More than likely, you’re aware that Joker is in theaters. Maybe the film’s marketing reached you. Or more likely, you read about it in the news. My local theater had to close their release screenings¹ of it, a story that was featured in national news. Other headlines describe nervous audiences,² nervous theater owners,³ even warnings from the military.⁴ While some remain blissfully indifferent to the agita that has surrounded the release of this film, many are troubled by the culture, the portents and the moral weather patterns that come with Joker. As Christians, those portents and patterns in our culture are worth paying attention to.

Inspiring Violence

People fear that the film will encourage violence by glorifying violence. They fear the titular character will be inspirational to potential mass-shooters. In an age where mass shootings happen with increasing frequency, there are fears that a movie like this will empower such people to carry out their dark visions, committing twisted acts of “justice” against the evils of society or venting personal frustrations in an outburst of bullets. Concerns have been raised about the glorification of the character himself, whom the filmmakers are portraying in a much more sympathetic/relatable light than in previous interpretations. Joker is given a “real world” backstory, one that doesn’t involve toxic waste or superpowers. His creation is much more human, much more heartbreaking and, therefore, much more identifiable, especially to those more likely to commit acts of real-world violence.

Many found the very idea of such a film distasteful in light of the perceived connections⁵ to the Aurora Colorado mass shooting during a 2012 screening of The Dark Knight Rises. While that film didn’t actually feature the Joker character, negative links were drawn to his character from the series’ prior film, The Dark Knight, which had come out four years earlier.

Regardless of subjective connections to the Aurora shooting, the new Joker film from director Todd Philips has received its share of bad press, receiving the stigmas of “insensitivity” and “irresponsibility” from the media and the public alike. And this is my biggest issue with the tempest surrounding the movie.

Allow me to illustrate: The film is about a person confronted with increasingly difficult circumstances. As he attempts to cope, he also attempts to restrain himself; he has the tools to deal with bad situations, but he doesn’t want to go there. He must resist the temptation to give in to his “true self.” However, when bad people push him too far, he takes action. And that action reveals the justification he needs to abandon his inhibitions: a just cause. Even though people die, his actions are justified by the viewer because:

• He didn’t ask for any of this (innocence).

• The bad guys deserve what they have coming (guilt).

What ensues is a crusade of righteous indignation, as the “hero” rights the many wrongs that they (and especially the people they care about) have suffered. In the end, we applaud their vengeance because the hero did what we could never do: bring justice to an unjust situation and deliver some much-deserved retribution.

Now ask yourself this: What film or Netflix series did I just describe? Was that Tombstone or John Wick? The Equalizer or The Punisher? Perhaps a Tarantino? Or maybe the Taken series? Better yet, how many films can you think of that follow this formula?

Not a New Movie

This leads me to my first observation. This film isn’t new. What I mean is, it’s not an altogether new idea. It doesn’t cover new subject matter; it’s not a new plot; its essence isn’t new. Hollywood has been cranking out films very similar to this one for years. The context changes, the characters and their circumstances change, but the major plot arc is routine: Injustice occurs ↠ the protagonist is triggered to action ↠ moral lines are crossed ↠ retribution to evildoers ↠ the protagonist rests from his work. And far more than simply being prevalent, these sorts of movies are incredibly popular at the box office and among critics. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that direct similarities have been drawn between Joker and older films that seemed less worrisome, at the time, to the general public. Among those are works from renown director Martin Scorsese. What’s interesting to me is that his films have featured similarly disturbed characters, doing similarly disturbing things, but have been lauded by audiences, critics and the press for decades. Yet here we are, with a very similar film inciting fear and restlessness among modern audiences.

