Joker = Hospital Sequence

Question 1

Cinematography =

Answer 1

• Arthur is shown through the bars which makes him seem like he is locked up
• Handheld camera work which mimics Arthur’s inner unravelling
• Extreme close up of the notes
• POV from Arthur;s perspective reading the notes
• The juxtaposition of the cross cutting from Penny in the asylum to Arthur in the stairwell presents his truth, in the stairwell Arthur is shown in an extreme close up and is unable to control his laughter and is almost pained when laughing in replacement of his tears and the severe amount of pain he is in reading the notes
• Close up of him in the hallway to a closeup of Penny as she defends herself

Question 2

Mise en Scene =

Answer 2

• Large, joker like shoes
• Prop of the medical file which becomes a symbol of all the truth he has found
• His clothes are faded and appears rundown

Question 3

Sound =

Answer 3

• Hildur Guonadottir melancholy score as he steals the file. Swells low and ominous which absorbs the upsetting moment
• The dialogue is blurred between the scenes, we are unsure what is reality

Question 4

Editing =

Answer 4

• Cut aways to flashbacks

Question 5

Performance =

Answer 5

• ‘Some got nowhere else to go’ shows how society has been neglected
• When Arthur escapes with the files, he runs as if he still is wearing the largest clown shoes lifting his feet as high as possible which reflects how he has internalized the role as a clown
• Inability to cry which may have come from the trauma we have now learned about, hes laughing so uncomfortably due to not be able to cry
• He is cowered over in the corner as Penny talks about what she did
• ‘I never heard him cry’ created the pseudobulbar effect

Question 6

Ideology =

Answer 6

• These files act as a token to remember the human behind the Joker, but then is destroyed to create the new identity behind the Joker, forgetting the beaten down man that he was before
• Phillips is able to create sympathy for a man who has committed multiple crimes, by alleviating the blame on Arthur and instead blaming those around him who failed him such as his mothe

Question 7

Critical Approach =

Answer 7

• A post colonial lens could argue that Arthur now feels a sense of otherness within his own family and his whole life is a lie.
• A marxist lens could reflect how ‘Thomas Wayne’ was able to manipulate the system to conceal it, the spectator remains unaware of what is actually true and whether the ruling class was able to conceal and destroy the life of someone from the working class

Question 8

Spectatorship =

Answer 8

• It allows the spectator to see a side of humanity to this ‘evil murderer’, it allows the spectator to see the human behind the joker and what led him to committing these acts
• It becomes a train of evil which has led to the formation of Joker