Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

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