Another aspect that isn’t new about this movie is one of its key thematic ideas. It’s the concept of being yourself, being true to yourself, letting go of people’s expectations of you and becoming who you really are. But this idea is so commonplace. In a sense, the admonition is almost “Disney-esque:” “Believe in yourself; follow the desires of your heart, and all of your dreams will come true.” Scripture condemns this concept with a slap of reality: The human heart is desperately wicked and unknowable, and its depravity needs to be resisted. The syrupy advice from fairytales takes on a more insidious tone when you apply it to people whose heart’s desire is selfishness, who pay no heed to the harm they cause to others. The concept of surrendering to your desires is Edenic in origin: see and take. Don’t let anything hold you back from realizing your dreams, and you will find satisfaction. This has remained a prevalent and popular ethos in our culture from the very inception of humanity.

Not A New Character

Another observation about the climate surrounding the film: The Joker character isn’t new in the most literal sense. He’s been around for nearly 80 years. And for all of those years, he has embodied murderous chaos with a flair for theatrics and humor. His depravity has never been sugar-coated. From the beginning, he’s been portrayed as a remorseless, laughing, gloating serial killer/criminal mastermind nemesis for Batman. His methods and motives have been illustrated unflinchingly, from his first appearance in the Batman No. 1 comic, through Jack Nicholson’s portrayal in 1989, to Heath Ledger’s (posthumously) award-winning depiction of the character.⁶

Somehow though, our culture seems uneasy about embracing this newest depiction, in the form of Joaquin Phoenix’s troubled Arthur Fleck. But what makes me uneasy about the whole character is how joyfully our culture has embraced all of his previous incarnations. It seems much scarier to me, and much more telling about our culturally-endemic desensitization, that people laugh and clap approvingly at a Joker who can “humorously” murder people with pencils or spray people with acid from his prank lapel flower or dance and joke over the bodies of people he’s just poisoned. Shouldn’t the taking of life feel sorrowful? Shouldn’t it feel wrong? Why aren’t we relieved when, in a sea of movies that casually devalue human life, this film conveys that killing is wrong and that the taking of lives is a violation, or at the very least, negatively impactful?

We Don’t Like the Context

In part, the distaste comes from the portrayal of the people who die. In the case of those murdered by the Joker in 1989’s Batman, the people seem so ridiculous and fake that it’s hard to feel any emotional pull when they meet their demise. They’re almost like cardboard cutouts who simply get pushed over: We don’t know them or care for them. Sure, there are the bad gangsters who die and, in a sense, get what they deserve. But for the people in the art museum, or in the streets of Gotham, their deaths are handled so humorously, numerously and callously, that we can hardly connect or identify with them. However, the on-screen deaths committed by this new Joker feel intimate, visceral and heavy.

Another aspect could be that, in the new film, the “bad guys” who die aren’t people we necessarily believe to be bad. There are even some we think aren’t bad at all; their only perceived guilt comes from simply being part of an unjust system, or “guilt by association.” Unlike the scores of Nazis that are brutally, sadistically dealt with in one popular film, we don’t necessarily identify the victims in this film as evil. But those who are less affluent, with less hope or less opportunity in life might. Hence, the public support of the killings from the general population within the film. They view Joker as a symbol: one man standing up against the system of oppression. The people who are killed in Joker are all either liars, cruel antagonizes or people benefiting from perceived corruption. In some way, and from a particular perspective, they’re all part of a system of hurt and abuse.

The problem though is that we don’t like how subjective their guilt is. Nevertheless, isn’t that the point-counterpoint between secular humanism and Christianity? The secular humanist would argue that right and wrong are subjective to the individual, while Christianity would hold to the objectivity of God’s Word.

To that point, there is a pivotal scene in the film when Arthur Fleck asks the question: “What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? Exactly what you deserve!” From his unhinged, subjective perspective, he’s doing what is right, giving out what he thinks is deserved. In a sense, the unease that comes from seeing his insanity and the perceived rightness of his crimes should find relief in the concept of a just God whom humanity is accountable to. Instead, the film depicts a subjectivity to the concepts of guilt and sin. Granted that it’s told from the perspective of an unhealthy mind, but it’s nonetheless the subjectivity of this framework that should make us very uneasy.

