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RAS Social ScienceEconomics and the Mathematical Methods

  • ISSN (Print) 0424-7388
  • ISSN (Online)3034-6177

“White Male Rage”: Todd Phillips’ Joker and the Cultural Zeitgeist

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PII
S268667300010631-4-
DOI
10.31857/S268667300010631-4
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Vladimir Khalilov
Volume/ Edition
Volume / Issue 8
Pages
97-114
Abstract

The article explores the cultural phenomenon of the DC Comics super villain and the films based on them, including the latest highly acclaimed by the public and critics film by Todd Phillips - "Joker" (2019), which provoked a broad public debate. As a popular archetype, deeply rooted in American consciousness and in its 80 years of history, reflecting the dark side of different eras of American history, the Joker offers the key to understanding current social processes and political realities. Since his appearance in 1940, through the moral panic of the 1950s, the escapism and disenchantment of the Reagan years, the Joker has served as a barometer of prevalent moods in the American society.

In the midst of cultural war and partisan politics in America, which divided the country into two irreconcilable sides, Phillips' film struck at the heart of the confrontation between the rightists and leftists, conservatives and liberals, reactionaries and progressivists, each of whom discovered something different in it, having become the major Hollywood cinematographic expression of Donald Trump's presidency.

The author concludes that not only did the film cause real-life mass shootings, as its detractors had feared, but it has had a significant healing effect on public discourse, prompting an important discussion about current anxieties involving violence, social unrest, the ideological stalemate of the late-stage capitalism, and the crisis of male identity.

Keywords
Hollywood, film studies, comics, male identity
Date of publication
31.07.2020
Number of purchasers
29
Views
2220

References

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