Joker? Yes! But as bell hooks tells us, we can enjoy films but remain critical. Let's continue Arthur fixates on Sophie, to 'humanise' the character. The interactions are examples of gender violence, but not presented this waypic.twitter.com/uwPXhhADzp

*Spoiler* Arthur stalks Sophie. She's coquettish in response. Sophie is a single mum, but she's seen making herself available to Arthur for sex (after he's killed), & taking care of his emotions. The interactions play on the audience, but the film excuses this as mental illnesspic.twitter.com/NbYWnBhmG4

*Spoiler* Arthur kills Penny after finding out that: 1/ Due to mental illness, she believed Thomas Wayne was his father; 2/ he was actually adopted; 3/ she was a victim of intimate partner violence and "allowed" Arthur to be physically abused by the same man. Misogyny rulespic.twitter.com/dBHwG2xp6M

Joker relies on a dangerous misogynist trope; that women 'lie' about pregnancy for financial gain. Actually, misattributed parentage occurs in 1% of cases, mostly due to complex relationships, not money (https://tapri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/v13n2_1gilding.pdf …) Still, Penny deserves to die by this logicpic.twitter.com/bcbh1IbsA2

44 women have been killed in Australia in 2019 (https://www.facebook.com/notes/destroy-the-joint/counting-dead-women-australia-2019-we-count-every-known-death-due-to-violence-ag/2582150351832693/ …). 5 women in 1 week (https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/five-women-were-murdered-in-australia-in-seven-days/ …) 1/3 of women experience emotional abuse by a partner & 1/4 sexual and intimate partner violence (https://theconversation.com/study-confirms-intimate-partner-violence-leading-health-risk-factor-for-women-67772 …) How is Joker an 'anti-hero' for us?pic.twitter.com/DVUvYXEkg7

Joker presents Arthur as an 'every man' whose poverty demands justice. It demotes Black women to stereotypes (https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/lets-talk-about-the-black-women-in-joker_n_5d9605dae4b0da7f6622abc7?ri18n=true …) Above all, Joker inverts gender & race in its 'social commentary.' Black women in USA & Australia are central to civil movements. Not in Jokerpic.twitter.com/X1Fw9sVUbA

Joker re-imagines that a White man can lead social revolution, when it's actually Black women who've been at the forefront of social movements before, during and after, the 1970s context of the film In Joker, Black women are passive & unlikeable subjects so that Arthur can risepic.twitter.com/chAO7dxqIU

Joker contrives White heroism, so that non-Indigenous people in Newtown clap, while oblivious of Aboriginal women heroes, like Dulcie Flower (http://bit.ly/Dulcie_Flower ), Coleen Shirley Perry Smith (pic, http://bit.ly/Mum_Shirl ), Ruby Langford Ginibi (http://bit.ly/Langford_Ginibi )pic.twitter.com/9jRnijE5kY

Arthur rages against 'the system' which has cut off funding to his mental healthcare in fictional Gotham. Yesterday, as we watched this film in Australia, poor & disabled people were subjected to renewed calls to shrink our public healthcare, via tax breaks to employers.pic.twitter.com/26R2cbLW3v

Joker relies heavily on ableism. Arthur suffers from uncontrollable laughter (pseudobulbar affect, also refers to spontaenous crying). Colleagues & strangers make fun of him. But this is just a set-up to excuse his violence, reproducing the stereotype that mental illness=violencepic.twitter.com/mqoG1LRYc7

Sexist ableism: Penny, who is a White woman, is mentally ill AND physically disabled. She's snuffed out to unburden Arthur as his carer & push his re-birth as Joker Audiences cheer Arthur's metamorphosis, as he transcends disability, used to selectively excuse violent White menpic.twitter.com/RMEHHNL1a0

Back to the cheering Newtown audience: our nation's apathy for disabled people is epic, especially Aboriginal people who suffer most due to under-resourcing & institutional violence Would we clap for Others? Of course not. Disability is a prop to celebrate White men's hedonismpic.twitter.com/4PaMkvBt23

Joker director, Todd Phillips, claims he was driven from making comedies due to 'woke culture.' Origins to this term is appropriation of Black activism & subsequent backlash (esp White men), who feel *aggrieved entitlement* to be sexist, racist, ableist, transphobic & homophobicpic.twitter.com/xMQkXbdIYO

In light of Phillips' comments, Joker's pretence to class liberation is exposed as the same brand of nihilism fueling incel (involuntary celibate) ideology (https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/10/joker-todd-phillips.html …). Which is to say, this film is really just old-fashioned patriarchy rehashed as 'resistance.'pic.twitter.com/4Kj3THHzqK

When Joker begins, we see protesters holding 'RESIST' signs - an allusion to anti-Trump protests in 2017. However the film ends with Joker's sycophants holding RESIST signs upside down. White patriarchy's co-opting of social protest, centring White violence, wins in the endpic.twitter.com/pimSvCVLKU

Joker is entertaining. I've unpacked dynamics showing why the film is far from transformative cinema, as some White critics claim. E.g. See comparisons to 'Get Out', showing how White people are eager to assimilate Black excellence, esp in a film that undervalues Black womenpic.twitter.com/XMu9TIKfFB

Then there's the fact that the film evokes New York - which is 27.5% Latin, 25% Black, 12% Asian, among Others - but a White man is elevated to protest warrior Joaquin Phoenix's performance is as commanding as everyone has been raving, BUT his portrayal is not without issuespic.twitter.com/cK49MGsisS

Phoenix is very talented & could've rendered a profound performance if Arthur had simply been an angry, isolated man. But he was portrayed as disabled to give the filmmaker license on his violence, banking on accolade given to able-bodied actors using disability to gain sympathypic.twitter.com/PnNsZfEVRD