Sadness and Compassion

This aspect is new to the Joker story, at least to the film versions. This is a sad, sad film. The story begins within a financially depressed economy, where the circles of work and homelife are permeated with the stench of crime, shame and inescapable poverty. Building on this is the weighty responsibility of caring for an ailing, elderly mother. Add to that the aforementioned mental illness countered only by prescription drugs and weekly, state-afforded counseling sessions. Finally, add a neurological condition that makes you burst into uncontrollable laughter when stressful situations arise. But this particular facet is handled humorlessly. The emphasis is on the social awkwardness that such a condition would create. Imagine how quickly any argument would escalate if, after listening to a person’s issue, you burst out laughing. This is Arthur Fleck’s reality. The result is misunderstanding and isolation, compounded by the weight of all the other difficulties that surround him. This establishing tale of the Joker character doesn’t involve an accident with toxic waste creating a criminal mastermind, arch-villain and crime boss. This film is told from the perspective of desperation, depression and hopelessness. This is someone with no means, no friends, no hope, trudging through life under the weight of very identifiable sorrow.

Making the film more complex, the handling of sin is theologically interesting. As my Professor, Gerry Breshears, recently remarked in class, psychology usually only deals with the sins committed TO a person, and pastors usually only deal with sins committed BY a person. But this story deals with both. The protagonist is laden with difficulty from outside: systemic poverty and the burdens of trying to “put on a happy face” for a loved one, all within a world that views him as worthless. He’s also burdened with difficulty from within: the portrayal of mental un-health is intimate, personal, sorrowful and disturbing. Between these paradigms, we sadly observe the abuse, deception, lying and disappointment that he endures at the hands of others.

But we also see the evils that he commits as just that: evil. In a fashion reminiscent of Sophocles, Shakespeare and Vince Gilligan, each evil action he takes is just as destructive to himself as to those around him. His environment doesn’t vindicate his monstrous actions; nothing does. And his actions are never justified by the outcomes; they simply add momentum to his downward spiral. While you feel compassion for him, you’re never led to thinking that he’s “right,” or that his actions are acceptable, let alone funny.

Controversially Thought Provoking

And this raises another interesting aspect about the film: It doesn’t cram a message down your throat. Maybe we wish it would have. Maybe the press would be less nervous in their reporting if this were a morality tale, teaching that evil actions come from an evil environment. Or that embracing evil leads to an evil end. Instead, the film leaves the viewer with the abstract, existential question of evil itself. What is it? Where does it come from? How do you deal with it without becoming it? How do you prevent it? These questions form great conversational springboards for the Christian. Everyone recognizes evil in the world. Engaging in conversations about ultimate evil and its ultimate answer in the form of The Ultimate Love of God is like a slow pitch for anyone looking to share the truth and comfort of the Gospel.

What’s really interesting is that the film doesn’t “say” much at all as far as conclusion or application. It’s more revelatory than didactic. It’s left to the viewer to understand and interpret the tale. And perhaps therein lies the problem. Maybe it’s the ambiguity of evil that has caused so much tension, anxiety and fear. The secular humanist has no explanation of evil, let alone advice on what to do with it. The Bible does, but that’s the one place that “rational secularists” aren’t allowed to go for answers. However, when a film or event reveals gaps in the collective reasoning of our secular world, we as Christians need to be ready to address the unease, to use God’s Word to explain it and to cast light on the darkness.

