Joker: Healthcare for the Healthy
Joker (2019), image provided by fanpop
“The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.”
- Arthur Fleck, Joker
Joker is one of the best films, if not the best film, in 2019. For a non-comic book reader like myself, the Joker is portrayed as a self-loathing rebel that creates chaos wherever he goes. He is sarcastic, impulsive, and often appears in a manic state. He is the poster child for mental illness in the comic book world. Unlike the box-office hit Suicide Squad, which tells the story of how the Joker lives his current life, Joker gives us the fabricated origin of Arthur Fleck—the Joker’s real name.
Fleck is a soft-spoken, simple, and optimistic man. He is also responsible. He sees a psychiatrist, takes his medication(s) properly, and he warns people of his disorder(s). Due to the tanking economy, Fleck’s government-funded healthcare dissipates. He is no longer able to afford his medication. To make things worse, he is fired from the job that supports him and his mother, due to a malicious co-worker. Within no time Fleck spirals into a manic state. Fleck quotes, “I use to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it’s a fucking comedy.”
Most people know someone, if not multiple people, who suffer from mental illness. I believe that most criminals suffer from mental illness, which is why any and all medications for mental illness should be free in America. Did you know that in some states mental healthcare providers can choose whether to accept insurance? Well, believe it, because I live in one of those states. They make more money when they cut out the middle man (i.e. insurance companies) and charge patients the same price, if not more. The business of mental health has become very lucrative, thanks to millennials. Unlike our parents and our parents’ parents, we understand the benefits of playing with a full deck of cards. The United States leads the world in mass shootings each year. In 2019, there were more mass shootings than there were days in a year—417 to be exact. Although gun laws play a part in that statistic, so does mental health. The fact is mentally stable people do not feel the need and or urge to attack innocent people, period. You would think that after so many deaths, government officials would’ve put two-and-two together by now. Of course not because in America if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. We, as a country, need to understand that being mentally ill is not a choice. The Joker was created, due to cruel circumstances and laws. The Joker represents all of us, what anyone can become under enough duress.
So I ask you the question, is the Joker really a villain?
