Examining the Personality of Arthur Fleck in Joker 2019: The Shift From an Innocent Man Into a Supervillain

Ahmad Mahmoud Ashour

Abstract


Todd Phillips’ film Joker, a 2019 psychological thriller, has displayed the main character, Arthur Fleck, as a perplexing, eccentric character. Arthur appears to be a poor, marginalized man at first glance. But as the plot progresses and we witness life from Arthur’s perspective, we’re left questioning whether he’s a good man, a bad man, or just schizophrenic. In this research, Arthur’s perplexing personality will be examined using Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. The study aims to uncover Arthur’s true personality and his shift from an innocent man into a supervillain by analyzing his Id, ego, and superego. The method used to study Arthur’s character dimensions is the descriptive qualitative method, by watching the movie and reading the script thoroughly. The study revealed that Arthur suffers from mental illnesses that affected how he was treated and that the tough circumstances Arthur has been through have shaped him into becoming the Joker.

 


Keywords


Joker; Arthur Fleck; Freud; Personality; Psychoanalysis; Empathy

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12784

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