“Only once you have lost everything, you are free to do anything”
-Tyler Durden
We all know about Fight Club, and it can be assumed that the ending is like the ending of Sixth Sense. Once one person knows, everyone knows. Tyler Durden is the creative end product of what the narrator wanted to be. Tyler Durden is his imaginary friend that can take over the body like a host for periods of time. Scary thought. But the film Joker…now that’s a less simplistic ending, with various theories leading themselves down rabbit holes on Reddit. And trust me, they are worth your time.
However, the reason I’m bringing up this 1999 film is because of its controversy that can link with 2019’s Joker. Less on the consumerist culture format, but more on the effects of masculinity within a feminization of American culture at that time. It’s not a male dominated America anymore, and I reckon both can feel its effects, whether head on, or because their routine has diminished because of decisions from others. Deprived, castrated almost, in the turn of the century. Or not. I might be wrong.
Both Arthur and Tyler seem to act out, and not in the healthiest of ways, when it comes to reacting to something connected to the societal system that has failed them. For Arthur, it was to do with his mental health, for the narrator, it was most likely the feeling of being inept, another cog in the machine, that is invisible and unnoticed. Both sheep following the herd, so to speak, until they begin to question it, and then make their own following; whether that was intentional (with the Fight Club), or by accident (with the mob in clown masks). The process of these two films stem on two unreliable protagonists that have these almost nonlinear moments that change their entire lives. It might be the concept of one bad day, or a number of them, that tip them over the edge. But either way, they eventually and abruptly chose a path that changed their way of living for good. For the narrator, it was choosing Tyler Durden to help him when his apartment blows up, to which they live in a dilapidated house on the edge of an industrial estate, away from prying eyes that then encourages the following of Fight Club to increase. For Arthur, it was choosing to kill his own mother, the centre of his life at home and his routine, because of her lies and betrayal. Arthur killing her then almost sets him free, much like the narrator not being controlled by his possessions. They both change their image, with the narrator not caring about his cuts and bruises at work, and with Arthur, it was accepting his clown like persona which we all connect to be the Joker, wearing the make up with pride and most importantly purpose.
“You were looking for a way to change your life, you could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look. I fuck like you wanna fuck. I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free, in all of the way you are not”
-Tyler Durden
We all remember the moment Jack realises that him and Tyler Durden are the same person in the hotel room, with Tyler essentially explaining that he was created to make something more happen in the narrator’s life. Tyler is aware of his existence and his power in taking over the body, like a change over, at critical points, with the narrator, Jack, taking a back seat, much like a passenger in the airplane, but literally a passenger in his own life…until he cannot control the things that have already been set in motion. This could be said for Arthur and the Joker persona. People have come to conclusions such Reddit user ComradeCarly exploring the concept that Arthur was inspired by the real Joker killing the three men on the subway (based on the gun and eight bullets shot in a six shooter, perhaps emphasising the whole scene was made up in Arthur’s head), with the rest of Arthur’s evolution really happening (the death of his mother, Randall and Murray), which then inspired Arthur to emulate the Joker in his own image. The idea being how murderers/mass shooters are influenced by historial/political figures or even fictional ones.
Another theory by reddit user Bristus420 leans into the opposite:
“…I believe Arthur is not the Joker but instead a theoretical Joker. The actual Joker, whilst fantasising about his past to himself in the asylum, constructs Arthur as a possible backstory”
-Reddit User Bristus420
Which is the real page turner, as Arthur, in this theory, like Tyler, is aware of their existence being somewhat a coping mechanism for the main protagonist or narrator, the main host of the body, with the chaos within holding supreme to erupt outside of the body.
Within the film, it is here, as a possibility, that we see Arthur losing his facade, his identity as Arthur to become the Joker, much like Jack, the narrator, losing more of himself as he becomes Tyler Durden. And within the loss, is the aspect of more freedom it seems. There is this wish to be something more than oneself, hence why we might talk to ourselves, or imagine scenarios in our minds of things that could do.
A safety net is perhaps created to make a better, more stable, or more capable and brave version of oneself. And perhaps, like in these two films, the protagonists just had the guts to go with it. They find the freedom in the chaos, to project themselves in their true forms, and most importantly, to be heard by their voices, their message. Whether thats a series of rules to a club, or a simple joke with the punchline being ‘you get what you fucking deserve’.
This is the written script for the podcast Two Takes. The decision to put the script online is for those hard of hearing. And for those who like to read.
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