The People's Joker is a 2022 medium-smashing coming-of-age superhero parody movie directed, written by and starring editor Vera Drew (who has previously worked on such comedy series as I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson and On Cinema), taking aim at the Batman franchise as well as its most iconic villain.
The film tells the story of Joker the Harlequin, a closeted trans woman who moves to Gotham City from her stifling childhood in Smallville, Kansas to pursue a career in comedy. However, Gotham is a totaltarian police state where only "accredited" comedians are permitted to perform. Dropping out of the United Clown Bureau training program, she forms an underground "anti-comedy" troupe with fellow dropout Penguin. Along the way, she comes to terms with her gender identity, enters a destructive romance with bad-boy clown Mr. J, and attracts the attention of the fascistic caped crusader running the city.
The People's Joker originally premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, however subsequent screenings were cancelled due to a strongly-worded letter from Warner Bros.. For a time, it was feared the movie might have been Screwed by the Lawyers. Luckily, the film eventually received a wider theatrical release in North America in spring 2024.
The People's Joker provides examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Batman's Rogues Gallery is reimagined as group of outcasts, rebelling against Batman's oppressive dictatorship.
- Adaptational Gender Identity:
- Part of the whole premise of the movie, reinterpreting the story of the Joker as that of a trans woman discovering herself.
- Poison Ivy is nonbinary and immediately specifies in their audition that they use they/them pronouns.
- Jason Todd a.k.a. "Mr. J" is a trans man.
- Mx. Mxyzptlk also appears to be nonbinary as opposed to Mr. Mxyzptlk, who presents male.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Mx. Mxyzptlk has none of the malice of their comic-book counterpart, gladly assisting Joker in making Gotham a better place.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- Batman is portrayed as an egotistical, fascist dictator as well as an Armoured Closet Gay who grooms young boys.
- On a lesser level, Perry White is now an angry Alex Jones-style Conspiracy Theorist.
- Affectionate Parody: Of the Batman mythos as a whole.
- Animal Motifs: Fish, specifically clownfish, in a nod to Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. Joker even lampshades it when Ra's al Ghul starts talking about them.Joker: What is it with this movie and fish?
- Art Shift: Certain scenes are animated rather than live-action.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Happens to Joker in the ending, appearing in the Fifth Dimension and making her world a better place with help from Mx. Mxyzptlk.
- The Cameo: Several blink-and-you'll-miss-it ones, including Alec Robbins and Bob Odenkirk.
- Comic Book Movies Dont Use Code Names: Almost completely averted, with the exception of Dr. Crane, who never is referred to by his supervillain name, Scarecrow.
- Dedication: Opens with one: "For Mom and Joel Schumacher".
- Disappeared Dad: Joker's father is hardly around, which she resents and causes a lot of bitterness in her relationship with her mother.
- Domestic Abuse: Joker and Jason's relationship is a pretty sobering depiction of this trope. He negs her, constantly downplays her issues to focus on his own, and at one point literally gaslights her after shooting her TV. Joker even narrates to the audience a list of red flags.
- Fantastic Drug: Smylex, which apparently makes its users smile and laugh uncontrollably. In the climax, it's revealed that it's being pumped into UCB Live studio to force the audience to laugh.
- Gainax Ending: At the end of her rant against Batman as the host of UCB Live, Joker suddenly pops like a balloon and appears to enter Hell, battling the Scarecrow puppet that appeared during her training. She then winds up in the Fifth Dimension alongside Mx. Mxyzptlk, who grants her wishes to make Gotham a better place in song, and finally shows her a happy memory of her childhood that she had forgotten.
- Gaslighting: Jason does this literally during an argument with Joker, pulling out a gas lamp and hypnotizing her to see things his way.
- Great Offscreen War: The Cyber-Wars, which are never elaborated on but apparently ended with Batman becoming supreme dictator of Gotham.
- Hollywood Hacking: As part of her plan, Joker needs someone to hack one of the Bat-drones. Penguin asks how she can expect a group of depressed alcoholic comedians to know how to hack. Joker replies that their whole comedy troupe is filled with trans girls and incels - at least one of them must have learned coding in high school.
- Homage: Tons, to just about ever onscreen depiction of the caped crusader. Joker dancing on a stairwell and Mr. J going shirtless with a "Damaged" tatoo on his forehead barely scratches the surface.
- Malicious Misnaming: Jason deadnames Joker during one of their arguments. As she later notes, he never even knew her by that name, making it especially hurtful. To drive home the impact, it's one of the only times Joker's deadname isn't bleeped-out.
- Medium Blending: Done throughout the film. Green-screened actors interact with 2D-animated characters and poorly-rendered 3D models, all within the same scene.
- Mythology Gag: Aside from several Batman homages, there are some references to the wider DC universe:
- Early in the film, Joker and her mother (who live in Smallville) drive by a spaceship crash site.
- When Joker asks them to help improve her timeline, Mx. Mxyzptlk mentions the last time they tried to do that, they were punished by The Endless.
- The Prophecy: Ra's al Ghul tells Joker the prophecy about a figure known as "The People's Joker" who will finally reclaim comedy for the masses. Joker thinks it sounds pretentious, and Ra's replies that comedy has always had an inflated sense of its own importance.
- Pungeon Master: Penguin can't resist using bird- and fish-related puns at every opportunity.
- Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: The various members of the Red Hood Club are all social outcasts who couldn't make it as "certified" comedians. Lampshaded by Joker, noting how you can't have a queer Coming of Age Story story without a found family.
- Shoot the Television: Jason does this when he finds out Batman is on a Bachelor-style dating show loudly proclaiming his intent to find a wife. Joker is understandably pissed.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Done to censor Joker's deadname. Until Jason blurts it out during an argument.
- Stepford Smiler: Joker becomes one under the effects of Smylex.
- Sudden Musical Ending: The final part of the movie involves Joker and Mx. Mxyzptlk changing reality and improving Gotham, in song.
- The Stinger:
- The mid-credits scene is an ad for a new show where Penguin takes over Batman's mantle as "Batguin".
- The after-credits scene teases that "The People's Joker will return... in The People's Nightmare: Freddy Vs. Joker"
- Take That!: Tons, particularly to transphobic right-wing commentators such as Alex Jones and aging comedy institutions such as Saturday Night Live and Upright Citizens Brigade.
- Training from Hell: Joker's training to become the People's Joker involves her embarking on a Journey to the Center of the Mind and confronting her deepest fears and insecurities.
- Trans Tribulations: As a child, Joker gets sent to conversion therapy by her mother after asking if she was born in the wrong body. As an adult, she faces transphobia from her mother and from Gotham at large.
- Wham Line: Jason blurting out Joker’s deadname during a fight.
