History Headscratchers / Joker2019

** The second reason is because, well, when you get down to it Gotham City pretty much is and always has been basically a fantasyland version of the worst parts of New York City anyway. Dennis O'Neil's famous line about Gotham being "Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November" springs to mind here. For all that the comics might establish a distinction between Gotham and New York, the movies neither have the time nor, really, the need to do so -- so in the films, they're just taking that and running with it. So in this film, Gotham City actually isn't separate from New York City -- it basically ''is'' New York City, or basically a nightmare version of it taken from Martin Scorsese's early movies, other 1970s-1980s pulp crime thrillers and the worst things about TheBigRottenApple from about 1977-1985 turned UpToEleven. Just as Tim Burton's Batman movies were set in a nightmare version of New York City inspired by German expressionism. It's just called "Gotham" because, well, it's a story set in the Batman universe.

** The Flecks are poor, not completely destitute. As a clown trying to break into stand-up, Arthur would need an answering machine to get gigs that may come up and that he may otherwise miss if he is not home when they call him to offer him available spots. The videocassette recorder does seem a bit of a stretch for 1981.

* How can a murder of three people on the Subway be that big of a deal in any era for a humongous city like Gotham. This is deliberately supposed to be set in a [[crapsackworld]] and New York City in 1980 had 1,733 homicide cases. You'd think this would not make the 24/7 news cycle

*** This. It's an IronicEcho: when Sophie did it, it was because her kid was throwing a tantrum. It was a sarcastic "put me out of my misery" gesture. Arthur was just doing the same thing back (although his week has been ''[[tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Understatement slightly]]'' worse).

*** This. It's an IronicEcho: when Sophie did it, it was because her kid was throwing a tantrum. It was a sarcastic "put me out of my misery" gesture. Arthur was just doing the same thing back (although his week has been ''[[Main/Understatement slightly]]'' worse).

*** This. It's an IronicEcho: when Sophie did it, it was because her kid was throwing a tantrum. It was a sarcastic "put me out of my misery" gesture. Arthur was just doing the same thing back (although his week has been ''[[Main\Understatement slightly]]'' worse).

*** This. It's an IronicEcho: when Sophie did it, it was because her kid was throwing a tantrum. It was a sarcastic "put me out of my misery" gesture. Arthur was just doing the same thing back (although his week has been ''[[Understatement slightly]]'' worse).

** I interpreted it as him threatning her if she told anyone he was in her apartment.

* why does Arthur wear a red suit,doesn't the joker wear a purple suit?

*** To be absolutely fair, the Arkham case file is more evidence than just the word of a clearly deranged woman. We don't actually see Thomas doing anything wrong (other than being understandably hostile towards Arthur after the stunt he pulled on Bruce) that may suggest he is so amoral and corrupt that he would go into such illegal extents, instead of doing what real rich people do when they want to hide old shames (hire a "fixer" lawyer to quietly reach an economic agreement).

** Murray Franklin is a talk show host, meaning that he is part, if not a former comedian. It's his job to throw playful jabs at people. Even Franklin's own family suffers the barbs of his wit; he jokes about his sex life with his wife to Dr. Sally in front of a live audience, and routinely refers to his youngest son as "the not-so bright one". Murray clearly means no malice in these instances, so its likely he didn't mean Arthur (whom he doesn't even know) any ill will either. He invited Arthur to his show, was cordial and friendly, and allowed him to wear his clown makeup despite the social unrest. If Arthur hadn't been so insane and vengeful, he could have achieved his dream of being a real comedian.

** Because even if they exist in this universe, Falcone and Marconi are high-ranking mobsters. Why would they have any direct involvement with some failing stand-up comic with no money and mental health problems? Even if this movie were to touch on the mob, the most contact Arthur Fleck would have with them would be some low-level enforcers.

** How is that judging him unfairly? He brought a gun in a children hospital and lied by saying it was a prop when asked why he has a gun on him. Even if he throws Randall under the bus how is the boss supposed to believe him when he tries to dodge the fault altogether on instinct because he knew he'll lose the job if he tells the truth? Plus he did bring the gun in the children hospital the same way he started dancing with it and shot the wall it's not something he did for no purpose he did wanted to carry the gun for self-defense even though it's a firing offense if he is caught with it. Arthur can't blame all his decision on other people being dicks or his illnesses some are his own poor judgement, like not reporting the beatdown to the store owner or calling the cops about it.

** Also, WordOfGod suggests that this isn't necessarily supposed to ''be'' the actual Batman-fighting Joker. It's possibly him, but it could be someone who inspired him, or someone who wants to be him, or any number of possibilities. Leaving out "the" introduces a necessary ambiguity; after all, a key part of most versions of the Joker is that no one, not even he, truly know knows who he is or where he comes from.

* Was Thomas Wayne corrupt and why is it that he cares about noone but himself?

* Why doesn't Murray run off set when he realizes he is sitting next to a psychopathic killer, any normal person would.

** It's not a car you buy it you keep it even if your financial situation worsens. Penny used to work for the Wayne she could have afford it then because it was a pretty good purchase to avoid missed calls.

** There were bullets in the bag with the (there could have been 15-20 or more in there) gun. He only carried the gun with enough to fill the chambers but didn't carry extra. On the subway, he simply used up all the bullets that were in the gun and did'nt reload. He simply could have reloaded later with some bullets he left at home.

** It's left ambiguous. It’s possible he didn’t. Up until that point Arthur has only been killing people he perceived as responsible for his crappy situation (his mother, Randall, subway attackers). He wasn't even going to kill Murray until he kept provoking him. Even though she's frightened she still acts quite nice to Arthur (offering to get his mother) and even though she could call the police, Arthur doesn't seem to be thinking that far ahead stll (he let Gary go despite every chance he'd call the cops).