When Arthur killed his foster mother Penny, he smiled and said, "I thought my life was a tragedy, but I didn't expect it to be a comedy." After he pinched off the only love and hope in his life, the clown in the dark had completely swallowed Arthur.
If Arthur had gone to psychotherapy before, the counselor would have been more patient; If his kindness in teasing children on the bus is not misinterpreted; If his colleague Landau didn't hit people when he was facing unemployment; If those three financial drunks hadn't deliberately teased and insulted him on the subway; If he doesn't know that Penny is not his mother, and he doesn't know that his childhood was not abused; If Murray hadn't maliciously imitated his performance in the program, denied his efforts and shattered his dreams … then he might not have been hacked.
But if everything.
The answer is none.
Reality pushes Arthur into the abyss of despair and darkness step by step again and again.
News reports have repeatedly reported that gotham city's garbage has piled up on the streets. As the camera moves, we can see that the roadside is full of rubbish and mice are strung on the street. Poor and desperate people still live in narrow and dirty houses; The buildings in the city are cold and dark in the industrial age, and there is no brightness and temperature where the lens sweeps. The miserable situation of the bottom poor, the low-educated and the incompetent has no influence on the rich and nobles who enjoy Chaplin's Modern Times in the luxurious banquet hall, even though a group of extremely angry citizens struggle with the inaction and indifference of the ruling managers outside the crow.
Contrast lenses are used many times in the film, and cruelty, ruthlessness, darkness and blood are torn naked to the audience again and again, and Arthur who falls on the cliff at any time is also torn a little.
Of course, the director and screenwriter don't intend to make this movie look like a happy ending after the protagonists of Hollywood blockbusters have experienced some hardships and struggles. Instead, he pushed Arthur, a "clown", into extreme life predicament and darkness with surrealism, leaving him completely desperate and blackened.
? He said, "I have nothing to lose, and nothing can hurt me again." My life is just a comedy. "
? What about the old Arthur? Living with goodwill and hope, Arthur will be a clown reborn from hell, and will inevitably tear off the hypocrisy of social civilization and destroy unfair so-called social rules and regulations.
If Arthur's life is really a comedy, what is the tragedy?
I think the tragedy is probably what Arthur said in the last issue of Murray's program: you all know this social system too well, and you decide right and wrong, just as you decide what is funny or not.
? Another meaning of this sentence is: no matter how hard people like Arthur live and work, they still can't get the attention and help they deserve; The right to speak in this society is still in the hands of a few rich people, and those who have the right to speak have always disdained groups like Arthur.
? Therefore, this group represented by Arthur, all the values of hard life, have already been destroyed to pieces. This is the tragedy: living is worthless.
You think that if you work hard, you can get closer to the sunshine and warmth, but the people in the pyramid are standing on high places, akimbo said, hey, friend, don't waste your energy. You are never welcome here.
? In The Shawshank Redemption, the man has always believed in the possibility of hope and freedom in decades of unjust imprisonment, and finally escaped from prison with his knowledge and wisdom; But in this movie, hope and light are always points in the dark, and a cold wind will go out in an instant.
? This is an absurd surreal world, and it is also a world where absurd tragedies and comedies are intertwined. This film reflects some realities, which is higher than most.
Jakun Phoenix's penetrating performance and the violent and dark artistic scenes in the film make us unable to tell which is Arthur's real world and which is his fantasy.
? But does it matter whether it is true or not? It doesn't matter. The film left a lot of imagination for the audience from beginning to end. You can think it is an R-rated film, a surreal literary film, an anti-human and anti-social moral film. Because 1000 readers have 1000 Hamlet, however, the fact that this is a very classic and intriguing film cannot be concealed.
? At the end of the movie, when Arthur woke up after the car accident and opened his eyes, he saw a chaotic scene: car pileups, traffic jams, chaos, almost full of people wearing clown masks in the dark, some people set fire to rob, some people shot and killed people, and more people were celebrating the arrival of this chaotic era. As the king of clowns, Arthur drew a smiling face on his face covered with white powder with the blood on his hand, opened his hands and danced a dance step happily.