Quentin Tarantino Analyzes JOKER's Climax and How It Forces Viewers to Think Like a Lunatic
Director Quentin Tarantino recently shared some thoughts on Todd Phillips’s huge DC hit, Joker. As he analyzes it, he offers a unique perspective on the climax of the movie. In particular, the scene where Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker shows up on Robert DeNiro’s Murray Franklin talk show, which ends with Joker shooting him.
Tarantino explains how the film is a perfect example of manipulating the audience and getting them to think like a “fucking lunatic” like the Joker. The filmmaker tells Empire’s Film Podcast:
“Subversion on a massive level, audience response, cause and effect on the screen, feeling the atmosphere in the theater change; getting to where you are going, as far as a movie’s concerned. We’ve talked about all these things. [However], the talk show sequence in the Joker encompasses all of these things on a profound level, a level that I think is over most viewers’ heads, to tell you the truth… [When] you get to the talk show scene, the entire atmosphere in the theater changes. It’s not suspense, it’s beyond suspense. [Moviegoers] are riveted. Everybody is completely plugged in… The subversion on a massive level, the thing that’s profound is this. It’s not just suspenseful. It’s not just riveting and exciting.”
Tarantino went on to praise Phillips’s direction of the film and its ability to subvert expectations of the audience:
“The director subverts the audience because the Joker is a fucking nut. The guy’s a fucking nut. Robert De Niro’s talk show character is not a movie villain. He seems like an asshole, but he’s not any more of an asshole than David Letterman. He’s just an asshole, comedian, talk show guy. He’s not a movie villain. He doesn’t deserve to die. He’s just an asshole, and people like asshole comedians. Yet, while the audience in the movie theater is watching the Joker, they want him to kill Robert De Niro. They want him to take that gun, and stick it in his eye and blow the back of his fucking head off. And if the Joker didn’t kill him? You would be pissed off. That is subversion on a massive level! They got the audience to think like a fucking lunatic and to want something that they would never... And they will lie about it! [Audiences] will say, ‘No, I didn’t [want Joker to kill a man]!’ And they are fucking liars. They fucking did.”
I never looked at the film from that angle before. How it has the ability to make audiences think like Joker during the talk show scene is such an interesting thought. What are your thoughts on Tarantino’s analysis of the scene? Do you agree or disagree?