UW Film Club Podcast #64 – Joker

“I used to think my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it’s a podcast where some college students talk about movies.”

Joker, one of the most controversial films of 2019, has now (for better or worse) unexpectedly garnered 11 Oscar nominations – the most for this awards season, and for any comic book film in history. And while podcast host Jim is mostly indifferent about the film, he sits down to talk to a few special guests who enjoyed it more than he did. In this episode, we talk about Joaquin Phoenix’s impassioned performance, the film’s lack of subtlety and depth in its message about *society* and treatment of the disenfranchised/mentally ill, as well as whether it holds up on its own amongst the DC mythos from whence it originated. You want to hear another joke? Well, you’ll get what you deserve on the 64th episode of the UW Film Club podcast! Tune in now!

On this episode: Jim Saunders, Leila Okorie, Diana Raykova and Ajay Rawat

You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every Monday for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

Review: ‘Joker’ is an Origin Story That Does Not Know Its Own Origin

Society’s obsession with villains is a long one. They are the flawed and twisted underdogs and unknowns that, when conveyed with the right bravado, end up being the characters that we root for or relate to the most. They are also the characters that we seemingly want more of on our screens. However, due to the nature of the superhero genre, the villains who usually dominate the space they occupy are still narratively regulated to the sideline; we understand these villains must escape from the questioning and complexity that we demand from our leading hero. That narrative changes with Joker, but instead of the deep and dark character study that the public (or at least me) has been begging for, Joker reminds us why villains are better regulated as unknown, unpredictable, and surface-level quantities.

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