Joker 2019 is yet another film that features the theme of psychological health. Arthur, the main character in the movie, is born into poverty in Gotham. In this environment, he is isolated and abused by his parents and delinquents in the neighborhood. He suffers from a condition that makes him break into uncontrollable laughter or crying. Despite the poverty and the abuse, Arthur struggles to earn a living by working as a clown; he manages to take care of his aging, sickly mother. Arthur kills several characters in the movie, including her mother.
In the initial stages of the movie, Arthur is portrayed as an affectionate and hardworking character. He loves his mother and spends a lot of time taking care of her. He works as a clown in a local children’s hospital and earns cash to support his mother. As the movie progresses, Arthur’s character gradually changes from normal to abnormal. Abnormal behaviors deviate from what is expected; they can be socially unacceptable, maladaptive, and distressing. The abnormal behaviors that Arthur exhibits include breaking into uncontrollable laughter or tears, hallucinations, violence, loneliness, and narcissism. Arthur often breaks into involuntary laughter in the movie; sometimes, it is not clear whether he is laughing or crying. Arthur also suffers from hallucinations, especially about his affection for Sophie. The audience is introduced to Arthur’s obsession with Sophie in the early scene, only to realize later that much of the story existed in Arthur’s mind.
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Arthur’s violence could be his most outstanding character. He is involved in many violent incidents in the movie, killing his friends, family members, and strangers. Notably, he shows no remorse for his victims and does not regret his actions. In some scenes, he laughs and dances at murder. Despite that, Arthur’s character comes out as a narcissist, rather than psychopath. His lack of empathy, crave for attention, sense of power to fight the wealthy, and entitlement all point to him being a narcissist. Arthur is withdrawn from the community around him, and he only seems to get along with his mother and Randall early in the movie; he later killed both. The withdrawal from the community could be because he felt hated and oppressed. When he kills Randall and lets Gary go, Arthur remarks that Gary is only person who has been treating him well. Arthur is also suffering from persistent negative thoughts that make him withdrawal from his community, and fell revengeful and resentful.
Arthur’s abnormal symptoms are distressing, and they affect his life considerably. The negative thoughts affect his ability to form relationships; he ends up isolated from his family and friends. Arthur is stressed by his childhood, his mother’s sickness, and the general poverty in Gotham. The situation is exacerbated by his narcissistic nature, which makes him shoulder the responsibility of liberating the poor from the wealthy. The abnormal symptoms take a toll on his career too; the uncontrollable laughter makes it difficult for him to express himself. He performs poorly in standup comedy, attracting mockery and criticism.
Different models of psychological abnormality can explain Arthur’s character; they include biological, psychological, and sociocultural models. Possible biological causes of Arthur’s abnormality are the head injury suffered during childhood and genetics. Different studies assert that head injuries increase the risk of mental illness. For instance, Silver , Kramer, Greenwald, and Weissman (2001) revealed that bipolar disorder patients are more likely to have suffered head trauma than the general population, implying that head trauma is a risk factor for mental disorders. Head injuries may cause inflammation in the brain or damage areas of the brain responsible for cognitive functions, thus causing abnormality. One possible diagnosis for Arthur symptoms is pseudobulbar affect. This is a neurological impairment that is characterized by involuntary and uncontrollable laughter and crying. Pseudobulbar affect is not a psychological disorder, but it increases the risk of mental illness. For example, the involuntary laughter and crying may mask the patients underlying emotions; this makes them vulnerable to depressive and anxiety disorders.
There are mixed views as to the extent to which genetic factors influence mental illness, but most literatures and clinical evaluations agree that mental illness is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. In Joker 2019 , it is revealed that Arthur’s mother shows symptoms of delusional disorder and narcissistic personality disorders. Since Arthur also symptoms of these disorders too, it is possible that he inherited them from his mother. Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (2013) compared the genetic characteristic of people diagnosed with mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and clinical depression. The study found out genetic variations in the genetic regions associated with the disorders.
Arthur is surrounded by several psychological and social-cultural factors that make him vulnerable to mental illness. The psychological factors include abuse, isolation, and inability to relate with others. Arthur is abused in childhood by his narcissistic mother and delinquents in the neighborhood; this probably exposes to psychological trauma. Sociocultural factors that make Arthur vulnerable to mental illness include poverty and family problems. He is born into poverty, and he has to take care of her sickly mother. He lacks a fatherly figure in his life, and he goes out looking for his biological father.
In summary, Arthur exhibits several abnormal behaviors; they include uncontrollable laughter, violence, constant negative thoughts, hallucinations, and narcissism. These symptoms are deviant, and they affect his day-to-day life. Possible causes of Arthur’s psychological abnormality include head trauma, psychological trauma, social-economic factors, genetics, and abuse.
References
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. (2013). Identification of risk loci with shared effects on five major psychiatric disorders: a genome-wide analysis. The Lancet , 381 (9875), 1371-1379.
Silver, J. M., Kramer, R., Greenwald, S., & Weissman, M. (2001). The association between head injuries and psychiatric disorders: findings from the New Haven NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. Brain injury , 15 (11), 935-945.
