History TearJerker / Joker2019

It would be so easy to say that ''the whole damn movie'' is one gigantic depression trip and leave it at that, but that would be cheating (and wouldn't be doing it full justice). So, without further ado... ''[[LongList *starts unfurling list*]]''

** If the look on his face right after is any indication, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he's in shock at what he's just done]]. [[IgnoredEpiphany He then almost immediately]] [[IveComeTooFar goes back to laughing]] and [[ForTheEvulz shoots Murray's corpse just because he can]], and then looks into one of the show's cameras to [[IronicEcho mockingly]] recite Murray's catchphrase, ''"[[StrawNihilist That's life!]]"''.

* Before he shoots Murray, Joker tearfully rants about how he's a mentally ill loser and how society has abandoned him and treated him like trash, in case you needed a reminder where Arthur's StartOfDarkness came from. When he calls Murray out for humiliating him earlier, he's just boiling with TranquilFury. [[BrokenPedestal The man he looked up to, the one who entertained him and made him happy, betrayed him just like everyone else in his life]], [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge and he's]] '''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge not]]''' [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge gonna have it anymore.]]

** If the look on his face right after is any indication, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he's in shock at what he's just done]]. [[IgnoredEpiphany He then almost immediately]] [[IveComeTooFar goes back to laughing]] [[ForTheEvulz and shoots Murray's corpse just because he can]], and then looks into one of the show's cameras to [[IronicEcho mockingly]] recite Murray's catchphrase, ''"[[StrawNihilist That's life!]]"''.

* [[JerkassWoobie Thomas Wayne may have been more of a jerk in this version, but he didn't exactly deserve to die for it, especially not in front of his family.]]

** There's a scene where Arthur is on the bus and starts playing peek-a-boo with a baby who is staring at him, which makes the baby laugh. The mother then tells him not to bother her kid (which is sad enough, because he was making the baby happy), and he starts having a laughing fit. When she asks what's so funny, he hands her a card explaining he has a condition. Think about that -- he had a laminated card to explain his condition in the 1980s. That's how many times something he couldn't control bothered/annoyed/confused someone; it got to the point that he had to go out and have a card specially made just to receive a modicum of understanding. To make it worse, the mother possibly doesn't even care about this explanation, as she turns around with an annoyed look on her face while Arthur laughs, like it's an inconvenience for ''her''. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Or perhaps it's pity on the woman's face.]] Either way, the scene really hammers in how Arthur doesn't really have a chance in the world of Gotham.

** There's a scene when Arthur is on the bus and starts playing peek-a-boo with a baby who is staring at him, which makes the baby laugh. The mother then tells him not to bother her kid (which is sad enough, because he was making the baby happy) and he starts having a laughing fit. When she asks what's so funny, he hands her a card explaining he has a condition. Think about that -- he had a laminated card to explain his condition in the 1980's. That's how many times something he couldn't control bothered/annoyed/confused someone, that he had to go out and have a card specially made just to receive a modicum of understanding. To make it worse, the mother possibly doesn't even care about this explanation. She turns around with an annoyed look on her face while Arthur laughs, like it's an inconvenience for ''her''. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Or perhaps it's pity on the woman's face.]] Either way, the scene really hammers in how Arthur doesn't really have a chance in the world of Gotham.

* When Arthur sees Bruce Wayne for the first time, he looks at him with genuine joy and tenderness in his eyes, thinking that this is his little brother and that he's going to be part of a family from now on, only to learn that his mother was a fantasist. This is the first time that the Joker and Batman meet and they're friendly towards one another. Arthur, being a FriendToAllChildren probably wanted a little brother as well as a father figure, hence his attempts to make the small boy on the train laugh and you can see that he's happy to make Bruce smile and laugh with his magic tricks. It's even sadder when you consider the fact that they will one day be arch-enemies.

* Afterwards, [[CassandraTruth despite having bruises all over his body, his employer accuses Arthur of stealing the sign and dodging work because he finds kids stealing a sign and beating him up over it too implausible, and quite clearly assumes Arthur is lying because he is mentally ill]], before declaring the cost of the sign will be cut from his paycheck. Meanwhile Arthur is just staring and smiling at him in tranquil disbelief and anger.

