The representation of racism and social invisibility in Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019)

Abstract

The discourse of racism that has been per se attached to colored people is now linked to a wider circle, including whites. The essence of my article is to examine the “new racism” communicated by the Joker film by revisiting theories about modern racism. I will mainly rely on Michel Foucault’s state racism and internal racism explored in his lectures, Society Must Be Defended (1976) and his Abnormal Lectures at the College de France (1974-1975). Postmodernism proves that the notion of racism has transcended skin-color differences into distinctive forms of institutionalized discrimination. The fact that this discrimination is governmental, made the discourse of racism more complex. It has even been internalized into the mass population as the new mainstream model. This mainstream model excludes all “abnormals,” which could be the mentally ill, disabled people and criminals, or anyone who does not function properly in the capitalist society. The analysis of the film reveals that people with mitigating circumstances like disabled and clowns are otherized and ostracized on the accounts of their difference, thereby entering a pro tanto social invisibility.