• Thallo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I notice that this narrative is getting passed around. There’s this idea that the movie was specifically made to piss off the people who liked the first one. I’ve also seen the weird term “Hollywood humiliation ritual” being thrown around again.

    But why would a studio spend millions of dollars to do this? I just don’t get it.

    It really has vibes of (((Hollywood))) attempting to humiliate a certain demographic (white males) by degrading their cultural iconography.

    It just seems like a really chud way to frame the narrative. Wouldn’t they actually try to make money by producing the same slop for the same audience?

    • kleeon [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Wouldn’t they actually try to make money by producing the same slop for the same audience?

      There wasn’t really a “they” apparently. The studio basically gave the director free rein to do whatever he wants with the movie, given how successful the first one was

    • AmericaDeserved711 [any]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      this idea that the movie was specifically made to piss off the people who liked the first one

      yeah I don’t really buy this either. in fact the whole idea that Joker (2019) has some horrible fanbase is entirely socially constructed and not based in reality. the narrative that the movie was for “incels” was created before the film even came out and persists to this day, even though Arthur Fleck never actually did become a symbol that incels rallied around. the fact is that all sorts of people liked the movie for all sorts of reasons (and plenty of people disliked it too)

      there’s no way Todd Phillips hates everyone who liked Joker. he probably likes it himself, having directed the film. he made Joker 2 for the people who enjoyed the first film as a character study of a broken man let down by the system and how alienation can lead to senseless violence. he very explicitly did not make it for the people who wanted Joker 2: Joker vs Batman, which is what Quentin is getting at here.