Iran Press/ Europe: The Slovenian philosopher and cultural studies expert Slavoj Zizek in an interview with RT presented his views on the Todd Phillips movie 'Joker' starring Joaquin Phoenix which received a great deal of attention by both common moviegoers to critics.
According to RT, Zizek, the senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, stated that the film's critics have apparently overlooked the underlying message of the movie.
He added this movie is not about some mentally-challenged person, but about the "hopelessness" of our "best ever" political order itself, which many still simply refuse to accept.
Daily life has become a horror movie
He continued to say that we should congratulate Hollywood and the viewers on two things: that such a film that, let's face it, gives a very dark image of highly developed capitalism, a nightmarish image which led some critics to designate it a 'social horror film', came out. Usually, we have social films, which depict social problems, and then we have horror films. To bring these two genres together, it is only possible when many phenomena in our ordinary social life become phenomena which belong to horror films.
He said that although some conservative politicians were afraid that this film would incite violence, however, "No violence was triggered by this film. On the contrary, the film depicts violence and awakens you to the danger of violence.
'Deadlock of nihilism'
The cultural expert noted that the logic of this film is that it leaves it to the spectators to do this. The movie shows sad social reality and a deadlock of the nihilist reaction. In the end, Joker is not free. He is only free in a sense of arriving at a point of total nihilism.
Social alarm clock
The crucial moment in the film for his subjective change is when he says: "I used to think my life was a tragedy. But now I realize, it's a comedy."
Comedy means for me that at that point he accepts himself in all his despair as a comical figure and gets rid of the last constraints of the old world. That is what he does for us. He is not a figure to imitate. It is wrong to think that what we see towards the end of the film – Joker celebrated by others – is the beginning of some new emancipatory movement. No, it is an ultimate deadlock of the existing system; a society bent on its self-destruction.
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