A recent study carried out by JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal, has concluded that Todd Phillips’ 2019’s box-office smash hit ‘Joker’, caused audience members to become more prejudiced towards people suffering from mental health conditions after viewing.
The study states:
“Joker was associated with higher levels of prejudice toward those with mental illness. Beyond prejudice, associating mental illness with violence may erode support for policies that we know to be beneficial for those with mental illness (eg, integration into communities). Additionally, Joker may exacerbate self-stigma for those with a mental illness, leading to delays in help seeking. A limitation of the current study is that we did not assess whether viewing Joker was associated with actual behavior.
JAMA
In The Dark Knight, Joker asks, “Why so serious?” One might level that question at us, arguing that Joker is nothing to be concerned with. However, what this view ignores is the profound consequences prejudice has on those with a mental illness.”
The study used the ‘control condition’ of Terminator: Dark Fate to compare to the DC comics movie.
The audience was split into two groups, with the Joker getting an audience of 84 (51.2%), and Terminator: Dark Fate 80 (48.8%).
Both groups were of similar age, sex and ethnicity and were tested by the ‘Prejudice Toward People With Mental Illness’ (PPMI) scale, to help determine the prejudice of audience members both before and after their assigned viewing.
The group watching Terminator: Dark Fate got 2.91 (0.61) PPMI before their viewing and 2.88 (0.70) after the movie.
The group viewing Joker had 2.99 (0.66) PPMI before the movie and 3.20 (0.78) after the movie.
Meaning that the group that viewed Terminator: Dark Fate were less prejudiced towards people suffering with mental illness after watching the movie, and the audience members watching Joker were more prejudiced afterwards.
For me, the problems in comparing the Joker movie to Terminator: Dark Fate, are:
The group which viewed the Joker movie had a larger audience at the offset, and therefore were statistically more likely to have a higher chance of being prejudice (the same can be said for the increased level of prejudice after viewing the movie) – especially given the serious content of the film and the ridiculous media furore surrounding the movie, with laughable suggestions of an ‘incel uprising’.
Excluding the opening scenes of Terminator: Dark Fate, which contain a clip of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, wherein Sarah is talking to Dr. Silberman (Earl Boen) in Pescadero State Mental Hospital – Terminator: Dark Fate in no way deals with mental health.
Sarah Connor has lost her son John prematurely, and yet, the movie skirts over the mental and emotional damage of that loss, treating the death of a child in a somewhat indifferent manner.
Joker, on the other hand, is almost entirely focused on the mental health of the central character (as portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix).
The DC character is struggling with the repercussions of budget cuts to the health sector – which create a lack of medication, and support, and he has been ostracised by society, which escalates feelings of alienation and eventually leads to the complete breakdown of one Arthur Fleck – and the genesis of the Joker.
To compare Terminator: Dark Fate to Joker simply makes no sense – Joker was always going to cause the audience to leave the theater feeling emotional, introspective and/or ‘prejudice’, as the movie deals with a difficult subject matter; one which was meant to be thought provoking and impactful.
It was also supposed to linger in the minds of the audience and create new space for discourse on the responsibility of society to help those who have fallen between the cracks, whose illnesses might otherwise go unnoticed.
Whereas Terminator: Dark Fate was supposed to be the first part of a newly planned trilogy in a “tentpole” franchise living under the refurbished studio tagline of “event-level entertainment” – you get the rubber mallet, I’ll hire a marquee.
Tim Miller appeared to be playing the blame game back in 2019, aiming his guns at the Joaquin Phoenix heavy-hitter in order to explain away his movie’s potential shortfall.
Explaining his feelings on Joker, Tim said:
“What is really fucking us now is Joker, which, it’s like sucking all of the air out of the room and it doesn’t even make people happy. I don’t know, I haven’t seen it yet but I don’t wanna see it because I – ‘cause I… I really just don’t feel like- fuck, why do I wanna be depressed? I don’t wanna go and see this sad movie – but I hear it’s beautiful but I wish it would just go away.”
Tim Miller – TIFF Talks | Transcribed by TheTerminatorFans.com
We previously ran an article on the chance that Terminator: Dark Fate could get a sequel based off of the potential revenue from home release / digital download etc, and with the message of ‘Stay Home’ echoing its way through these uncertain times; coupled with the rise of straight to VOD creating the need for studios to capitalize on the home market in a way that they had previously failed to do.
The question is…
Could Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media fund a study into the negative and prejudicial effects of the Joker on mental health Vs the potential escapist benefits of Terminator: Dark Fate, in order to keep the sequel door open and disparage the darkly gritty DC movie simultaneously?
There are many movies / shows which could have been used as test subjects in the aforementioned study – why Joker Vs Terminator: Dark Fate?
Why create a study where the balance was always going to tip in favor of the latter?
The numbers, result and outcome seem very much predetermined…
The study was accepted for publication February 25th 2020; which landed in the middle of the U.S – UK home release of Dark Fate but was published in the middle of a pandemic which sees more and more people on lockdown at home, streaming movies and shows.
– in lockdown where the question of mental health has become a focus for many…
So, is there an agenda here?
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6 Comments
Pity that you couldn’t have released this on April Fools Day.
I think that that the crazies running the asylum are the executives at Paramount. Dark Fate was one of the biggest bombs produced by the studio. Ever. A sequel? Don’t make me laugh!
This is just ridiculous, Joker is a much better film than Dark Fate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an all-life fan of Terminator, but Joker is superior in every way.
Bullshit comparisons, Bullshit studies.
the two films are fundamentally different, T6DarkFate is primarily a fast-pace, sci-fi action/blockbuster with some drama elements (and maybe some social commentary thrown in if you look hard enough) while The Joker is a very slow and serious, sad drama-heavy take on one of the most famous american comicbook villains with a significant social commentary thrown in.
of course people are gonna feel a whole lot more depressed/sad after watching the Joker.
“is there an agenda here?”
stop playing coy, you know very well what the “AGENDA” is, at bare minimum you should have known the agenda since the occupy wallstreet 2011 movement was hijacked and drowned by zealots from the church of woke.
ALL men of white skin: EVIL INCARNATE, lump them all together into one easily defined negative category so they can be demonized endlessly and destroyed easily later on. (only with that kind of climate you can have little Johnny Connor disposed of so easily and GRAPHICALLY just to be conveniently replaced by a fashionable, trendy woman of color all the while sold and celebrated as “It’s a New and Original Concept for the Franchise !”, “It’s a new and proper step in the right direction !”, “MOVING THE FRANCHISE FORWARD !”
mexican lesbians: PURE AND PERFECT ANGELS, they are MORALLY SUPERIOR by virtue of their darker skin and alternative orientation, yes of course we must never question anything they do, just pay the tickets and obey.
Aucune comparaison possible entre ces deux films differents pour une société mentale complétement soucieuse à l’égard d’une santé mentale retenu sous tutel…