Going Joker Mode

The celebration of nihilistic violence only reinforces the worst aspects of modern society

America was horrified by the news of yet another school shooting Monday. A deranged teenage girl shot up a Christian school, killing two and wounding six others. The shooter took her own life after the rampage.

The senseless shooting delivers a stark indictment of those who celebrate maniacs who go “Joker mode.” Named after the Batman supervillain, the phrase describes when an otherwise ordinary person snaps and turns violent. For the past two weeks, online Americans have celebrated Luigi Mangione’s murder of a United Healthcare CEO as an exemplary Joker moment. Here was an ordinary guy who finally lost it and struck back at the apparent injustice of our society. However, the school shooter undermines the romantic visions of Joker mode. These aren’t noble rebels fighting for a higher purpose–they’re deranged individuals striking out in nihilistic fury.

Many will object to the comparisons between Mangione and school shooters. They’ll claim Mangione only killed one person and his victim was a very bad man. This apparently creates a gulf between his violence and that of the Wisconsin school shooter. But the real difference is that school shootings are more taboo than assassinations. Mangione didn’t really have a serious purpose, as gleaned from his rambling manifesto. This once-promising young man with everything going for him lost his mind. He didn’t even have a legitimate grievance against the health industry as his family made millions through it. He wasn’t even a UnitedHealthcare beneficiary. At some point, his crazed mind decided he needed to kill, and Brian Thompson became the target. If he had decided to shoot up a doctor’s office or the UHC headquarters, Mangione would have far fewer supporters. But since his lone victim was one wealthy white guy, people don’t have the same qualms.

Like school shooters, he one day snapped and killed for insane reasons. (Blaming insurance companies for the state of American healthcare misses the boat.) Unlike school shooters, he chose a socially acceptable target.

This allows Mangione to join the the internet’s pantheon of anti-heroes. One viral post included the UHC assassin alongside Killdozer, the Unabomber, and the Bundy Family as examples of their ideal politics. Only the Bundys had a semi-coherent ideology, being anti-government libertarians. The others are just malcontents striking out at normal society. Killdozer was a local asshole who destroyed his hometown in a (admittedly very cool) bulldozer tank over a property dispute where he was in the wrong. He nearly killed people, but his failure to do so is remembered as proof of his noble intentions. The Unabomber was a deeply disturbed man who wanted to become a woman. Failing to change his gender, Ted Kaczynski instead sent bombs to people advancing technology in his bizarre mission to send us back to the pre-industrial age. These aren’t people worth admiring. They’re contemptible, even if they do make good source material for documentaries.

It’s common for ordinary people to idolize rebels, revolutionaries, and criminals. Countries, including our own, remember men who took up arms against an oppressive government. Many films celebrate noble criminals who live by a strict honor code and exhibit an untamed masculinity. These are heroic figures, even if some of them do wrong. It’s understandable people would admire these traditional masculine figures.

But the joker is different. He is not a heroic figure. He’s not fighting for a noble cause. He is either an insane maniac or an incorrigible misfit who harms others simply to vent his frustrations.

It’s appropriate to use the term “joker” to describe these characters as they were embodied by the titular character in the 2019 film Joker. The archnemesis of Batman, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is far from a charismatic criminal mastermind. He’s a mentally ill loser named Arthur Fleck who lives with his mother and depends on government assistance. He has no talents or skills, even though he imagines himself as a brilliant comedian. He has no friends, no lovelife, and no respect. He’s a deranged misfit that a proper society would put away into a facility. Instead, he’s allowed to walk free. This empowers him to strike back at the society he feels has wronged him. His anti-social violence, which leads him to even kill his mother, inspires other losers to rise up and riot against Gotham’s productive class.

The famous scene of Arthur appearing on a comedy show encapsulates the nihilistic revolt of the inferior against the superior. He relishes that he killed three white finance guys and lamented how Gotham cared about them but wouldn’t give a damn if he died. He lashes out at the wealthy Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce, for mistreating losers like himself. He then tells the host, Murray Franklin (played by Robert DeNiro), a final “joke.”

“What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash!?” Arthur tells a horrified Murray. “I’ll tell you what you get! You get what you fucking deserve!” he yells right as he shoots the TV host in the head.

This is the most popular scene from the movie and made the new Joker an icon for millions. But it’s a scene where you should hate Mr. Fleck. This is a guy that belongs far away from normal people. If given the chance, he will hurt people and will feel justified in doing so. His violence isn’t done to correct some social injustice–it’s committed because Murray mocked his terrible stand-up.

Joker shares a lot in common with Jordan Neely, the violent vagrant taken down by Daniel Penny last year. Both saw themselves as great artists unjustly persecuted by society. They were both serious harms to others, yet both felt righteous in their violence. Neely thankfully was taken down before it was too late. Arthur Fleck was not.

It was not the director’s intention to make Arthur a hero, but that’s how he was received. Millions of people found this Joker a mythical hero. He was just like them, a down-and-out loser oppressed by a society that didn’t understand him. But that society pushed him too far, so he gave those around him what they apparently deserved–nihilistic violence. There was no real meaning or purpose to what Arthur did. He just wanted to hurt the society that cast him out.

Granted, this is just a film. Personally, I liked it when it came out. But it says something about our country that five years on, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker still stands as an idol for many. Joker memes are still popular. The character’s resentment (and mental illness) is stronger than ever in our country.

The profound unhappiness of many Americans leads them to cheer on nihilistic violence, whether on film or in real life. But there are limits to this. Mass shooters never join the pantheon of internet heroes. Even internet subcultures defined by misanthropy and disagreeableness know that’s bad optics. But so long as they don’t go that far, anyone who snaps and turns against their fellow man can be a hero for a day. The motivation of the Joker doesn’t matter. What matters is that extremely online people can live vicariously through his antisocial acts. Celebrating this violence makes them appear edgy, even though they would never do these things themselves.

We want heroes who rise above the muck of modern life, not mire themselves in its darkest pits. Jokers only do the latter. They set an example for every loser to feel justified in senseless violence and antisocial attitudes. These malcontents can imagine that they are righteous in destruction rather than some crazed deviant who deserves to be put away for good.

As more Americans become alienated from those around them and wade around without purpose, more jokers will be created. Worst of all, there will be plenty of people online to cheer them on.