Mea Culpa, Movies and Morality

*Note: This article was initially published in October but due to a glitch with the blog, it did not post. I fixed it, though. So pardon the late discussion of Joker. Hope you enjoy. —Mike

Hello readers! It’s your old pal Mike back with some more editorial insights! We got so much going on here at the Great Geek Refuge! We had movie discussions galore from our new contributor Benjamin Shapiro. We had a nostalgic top 10 video game list from a new gamer correspondent, our first ever addition to GGR, Andy Bartsch, had written a few guest articles about horror movies, and our old buddy James Rambo wrote an incredibly thoughtful piece about the new Joker movie. It’s friggin’ awesome that we’ve assembled this collection of talented, intelligent, well-rounded folks to talk about the things they love. I couldn’t be more proud of the things we’re doing here.

MEA CULPA

Let’s start with that mea culpa. Not familiar with the term? It basically means “I fu**ed up and now need to apologize.” I did. When talking about Joker on the podcast, I boiled a respected friend’s review of the movie to race-related items and that was bullsh*t on my part. This particular person, Sherin Nicole, is a thoughtful, intelligent, aware writer and sharp film critic. There won’t be any subtext missed on her. Her review was so much more than what I tried to limit it to. We talked about it, she knows my intentions were not nefarious…but I wanted to write more than just a Facebook post apology. I would be a real jackass if I ran a website who’s mission statement is about being inclusive and didn’t live by those ideals.

We will not exclude, we will not talk down to, and we will not allow anyone to make others feel unwelcome. We as the geek community can do great things, and we will be an example.

Those are our words. I wrote that with the help of the aforementioned James Rambo. As I mentioned, Sherin and I talked and we’re good. She knows that I meant nothing by it…but that’s the problem, folks. Women, on a regular basis, ESPECIALLY IN OUR COMMUNITY, get their “cards pulled” all the time. “Have you read ^fill in a comic title^ because if you had, I don’t think you would be saying that,” gets thrown around. “Maybe you don’t understand the character,” is another popular one. “Maybe it was over your head,” the f**k? Not only did you insult her literacy, you insulted her intelligence. I one time got told by a movie nerd (which I’M A MOVIE NERD, this is how ridiculous it is when we cannibalize each other over a shared love of a medium for our own egos) that my love of Pan’s Labyrinth and it’s director Guillermo Del Toro just showed my lack of intelligence. I almost killed that man where he stood (with words of course). Who am I kidding? I did mutilate him verbally. My point is: imagine that interaction. We’ve all had it. Now multiply that by 1000. Make it every interaction you have when you’re discussing a topic you are WELL VERSED on. Imagine getting talked down to every time you try to have a reasonable discussion about a thing you love. That is only a partial cross-section of what it’s like to be a woman in the geek world. That right there is why I felt so bad about my mistake. I made someone I respect feel like sh*t and for a minute there, I was just like every other mouth-breather they’ve had to suffer through a conversation with and for THAT I am sorry.

Movies and Morality

We went a little movie crazy in this house the last few days. I personally saw Joker but that was a solo venture. The fam and I watched Toy Story 4, Missing Link, and The Addams Family Movie. I bring this up because I found it interesting that the messages in these movies were very clear and very well thought out with the exception of one and I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t any of the kid movies. Joker was the sloppiest of all of the films when it came to its overall message. Granted, the audiences for these films are vastly different (God I would hope so!) but that’s no excuse. You can tell that the message of each one of the “kid’s movies” was well thought out and crafted. They knew exactly what story they wanted to tell, what example they would set, and what the takeaways would be after watching. Joker? Nah. Todd Phillips didn’t give a crap about being careful. “People are too sensitive nowadays” he said. Honestly, the best critique of the movie I’ve seen was on Twitter where someone said Joker was “Taxi Driver karaoke.” This is true, because like most singers at karaoke that I’ve been to, Joker was tone deaf, too. ^Mic drop^

Let’s talk about the smartest “kids” movie I saw this weekend: Toy Story 4. It is a Disney joint, so I automatically expected it to be a 90 minute product placement, easter egg hunt. It’s none of that, and in fact made me walk away from the movie impressed. Many of us wondered, “what else could they do with Toy Story after the 3rd installment?” The answer is a study into the bleakness of an existence without purpose. Wait…what???? Yeah! Toy Story 4 is deep.

Andy’s toys are now Bonnie’s toys. Woody’s relationship with Andy, watching him grow up, being his best friend through childhood are now 20 years ago, a fading memory. Bonnie is starting Kindergarten and honestly, Woody has never been her favorite. In fact, he’s relegated to the closet to gather dust bunnies. Woody struggles with what his purpose in life now is, as he tries to have some sort of purpose. He sneaks into Bonnie’s backpack for her first day of kindergarten and helps her adjust by giving her a project to work on. She ends up creating Forky, who gains the same toy-sentience than any of the other characters in the Toy Story world have. He quickly becomes Bonnie’s new favorite toy, all while Forky himself continues to think of himself as trash. Woody makes it his purpose to ensure that Forky sticks around because as he puts it “what other purpose do I have now?” Damn Woody…

In the end, Toy Story 4 is a movie that espouses messages of finding purpose in helping others, finding a way to work with your enemies and seeing the good in people. There’s so much more about this movie that is incredible…but I suppose a “What to Watch” would be more appropriate, now wouldn’t it? So, I wrote that. :)

Why did I just tell you the lessons learned from Toy Story 4? Because I find it interesting that this simplistic, “childish” film was able to weave a complex, important message into their narrative and left you walking away from an ending that could have been sad with a smile on your face? Because their “adult” counterpart Joker was nothing more than a mass murderer’s manifesto set to inappropriate musical cues. What did you learn from Joker other than horribly troubling messages like “crazy people will kill you if they’re off their meds,” or “can’t trust rich white people,” or “people of color will be mean to you and don’t care about your problems?” It did showcase how the system often overlooks the mentally ill and disregards their treatment as a vital service…but it was used to glorify an anti-hero and his murderous spree, framing the story as him “rising up.” Great takeaways. That’s what you want people leaving the theater thinking, TODD?

A movie maker has a moral obligation to ensure the film they are making is not dangerous. I don’t think Joker is inherently bad or evil. The movie is engrossing: it’s hard to look away when you’re watching it. The film is well shot, it’s wonderfully acted, but it is so sloppy in its message. In the world we live in with as much horrible that is going on, for a director to stand on his soapbox and scream “YOU’RE ALL TOO SENSITIVE!!!” as he makes a movie about mental illness that paints a deranged man who is forced off his medications and becomes a delusional, psychopathic murderer is downright disrespectful. There was no care taken to make sure this message was appropriate, yet a movie meant for children for the most part, was carefully crafted to have an underlying theme of finding purpose in life was well thought out? The disparity was baffling, especially given the audiences. I wanted more from Joker, in fact we all deserved more from this movie. It wouldn’t have taken much to fix the issues but that is what I think the real problem was with it: the director didn’t care and wanted it to be that way.

On that note, I will bid you fine readers adieu. Thank you for reading all of our wonderful content here and for listening to our podcasts. We appreciate you all. Just remember true believers: don’t be a juicebag.