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Joker: Folie à Deux
Movie

Joker: Folie à Deux

2024 • Drama, Musical, Thriller

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

Struggling with his dual identity, failed comedian Arthur Fleck meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn, while incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital.

Overall Series Review

Joker: Folie à Deux continues the story of Arthur Fleck, placing him in Arkham State Hospital where he meets a fellow patient, Lee Quinzel. The film is presented largely as a surreal, stylized musical, blurring the line between Arthur's psychotic fantasy and reality as the two characters become entangled in a delusional, toxic romance. The narrative maintains the tone of the first film, portraying Gotham as a decaying, broken society where the wealthy elite neglect the poor and mentally ill. The core focus is on a 'folie à deux,' or a shared delusion, and how this madness is embraced as a form of liberation and protest against the oppressive social system. The dynamic between Arthur and Lee/Harley is a key departure from prior versions of the characters, with Lee portrayed as the dominant, manipulating force who draws Arthur deeper into a manufactured persona. The film functions as a meta-commentary, critiquing the idolization of Arthur Fleck's violent actions from the first movie by depicting a fandom that encourages his worst impulses. The entire plot centers on the breakdown of the individual within a failing society and the embrace of subjective chaos over objective reality.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics3/10

The narrative's central conflict is a critique of class oppression, where the wealthy elite are vilified for neglecting the poor and mentally ill citizens of Gotham. The film establishes a divide between the rich and the disenfranchised. Race is not a primary factor in the conflict, as both white and minority lower-class characters are shown suffering equally, which shifts the focus away from intersectional hierarchy and toward universal class struggle.

Oikophobia7/10

The city of Gotham is depicted as a fundamentally 'rotting,' failing system with a collapsing economy and rampant crime. Arthur's transformation into the Joker and his subsequent popular idolization symbolize a complete rejection of the existing societal norms, values, and institutions. Chaos and anarchy are implicitly framed as a natural, if dark, response to a society that has failed and morally corrupted itself.

Feminism8/10

The female lead, Lee Quinzel/Harley, is written as the primary manipulator and aggressor in the relationship, which directly inverts the comic book's abusive power dynamic. She exhibits the 'Girl Boss' trope by taking the 'upper hand,' manipulating the male lead, and controlling his identity. Her deceit, including lying about being pregnant, frames the concept of procreation and family as a tool for female manipulation rather than a valued institution, which serves an anti-natal message.

LGBTQ+2/10

The narrative is primarily focused on the toxic, co-dependent relationship between a male and a female character, maintaining a traditional male-female pairing as the standard, albeit severely dysfunctional, structure. There is no overt presence of or lecturing on gender ideology or alternative sexual identities within the film’s plot, though some previous canonical traits of the Harley Quinn character are erased in this new iteration.

Anti-Theism7/10

The film operates entirely within a framework of moral relativism, where the protagonists embrace chaos and subjective fantasy as an escape from a cruel, 'real' world. Arthur's mental state and the shared delusion with Lee suggest that objective truth and higher moral law are non-existent, replaced by individual and shared madness. The failure of all institutions (social, legal, psychological) to provide help implies a spiritual vacuum and nihilistic outlook.