"My Life Is A Comedy"- Joker

 

Today I finally was able to watch the Joker movie. Now it took me a while to actually be able to watch it for several reasons. First of all my life has been CRAZY busy, and second of all, I was terrified. You see, one can only be skeptical about DC portraying another Joker after the oh-so-absolutley-wonderful Jared Leto take of the Joker. In case you have not realized... that was completely sarcastic. Realistically I was terrified that this movie would yet again DEMOLISH the comic book character. But, boy, was I WRONG.

Not only did this movie bring back the goodness of who the Joker should be, but it also sparked a target on so many aspects of mental health. This was completely unexpected. You see, often times, the evil villain is evil just because they are that in the cinematic universe. There are no questions as to how these villains were actually capable of getting to the point of being so morally bad. Unfortunately, this is the same case that it comes down to in the real world. We often do not take a second, and fully analyze why or how a person is capable of doing such awful things in the world. We often say, "man people are just crazy". 

Mental health.

The mental health of the Joker portrayed in this movie is basically EVERY WHERE. The Joker was adopted by a woman who was seriously mentally ill, and was obviously in many abusive relationships. The mother allowed the Joker to be abused by one of her partners, leading him to have a severe head trauma as a young kid. This has lead me to believe that the Joker had probably suffered with a traumatic brain injury, which seriously injured his frontal cortex. 

From the frontal cortex injury, the joker was stripped of expressing physically most emotions except for laughter. This can be believed, because the frontal cortex is the operator of emotion. No matter of the Joker was sad, angry, depressed, scared, any kind of emotion, he would express it in severe laughter. His mother often labeled it as some sort of "condition", but realistically, this is who he is from the abuse of his past. 

If only it stopped there, but sadly, it did not. The Joker was obviously bullied his entire life. His mother never actually took him seriously when he said he wanted to be a comedian. He was admitted to the mental hospital, and released at the start of the movie. Arthur (the previous name of the Joker), was on about seven different medications for mental health issues. Due to the cut of government funding, Arthur was no longer able to receive therapy, and all of his medications. 

Arthur was neglected from the start of his life, as even as an infant he was abandoned. He was used as a target for his mother's psychosis, and her dreamed-about romance with Thomas Wayne. From the start of his life, Arthur never really had a place. A home. A purpose. Arthur took on being the role of a clown, because of his persistent laughter. His laughter was actually all cries. 

Arthur cried for help. Screamed for help. But, the only thing people saw was him laughing. People only saw him being crazy.  No one actually wanted to help him, no matter how much he cried for help. Arthur started to see the world, as the world had treated him.

There is often this misconception, and hatred of the idea that mental health is the cause for all of the tragedies that happen today. This movie was a pivotal example of that. Sure, not every single person with a mental illness is going to do some tragic thing to hurt many people. But the truth is, when you are severely mentally ill, and not receiving the services that you need, things like this can very well be the result. 

Throughout his journal entries you can see how disturbed his brain is. How much this man truly needed help. But no one listened. So while I can understand how some people in the mental health community become enraged by the fact that people blame mental illness for all of the tragedies that happen in the world, the truth is it is very possible. 

If you take a look at the spectrum of mental illness, there are so many people today who need help, but are not receiving the help they need. Sure, while many people with mental illness would not even think of hurting others, there are some conditions in which hurting others are of a pleasure. Something that they have to do in order to serve their purpose. 

The human brain is filled with emotion, whether we like it or not. For some, like people with a traumatic brain injury, their original personalities are taken from them. They are left with anger, and sadness. They often have serious anxiety and depression. When someone who is in so much pain, and is not receiving any help, those thoughts of hurting others sadly do come to life.

This movie shows the importance of mental hygiene. Stigma. Bullying. Abuse. Neglect. This movie resembles everything. This movie by far, was one of the best that I think I have seen in a long time.