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Scenes from the class war in Gotham
Class anger not ‘white male rage’ drives the violence in ‘Joker’
Author’s note: This article includes major spoilers for Joker, including key plot points and the ending. Do not read it if you have not seen the film yet.
Since well before it was released, Joker has been the subject of intense controversy over its themes. Critics have likened it to an incel manifesto that validates the resentment of alienated white men, leading to a moral panic about its potential to incite real-life violence.
After watching it last week, I left the theater wondering if we had seen the same movie.
Variations of a phrase “white male rage” keep popping up in reviews, but this description misses the mark. Sure, Arthur Fleck is both white and male, but his anger isn’t rooted in either of those identities.
The two acts of violence that are the most critical to the film’s plot—the subway shootings and the on-air killing of talkshow host Murray Franklin—involve victims who are white men. But while they share those particular demographics with Arthur, he’s part of Gotham’s lumpenproletariat and they’re all members of the wealthy elite.
Arthur’s actions are not mainly directed at the traditional targets of “white male rage,” i.e. women and…
