Throughout my research on Marxist theory using the 2019 film, Joker, I learned that the lower class can be presented not only by showing poor people, but by showing people with mental illnesses rising against those who ridicule them. The movie is about Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill comedian who seeks connection but has been constantly bullied and harassed by others, making him the underdog and others being at the top of the hierarchy. Throughout the movie he gets ridiculed by very rich and influential members of society pushing him deeper into his illness. As he moves deeper into illness, he ends up getting made fun of on live TV for failing at stand up comedy. This results in him growing angry and starting to revolt against the people that ridicule him. He eventually kills the comedian and attacks the people that ridicule him, sparking an uprising against the wealthy in the lower class community.
The fact that mental illness and the lower class community correlate with each other so much in this film amuses me. The lower class starts wearing clown masks to protest against the wealthy in Gotham city, a trend which was started by Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill man. The fact that one man’s illness sparks positivism in mentally ill people correlates with Marxist theory because it is the last person that society would believe to see as a hero. Arthur Fleck, in context is a mentally ill villain in DC Comics, which is what this movie is based off of. The superhero always beats the villain which strengthens the statement that Fleck is the underdog all throughout life. On the other hand, in this movie Fleck ends up being as a hero to the working class member which shows that the mentally ill can achieve status through Marxist theory, the uprising of the lower people in the hierarchy.
Miguel's Blog 