_Notes:

_{¹ Cameron, Dell. “U.S. Military Issues Warning to Troops About Incel Violence at Joker Screenings.” September 24, 2019. (accessed October 06, 2019).}

_{² Daniel, Anslee. Bristol, “TN Drive-In Bans Costumes for Showing of ‘Joker.'” October 5, 2019. (accessed October 6, 2019).}

_{³ Desta, Yohana. “The ‘Joker’ Didn’t Inspire the Aurora Shooter, but the Rumor Won’t Go Away.” October 02, 2019. (accessed October 08, 2019).}

_{⁴ Fry, Hannah. “Credible Threat Targeting ‘Joker’ Screening Forces Huntington Beach Theater to Close.” October 4, 2019. (accessed October 4, 2019).}

_{⁵ Reeves, Jay. “Security, NY Incident Leave Some Unsettled After ‘Joker’.” October 5, 2019. (accessed October 6, 2019).}

_{⁶ Ledger’s portrayal garnered him 32 award nominations, leading to a staggering 28 wins, including an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actor,” a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role,” and a SAG award for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.”}

_{CalvaryChapel.com does not necessarily endorse or agree with every message or perspective in the diverse film reviews posted. By providing these film reviews, we hope to help you stay informed of important events and conversations taking place in the world that are relevant to the Christian faith.}

_{Joker is rated R for strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images.}

There was a time in my life when I was totally paralyzed by fear. I lived in a perpetual panic attack for a period of about six months. At that time, I believed that I was physically sick; I was having strange and terrifying symptoms that were all too real, and I became convinced that I was dying. I lived with the Damocles of imminent death hanging over my head daily, and it was terrifying. I felt I had lost myself to fear; I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Gone was the joyful, fearless girl who had backpacked around the world (often alone). Now she was replaced by someone who was afraid of the dark, afraid of night time, afraid of everything!

Somewhere toward the end of the six-month period of being totally railroaded by the lie that I was sick, and I was going to die, I decided to tentatively look up a support website for anxiety. You must understand, that during this period of panic I didn’t actually realize I was suffering from anxiety, I just thought I was profoundly, physically sick with some catastrophic disease the doctors simply hadn’t discovered yet. When I went on that website and read the list of symptoms people with extreme anxiety suffer from, I couldn’t believe it. They were all my symptoms! Just then, in that moment, I had the fleeting thought, like a ray of light breaking through the clouds, “Maybe I’m not sick; maybe this is all just anxiety.”

That moment of clarity was brief. My fear wouldn’t let me off the hook that easily. But I began to understand that there was a possibility that a lie has taken hold in my mind, and I had to do something about it. From that moment on, I started to fight the lie that told me I was dying. My recovery took two years of hard battle. When I say I fought, and when in this article I speak of fighting, please don’t imagine someone standing tall, boldly declaring the word of God. Rather, picture my lying in on my side, trying to take slow, deep breathes and quietly mumbling, “God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.” During that time, I was so weak, and so in the grip of fear that there was very little more I could do, even praying scared me.

However, by continuously repeating God’s truth in the face of the lies of fear, deliverance came. I have not suffered from any form of panic attacks or anxiety for over five years. God has brought total deliverance and restoration to me, and He will do the same for you.

FEAR WILL TELL YOU THERE IS NO WAY OUT

In order to understand God’s power over fear, let’s look at 2 Kings chapter six. Here there is a story about Elisha and the king of Syria. This king was continuously and relentlessly attempting to attack and defeat Israel. However his plans were always thwarted because God spoke to Elisha and told him where the Syrians were waiting in ambush to attack Israel. In this way God protected his people from the attacks of the Syrians. The king of Syria became so frustrated that he found out where Elisha was and sent “horses and chariots and a great army, they came by night and surrounded the city” (2 Kings 6:14). This is a great metaphor for how fear works. It likes to come at night, by the cover of dark. It likes to make us feel like we are surrounded, like there are no options for us, as though there is no way out. It closes in on us and paralyzes us until its surrounding presence is all that we know, and it captures our mind in its vice like a grip. There it holds us and presses and presses, and it will not relent. This is the home of anxiety and panic attacks. This is where fear is in it’s element, holding your mind captive in the grip of it’s all pervasive lies.

