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Do We Need More Arthur Fleck?

Todd Phillip’s Joker hit $1 billion globally at the box office, officially becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie in history. The Warner Bros./ DC Comics’ tortured backstory of a classic Batman nemesis premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August. There was controversial discourse surrounding the film’s release when right-wing extremists threatened violence at opening night screenings which fortunately did not occur.

Warner Bros. has officially announced a Joker 2 already in the works with Phillips signed on as co-writer and director. The Hollywood Reporter also announced Phillips would spearhead more origin tales for other DC villains.

                    [Above: Phillips directing Joker star Joaquin Phoenix]

Aside from Jared Leto’s appearance in Suicide Squad, the Joker hasn’t starred in a major blockbuster since Heath Ledger’s Dark Knight performance in 2008, and his reincarnation by Joaquin Phoenix was wildly anticipated by the public. That public included the extremist group, incels, or involuntary celibates, who have negatively ranted about the film on Reddit and 4Chan. Such groups were behind the Aurora theater shootings with Dark Knight in 2012 and government officials feared a similar reaction to Joker. US military personnel were placed in numerous theaters on opening night and instructed to identify escape routes in case a shooting were to occur.

The film, perhaps understandably, riled incels. Joker, a man name Arthur Fleck, experiences a life as a social and sexual outcast. He is eventually driven to public displays of violence that are lauded by other social miscreants. There’s a chilling parallel to Taxi Driver’s antihero Travis Bickle, who influenced the attempted assassination of president Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley in 1981.

Incels, a group of males bonded by their feelings of rejection, inadequacy, and resultant rage for not having sexual access to women often subscribe to the misogynistic ideologies of white supremacists and other hate groups and turn to the internet to spread their rhetoric.

Incels are self-flagellating, referring to themselves as “beta males” or “subhumans.” Their anger is directed particularly at women and more attractive males who they view as suppressing them by simply not acknowledging them.

Though the film’s reception was mostly positive, and Joaquin Phoenix’s performance garnered considerable sympathy for the Joker character, a sequel beginning amidst the chaos where Joker left off may well provoke its predecessor’s negative attention as well. David Ehrlich of Indiewire said it best when calling it “a toxic rallying cry for self-pitying incels,” which begs the question, is it wise to make another?

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Elaborate Police Cover-up Surrounding the Death of Teen Laquan McDonald

• On October 20, 2014 African American 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was fatally shot by a police officer in Chicago, Illinois.

• Officer Jason Van Dyke accused McDonald of acting “erratically,” and dashcam footage shows him shooting the teenager 16 times in the back.

• Van Dyke was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of battery with a firearm.

• The incident was met with riots throughout Chicago feeding the growth of movements like Black Lives Matter.

• Now, 5 years later, the classified Inspector General’s report has been released and points to at least 16 other officers involved in covering-up details of the case to protect Van Dyke.

The city of Chicago finally released Inspector General Joseph Ferguson's report detailing the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald and shedding new light on the situation. Its hundreds of pages delineate a depth of moral violations and internal misconduct carried out by colleagues of Van Dyke.

Inspector General reports are generally kept confidential, but Ferguson spoke out in favor of its publication. Mayor Lori Lightfoot passed an ordinance last month allowing the document’s release.

Since Van Dyke’s in-car camera was allegedly malfunctioning during the incident and sound wasn’t recorded, the case relied wholly on the word of those present. Ferguson originally recommended firing 11 officers, but the Chicago PD only fired 4. None were charged criminally.

Joseph Walsh, Van Dyke’s partner, and officer Thomas Gaffney, both present during the shooting, were accused of manipulating details of the case, specifically, “exaggerating the threat McDonald posed.” They claimed that the teen refused to relinquish a small weapon he was wielding though, in reality, they were out of earshot during the encounter. 

Walsh resigned last year after the trial but was not found guilty. Gaffney remains on the force. The report points to former lieutenant Anthony Wojcik, also present at the scene, for disposing of witness statements. Van Dyke himself made several false statements regarding the incident, all of which were approved by Former Sgt. Stephen Franko.

No further legal action has been taken since the release of this new information.

McDonald grew up in and out of foster homes. When he wasn’t residing with abusive relatives, he was in the custody of the state. At age 16, Laquan was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana and detained at a juvenile detention center. After his release he started attending an adult education school. The principal described him as “outgoing, jovial, talkative and funny.

Two months after his enrollment in the school, Laquan was shot by officer Jason Van Dyke who saw the teenager walking by with a knife. CNN reported that “Van Dyke continued to fire, unloading every round from his 9-mm Smith & Wesson handgun…most of them while [McDonald] was limp on the ground.”

Van Dyke is married with two daughters. Before the incident with McDonald, he had been in the Chicago Police Department for 14 years. During that time over 20 citizens filed complaints against Van Dyke, but none resulted in disciplinary action. 10 of the complaints described the use of excessive force and one noted verbal abuse involving a racial slur.

After shooting McDonald, Van Dyke’s initial report “prompted police supervisors to rule the case a justifiable homicide and within the bounds of the department's use of force guidelines.”

Chicagoans rioted after the shooting, calling it an act of police brutality. The outrage continued after the acquitted parties walked free in January. 

Reverend Jesse Jackson Jr. tweeted in protest: They were guilty of lying and obstructing justice. They reduce the credibility and moral authority of the police. They do not deserve to be on the force. Justice delayed is justice denied. #LaquanMcDonald

Along with the Chicago branch of the ACLU: Today’s acquittals are a painful reminder of the complete lack of structural accountability for CPD. We are committed to working with our clients and partners to ensure the ‘code of silence’ stops shielding officers from accountability #justiceforlaquan

Mayor Lightfoot was striving for government transparency in allowing the dissemination of Ferguson’s report. She hopes to regain the trust of a city that now fears and actively rebels against its police force. The report illustrating all instances of police corruption in this case is now on public record.

Action has yet to be taken with consideration of the new information.