Anamika Chatterjee

The most cathartic two hours spent in a movie theatre Of all the masks Arthur Fleck wears, the most identifiable one was ‘happiness’. His mother believes he’s happy. He believes he is happy.His trauma hides behind his uncontrollable laughter to a point where strangers feel he’s mocking them. The only glimpses of joy in his life come in the form of lies —- some of which he tells himself, and some that others tell him. The film is a clinical dissection of a world where happiness has become a project. It’s a lie that Arthur Fleck needs to tell himself because it eludes the likes of him. The real world is not much different from Gotham. Heath Ledger’s “Let’s put a smile on that face” has actually become a modern way of life. Like Fleck, how often do we hide behind a smile to conceal our disappointments, our vulnerabilities, our grief?How does one not lose their sense of self in the process? Must one always strive to match up to someone else’s idea of the ‘normal’? How does one continue keeping faith when despair seems more comforting? Joker may not have the memorable lines of The Dark Knight, but it asks deeper existential questions. Heath Ledger created the template, Joaquin Phoenix perfected it. More power to Joaquin Phoenix and... if I may say, #Joker!