Society and Mass Violence

Gotham City in Joker is a fundamentally broken city.

• Arthur Fleck (the Joker) is failed by every level of society.
• However, every class in Joker wants to shift the blame.
• When Arthur commits murder, society turns this purposeless act of violence into an act of social rebellion.
• Despite knowing nothing about the reason for the murder, Gotham's people imbue it with shared meaning, forcing this event into their narrative, and held Joker as a hero.
• When Arthur commits another purposeless murder, it sparks riots.
• The real villain of the movie is the broader society that latches onto actions and imbues them with nonexistent meaning to justify their own crimes.