I mean, there’s basically just an (inherently problematic) absence of women full-stop really isn’t there.

I don’t think the concerns about the MRA style “violence as a result of being rejected by a woman” arguments hold up after seeing the actual film but the inclusion of that character felt so completely superfluous to the point of tokenism maybe?

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sure, there is just his “mother”, therapist and neighbour right? The neighbour is solely there as a plot device - showing how narcissistic and disturbed Arthur is becoming - but its made clear that shes the sympathetic party in those scenes. I guess it depends how much you buy into Arthur’s story being sympathetic - which is a genuine concern and coversation in itself - which for me while its tragically unfortunate what happens to him I never felt sympathetic towards him. But I can see how viewers could.

Not much to add! Hated seems a bit strong to me - indifferent seems more appropriate, but im a male so take that with a piece of salt. Would be nice if it had given its female characters somethingvtn do, but I guess you could say that about a million films

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It does feel like a film ‘for men’ to me, which I suppose is an issue (again not specific to this film)

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Definitely implies his mother is at fault for her boyfriend abusing him, or I guess there is no suggestion that the view of the authorities is bad in the way they see it that way.

The women he meets are unsympathetic towards him generally too but it’s more there are few of them.

I do think Fleck’s mother is painted in a somewhat unsympathetic light but I guess it really depends on how you view the relationship with Thomas Wayne (who I thought came off far worse).

Similarly Drumond, seemed lack her own narrative and only really seemed to exist to reveal aspects of Fleck’s character.

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Was his neighbour even named in the film?

Sure, but it’s also established that she also has very serious mental illness and so can’t be completely blamed for it. Also that kind of abusive relationship exists…

eh, I interpreted it as a clearly evil rich white man in the pocket of an even more evil rich white man specifically saying unpleasant shit to her in order to convince her she was insane and an unsuitable mother

it’s pretty classic gaslighting, not really sure how you’d interpret it otherwise

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Saw this last night.
Liked it a good deal.
Anyone else think he looked younger at the end and that the entire thing was just a delusion?

Got so confused there thought you were @ghosthalo

Anyway, yes, it’s been discussed as a likelihood

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Lol now I don’t know how to feel :upside_down_face:

was going to post something else maybe a bit more conciliatory but realised I’d already broken my ‘no serious posting about the joker’ rule

Missed a trick by not playing The Joker didn’t they

Although in all seriousness, I was surprised at the reaction to the Glitter song in it. Lots of people in my screening turning to people and whispering

I didn’t like that song being in it really
Felt cheap and quite edge-Lordy

Yeah. I dunno, maybe @Severed799 should just ask his mate why they came away with this impression rather than leaving it to us to speculate wildly :wink:

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Just watching the Dark Knight again after seeing the Joker. Obviously Heath Ledger is great. However I’ve never noticed before how weirdly like Harry Hill he is what with all the nervous tics and wacky suits

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Always makes me laugh when people go on about it being “too serious” TBH.

We did have a brief conversation but I was drunk and she was tired so we didn’t really accomplish anything and I don’t really wanna bring it up again :joy:

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