FEAR WILL MAKE YOU FEEL HELPLESS

When Elisha’s servant woke in the morning, he saw that they were surrounded by a huge army. He ran to Elisha and lamented, “Alas master, what shall we do? This is a cry that many in the throws of fear have uttered. What shall I do; what shall I do? This is a feeling of being helpless, of not knowing what step to take next or how to find a way out. This helplessness is a lie; it is not true, but in the moment it feels so totally encompassing that any place of comfort and help seem far too distant to even be considered.

When the servant came to Elisha with his fear, Elisha said, “Do not be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” ( 2 Kings 6:17). Elisha then prayed to God and asked him to open his servant’s eyes, and his servant saw “the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” There is wonderful news for those of you who are in the grip of fear, while it may seem that you are surrounded and there is no way out. In fact, there is more with us than than there is with them! It is time to stop believing the lies of fear that have been gripping your mind for so long. It is time to fight those lies with the truth of God. The truth is that the fear that is defeating you daily is in fact a defeated foe. The power of God “his chariots of fire” are greater than the lies of your fear. It is time to open your eyes to the power of God and allow His truth to defeat the work of fear in your life.

IT’S TIME TO FIGHT

As I already mentioned, fear will not relent, so if you continue to let it railroad you, then that is what it will continue to do. It will not take a break and say, “Oh well, that’s enough for today, I’ll leave that poor defeated soul alone for a while now.” No! It will just keep on crushing you. This means you need to take action. You need to fight the lies of fear with the truth of God.

2 Corinthians 10.5 tells us that, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” This is not an instruction to be passive but to be active. The imperative form of the verb, “take every thought…” is a command. It is an action we are being told to take rather than something God is going to do for us. The fact is, God has already done it all. He has already won victory for us over fear, but it is up to us to hold up that victory in the face of fear, to bring our every fearful thought into obedience with the truth of the victory Christ has won for us at the cross.

Back in 2 Kings, the “lofty argument” was that they were surrounded by enemy armies, but the truth was the fiery armies of God were also surrounding them; and they were much greater and more powerful than the armies of their enemies. What “lofty arguments” have taken hold in your mind? And what is the higher truth that can be used to defeat these destructive lies of fear? Here’s an example of God’s truth in the face of fear: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

FEAR WILL BOW TO THE TRUTH OF GOD

Remember God’s truth is greater than the lies you have been so thoroughly believing. To tear down those lies will take work, really hard work. It is the action of taking those lies captive and in their place, establishing the truth of God. But at the end of that journey lies freedom. In fact the freedom is already won, but to allow it to work in your life takes work from you.

Perhaps you think you are too far gone. Perhaps you think you have lost yourself forever to the grip of fear. I know what that feels like because I have had those very thoughts myself. Let me tell you, it is not true! There is hope for total restoration and complete freedom from fear for you. I know this to be true because I have experienced it in my own life. When fear comes in like a flood, with all its lies and convincing arguments, hold up the truth of God’s word, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Know that those lies will not persist indefinitely; they will eventually bow their knee to the truth of God.

I will never forget the day I received the hospital bill in our mailbox. I was having a particularly cheerful day up until that moment. As I reached in and perused the typical “junk” advertisements for a car lot sale, coupons for Memorial Day closeouts and an invitation to an exotic getaway cruise to the Caribbean, I began opening a letter addressed to my wife and I from the hospital. She had given birth to our son who was born two months premature due to a placental abruption. Thankfully, he was home and healthy, thanks to the incredible work of the nurses and doctors of the neonatal intensive care unit. We knew our insurance would be covering most of the bill, but here was the final verdict in my hands at last. I opened the letter and almost collapsed. It stated that our insurance refused coverage, and we owed the hospital around $115,000! Needless to say, I decided the Caribbean cruise could be our escape from the country before we had to pay the money…

For the entire day, I paced the house frantically. I prayed constantly. I spoke with my wife, and our conversation was vigorous and stressful. I texted my friends and asked them to intercede for us. I looked at the letter over and over again with contempt, asking God why He would do this to us. That day stands in my life as a textbook example of anxiety. And little did I know it would all change with a simple phone call later that evening…

Consider the things that make you and me anxious.

