Here’s what grinds my gears. If WB pulls Joker, what next? Just to go by some examples of movies already in theaters… Is Rambo going to get pulled because “it inspires people to become serial killers”? Is Hustlers going to get pulled because “it promotes sexual immoralities”? Is Downton Abbey going to get pulled because “it glorifies rich, snooty British folk”? The Hunt already got pulled from theaters before it could be released because the release date came close to recent shootings and some talking heads on Twitter “couldn’t handle the subject material”. I doubt much would’ve changed if The Hunt got released, but it still feels dirty people are missing out on the chance to watch something someone put their time and effort on all because of “a few hurt feelings”.
We live in a society where the vocal minority whine and complain about violent media and vaping and jaywalking when the real problems are left ignored by our incompetent leaders. Not to mention, we already have plenty of movies that share similar themes with Joker. Taxi Driver, Falling Down, American Psycho…all those movies got released with no problem a long, long time ago. Yet, here we are in 2019, calling for censorship all because a few people are weak, scared, and have nothing better to do with their lives but encourage the destruction of freedom of the press, freedom of creativity, freedom of speech, etcetera.
There is a lot wrong these days, but we can’t let fear drive us into our primal instincts. Fearing a movie should be one of the lowest of our priorities and it disgusts me to think we’re not going to see the end of this behavior anytime soon. America is jumping down a cavernous hole without even considering what’s at the bottom of that deep, dark hole. We’re in a train crash that keeps piling on even when we say “stop”. You want to live in a dystopian nightmare? This is how we get dystopian nightmares. By destroying things that won’t hurt us in an effort to silence the innocent majority and eliminate freedom of creativity all because the subject manner is “too much to take” for a handful of randos on the Internet.
I could go on and on, but I’m certain I’ve got the basics of my rant over with.
Kinda have to be rude on this one. When the weak fear-mongers gain power, we’re all forced to sit down and listen while they beat their war drum repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly. Just because they beat their war drum doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. If they don’t like something, they don’t have to enjoy it, either. Doesn’t mean they have to control what we enjoy. I could always get up and walk over to a more professional drum set player instead.
Gotta call out the bad war drum players instead of forcing yourself to keep on sitting and watching.
Hey guys! I’m just popping by to remind everyone that while we encourage spirited debates, we don’t tolerate personal attacks here on the boards. This is a particularly sensitive topic, I know, but let’s remain respectful and not resort to insults or personal attacks towards those who may have a different perspective.
My wife saw some of the new coverage and it has her concerned, so we may need to wait. I have to say, thoguh, that I agree that letting fear mongering convince you to avoid things is the exact opposite of how things should be handled. I’m willing to take the “risk,” however I completely understand if someone else isn’t. Who am I to decide for others?
I just think it’s stupid. People let fear and fear mongering control their lives. Where was the outrage of level of violence with any of the John Wick movies? Or any other violence movie.
The only reason why its getting attention of what because of what happenedat the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado 7 years ago when a madman shot up moviegoers going to see The Dark Knight Rises and the guy referring to himself as The Joker. (A fact that got claimed to be untrue btw.)
I feel for the families but to assume the everyday person is gonna go out and emulate the violence in the movie is silly. The only person who would do that is a dark demented person to begin with, a rated R Joker movie or not. Hell a guy could go shoot up a movie theater with people watching a Christmas movie. What will be the talk then?
What we need to do is put more focus on mental health and gun laws in this country. That’s where the attention should be.
I think this is different from any other violent movie in one way. This is Joker, The Godfather of evil. He is the personification of evil. Alfred is right in the Dark Knight when he says “some men just want to watch the world burn.” Joker inspires that in those kinds of people. They also say in the film that he attracts those kinds of people to him. That is why people are afraid of this. There are those kind of disturbing people in this world. We may not want to except that, but they are there none the less. Yes, it is terrifying when there is the threat of violence in any setting. People have the right to be afraid of those kinds of people who aspire to Joker. We may not want to think that someone like Joker can inspire that kind of violence, but that is what he does.