** Usually the Joker's laughter is portrayed as campy, terrifying, or some combination thereof. Here, we see Arthur struggle with his rattling laughter, trying but failing to control it as it tears through him. It's the first time we see the Joker's laugh being this heartbreaking.

** If there's one moment that earned Joaquin Phoenix the Oscar, it's undoubtedly the final "joke" he tells to Murray, right before gunning him down. From his facial expressions to his voice, you can tell he's running through a gamut of emotions, from fear, to anger, to despair, to ''pure hatred'':

** If the look on his face right after, is any indication, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he's in shock at what he's just done]]. [[IgnoredEpiphany He then almost immediately]] [[IveComeTooFar goes back to laughing]] [[ForTheEvulz and shoots Murray's corpse just because he can]], and then looks into one of the show's cameras to [[IronicEcho mockingly]] recite Murray's catchphrase, ''"[[StrawNihilist That's life!]]"''.

* Arthur steals a file on his mother from her time at Arkham, and finds out that she lied to him about everything. She adopted him after he was abandoned, and both she and her boyfriend had horribly abused and neglected him. And as he's reading this, something within him finally ''snaps'' like a twig as he has another fit of uncontrollable laughter. It's not exactly easy to pin down the exact moment that Arthur Fleck well and truly died and the Joker - the vengeful, homicidal TragicMonster driven to make the world pay for what it has done to him - was born, but this would be one of many strong contenders... and even if it isn't, this is, without a doubt, a crystallizing step on his way there.

--->'''Joker:''' (''with sarcasm and a tinge of concern'') What do you get...when you cross a mentally ill loner (''voice goes to animalistic anger'') with a ''SOCIETY'', that ''ABANDONS'' him, ''AND TREATS HIM LIKE TRASH?!'' (''voice tearfully breaks'') ''I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU GET!'' (''voice becomes seethingly hateful'') '''''YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE!!!!'''''

--->'''Joker:''' (''with sarcasm and a tinge of concern'') What do you get...when you cross a mentally ill loner (''voice goes to animalistic anger'') with a ''SOCIETY'', that ''ABANDONS'' him, ''AND TREATS HIM LIKE TRASH?!'' (''voice tearfully breaks'') ''I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU GET!'' (''voice becomes seethingly hateful'') '''''YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKIN' DESERVE!'''''

* Arthur's journal contains this 'joke': "The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't", with the words getting bigger and sloppier until we get to the DON'T that is three to four times larger than the other lines, with a smiley face drawn in the 'O'.
** Another quote from Arthur's journal: "''I hope my death makes more cents (sense) than my life.''"
** A third one is also rather haunting: ''"Imagine your whole life ends on a sidewalk. I wonder how old he was. And how long no one cared about him for."''
* When Arthur is with his psychiatrist, she despondently tells him that their current session will be their last, which prompts Arthur to reply with:

** You can actually see a bit of concern from Arthur's therapist as well: She isn't telling him it's their last session because she's given up. It's because they ''cut their funding''. She even states to Arthur how "they" (Gotham) doesn't care for him ''nor'' her.

** You see Arthur's mother in a flashback and it's impossible not to feel sorry for her too -- she looks so utterly [[BrokenBird broken]], with bruises on her face and when the person talking to her asks how she could have left her son chained to a radiator, she explains she never heard him crying -- she thought he was a ''happy boy''. It's implied that, due to his condition, his constant fits of stress-laughter helped convince her he was just "happy."
** His mother's lack of support earlier on in the film hits pretty hard too. Arthur is going on to her about how he's going to be a comedian, presumably in a bid both to cheer himself up and to make her proud. Her response?
--->'''Penny:''' Don't you have to be funny to be a comedian?

* The scene where Arthur rehearses his "knock-knock joke" for his appearance on Murray's show. Calling back to his joke about "his death making more cents than his life", his initial plan is to ''[[DrivenToSuicide shoot himself dead]]'' on live television. When he practices his imminent suicide attempt with the unloaded gun, he imagines hearing the audience laugh and applaud at his "final punchline".
* When Arthur makes his appearance as Joker on "The Murray Franklin Show", he's absolutely awestruck and even retreats back into Arthur Fleck to say, "this is exactly how I imagined it". He realizes that, as Arthur Fleck, he's finally fulfilled his dream of appearing on his idol's show and accomplished something with his life, but he's too far gone to savor the moment. Arthur Fleck doesn't exist anymore, only Joker.