Finances, health, relationships, public speaking or losing something. Maybe it is the fear of something much more ordinary, like traffic or the to-do list in front of you today. Many people are anxious about failing or even succeeding. They begin worrying about the outcomes of situations, and then allow that worry to consume them. Eventually, their heart rate and blood pressure rise. They eat less (or more!) and unhealthily. They lose sleep. They grow exhausted and lash out at people they are in relationship with. Soon their thoughts consume them and cripple them. The peace that could be theirs is void, and every day becomes another futile exercise in fear. Some people turn to medication or therapy to help them cope with the difficulties. And it all stems from anxiety.

The Scriptures aren’t silent about anxiety.

Paul tells the Philippian church plainly: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5b-7).

Did you catch that? “Do not be anxious about anything.” That pretty much sums it up! We aren’t to allow our minds to succumb to anxious thoughts but to bring our concerns in prayer and gratitude to the Lord. And we are promised that His peace (which is far greater than the peace that comes from understanding) will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

I’m reminded of the time Jesus’ disciples were faced with almost certain death. They were in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee. This sea has a reputation for fierce squalls appearing virtually out of nowhere and becoming life-threatening within minutes. When this happened, notice what Jesus was doing:

“And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing.’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’ Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23-27).

The disciples had every “right” to be anxious. Matthew points out that the storm was “great,” and that the boat was being swamped by the waves. This wasn’t a small storm, this was a strong tempest that had the potential to capsize the boat and drown all 13 of them. Because of that, they had every right and reason to be worried. No doubt they were probably trying to steer the boat safely, protecting themselves and seeking to expel the water that had swamped the boat. But what was Jesus doing?

Jesus was asleep. As the wind was howling, the waves were rising, the water crashing, the disciples screaming, the storm threatening, Jesus wasn’t worried. He was at rest. The disciples woke Him up and asked Him to save them. His response is telling: “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” That seems like an easy question to answer. “Why are we afraid? Because of certain death! Because of the wind! Because of the waves! Because our boat is about to sink!” But Jesus gets to the root of fear and anxiety: It is rooted in a lack of faith.

Anxiety is, in its truest definition, insubordination. It is a lack of faith.

Think about it, when we are anxious, we are placing our faith, rest and peace in circumstantial providence, not in sovereign providence. We think that by worrying about a problem, we will solve it. Worrying solves the problem no faster than ignoring it. Both of these are unbiblical responses and will only lead to hardship. We must submit it to the Lord.

We have a choice with every anxious thought to either bear it on our shoulders, ignore it and hope it disappears, or to cast it on the Lord, knowing He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Today, as you are reading this, what are you anxious about? Are you dealing with the problem or pretending it will go away? Are you harboring worry and fear in your mind or bringing the problem to Jesus? The disciples may have been afraid, but I like that they brought their concern to Jesus. Immediately, He rebuked the winds and the sea, and Matthew says “There was a great calm.” Is Jesus concerned about your problem? Is He capable of handling it?

The night I received the hospital bill, I made a phone call to our insurance company. Apparently there had been a billing glitch, and they apologized and said to disregard the bill. They would fully cover it! I fell out of my chair and ran around the room exclaiming God’s goodness. I had wasted an entire day stressing about an issue that didn’t even exist. I learned a valuable lesson that day: My job is not to live as a practical atheist, attempting to best God at His work. I needed to simply submit and rest and trust that either this was Him testing me or proving me, but even if we owed triple that amount, He would be glorified in and through our lives.

If we are subordinate to God’s authority and provision in our lives, we won’t step out of order and bear the responsibility of the outcome of our situations. God is sovereignly working all things for His glory and our ultimate good, and we need to trust that. If we will submit to His Lordship and rest, we will like Jesus be at peace in the boat no matter what storms rage around us. Even if that boat ends up being a cruise ship to the Caribbean.