I again wish to voice that many people cautious of the film are not calling for censorship, or the movie to be pulled. The calls are for awareness and caution in glorifying such a character.
Let us not forget that there is a small history of films who release did cause violence. Most notably “The Warriors”. It wasn’t “fair” that “The art of the bullet” got pulled from theatrical release because the big name star got popped on a major drug buy 3 weeks before it was released.
We live in a world of click bait and TMZ. Are concerns over The Joker warranted, in the end probably not. As for a tiny minority influencing what gets put or stopped from going into theaters. It happens. Can you say “The moral majority” ladies and gents.
Things like this are nothing new. It just so happened that a group of families who had members killed the weekend of a Batman movie made their concern public. It could likely have been any Batman movie, it turns out that it is the Joker, which focuses on a character most people know as a “crazy killer”. I can see for those families, who have a likely pretty negative connotation of Batman movies, where it could be a cause for concern.
But, let’s not jump the gun. This isn’t censorship. It’s mostly click bait and free advertising and frankly it means that the movie will likely do better at the box office because of it.
Media, in its many forms is not the enemy of the people. Elected officials requesting a foreign government take renewed action, on an issue it has already resolved, in an attempt to impact an election. Those are the type of actions by elected officials, that is the definition of being “the enemy of the people”.
I agree with 90% of your post. The end lost me, and has risk to derail the thread if I respond to that. I’d be happy to discuss that further on another thread since it’s unrelated to the OP.
X-Men Dark Phoenix was really violence and nobody made a big deal out of it, I don’t think the Joker will be that violence, obviously the film is sort of based on the killing Joke when Joker may have been a fail comedian. I do plan on seeing the movie, no matter what the people say.
The whole point of mass shootings is to instill fear on a populous. Taking precautions for them is necessary, but doing something drastic like banning the Joker movie would be playing into what people like mass shooters want.
@Batcam
The point is that even all the click bait media, that is stirring up “controversy” about this film, even those media outlets are not the enemy of the people.
There have always been threats to the American people, both from within and outside our borders. However, news, tv, film, comic books, and yes even “click bait” media, aren’t one of them.
And that is, unfortunately the result of the military and law enforcement doing its job. The put out a report based on intelligence data collected. So if there are a few extra police (or National Guards or reservists) called up to patrol movie theatre zones. Great. Hopefully it deters any incels looking to cause chaos or commit an act of terrorism.
The Joker is an iconic, homicidal manic. This the Joker we got as part of the Killing Joke. One of the reasons that people find the Joker interesting is because of his ability to induce fear, terror, chaos. Is it conceivable that those with a terrorist axe to grind could look to that character as touchstone. Sure, it’s possible.
Guess what. You make a movie about a character that iconically bound to mass murder and terror. Many of the Joker’s greatest stories are in fact about him committing, or trying to commit, acts of terrorism. That is the topic that needs to get discussed that isn’t. The Joker isn’t mentally ill. He’s a terrorist. He knows full well what he’s doing and enjoys doing it. That isn’t a mentally ill person. That is person who just doesn’t care and “wants to watch the world burn”. And guess what, there are people out there in both the US and other parts of the world who are like that.
If someone goes out of their way to plan such a mass shooting. They are not mentally ill. They know and understand what they are doing. They are a terrorist. That means that the US must admit we have terrorists in our society. Terrorism takes many forms and has many agendas. We as a people need to be more observant, more vigilant and accept that part of fighting terrorism is the job of every citizen to be cognizant of the world around them. Terrorism exists, and whether the next terror attack is car bomb or a mass shooting, that terrorist could be coming from your city, town, county, etc and their gender, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, orientation, etc could be of any combination of those components and their family may have been in this country for generations.
So let’s quit calling them “mass shootings” or “bomb plots” and call them for what they really are, acts of terrorism and the people that perpetrate them for what they really are, terrorists.
Well said. I completely agree that Joker is sane, I think that contributes to my concerns about glorifying him, but we’ve covered that. I also completely agree on your general observations about terrorism. I’m with ya there.
Rubber chicken?