The article reads the film Joker by Todd Phillips as a denunciation of the pathologies of contemporary society and its self-destructive drift. Caused by a process of homogenization of the individual personality to collective models, it not only generates those conformism and massification phenomena underlined by postmodern reflection, but gives rise to processes of disintegration of the subject which lead to the uncontrolled explosion of violence. Prisoner of a growing and systematic dynamic of mimetic identification with the dominant models of mass society through pervasive containment and control methods, such as "repressive desublimation" (Herbert Marcuse) and "redundancy" (Umberto Eco) the individual, denied his own difference and uniqueness, is inexorably pushed towards Thanatos. This, now the dominant force, is capable of destroying humankind’s best resources and putting the latter on course to a dead end. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Western society has been pervaded by a restlessness caused by humankind’s tendency to destroy itself and the planet. This restlessness grew further in the following years in a directly proportionate manner to technological development and the exponential increase in its destructive potential, as made unmistakably clear by two world wars and the atom bomb. By way of a Freudian strategy, this unsustainable awareness was immediately repressed from the collective consciousness and projected onto another not scientific but “science fiction” dimension, characterized by “alien” enemy figures whose omnipotence could be contrasted by equally as fantastic creatures, namely superheroes. Quite simply, Phillips’ film destroys the illusion and brings us back to reality: we are the enemy.
Published in | International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 10, Issue 1) |
DOI | 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17 |
Page(s) | 33-40 |
Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Redundancy, Desublimation, Individual Difference/Collective Homogenization, Super (Hero)
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APA Style
Dario Squilloni. (2022). Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker. International Journal of Philosophy, 10(1), 33-40. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17
ACS Style
Dario Squilloni. Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker. Int. J. Philos. 2022, 10(1), 33-40. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17
AMA Style
Dario Squilloni. Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker. Int J Philos. 2022;10(1):33-40. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17
@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17, author = {Dario Squilloni}, title = {Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker}, journal = {International Journal of Philosophy}, volume = {10}, number = {1}, pages = {33-40}, doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20221001.17}, abstract = {The article reads the film Joker by Todd Phillips as a denunciation of the pathologies of contemporary society and its self-destructive drift. Caused by a process of homogenization of the individual personality to collective models, it not only generates those conformism and massification phenomena underlined by postmodern reflection, but gives rise to processes of disintegration of the subject which lead to the uncontrolled explosion of violence. Prisoner of a growing and systematic dynamic of mimetic identification with the dominant models of mass society through pervasive containment and control methods, such as "repressive desublimation" (Herbert Marcuse) and "redundancy" (Umberto Eco) the individual, denied his own difference and uniqueness, is inexorably pushed towards Thanatos. This, now the dominant force, is capable of destroying humankind’s best resources and putting the latter on course to a dead end. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Western society has been pervaded by a restlessness caused by humankind’s tendency to destroy itself and the planet. This restlessness grew further in the following years in a directly proportionate manner to technological development and the exponential increase in its destructive potential, as made unmistakably clear by two world wars and the atom bomb. By way of a Freudian strategy, this unsustainable awareness was immediately repressed from the collective consciousness and projected onto another not scientific but “science fiction” dimension, characterized by “alien” enemy figures whose omnipotence could be contrasted by equally as fantastic creatures, namely superheroes. Quite simply, Phillips’ film destroys the illusion and brings us back to reality: we are the enemy.}, year = {2022} }
TY - JOUR T1 - Too Late the (Super) Hero, Todd Phillips’ Joker AU - Dario Squilloni Y1 - 2022/03/23 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17 DO - 10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17 T2 - International Journal of Philosophy JF - International Journal of Philosophy JO - International Journal of Philosophy SP - 33 EP - 40 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7455 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20221001.17 AB - The article reads the film Joker by Todd Phillips as a denunciation of the pathologies of contemporary society and its self-destructive drift. Caused by a process of homogenization of the individual personality to collective models, it not only generates those conformism and massification phenomena underlined by postmodern reflection, but gives rise to processes of disintegration of the subject which lead to the uncontrolled explosion of violence. Prisoner of a growing and systematic dynamic of mimetic identification with the dominant models of mass society through pervasive containment and control methods, such as "repressive desublimation" (Herbert Marcuse) and "redundancy" (Umberto Eco) the individual, denied his own difference and uniqueness, is inexorably pushed towards Thanatos. This, now the dominant force, is capable of destroying humankind’s best resources and putting the latter on course to a dead end. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Western society has been pervaded by a restlessness caused by humankind’s tendency to destroy itself and the planet. This restlessness grew further in the following years in a directly proportionate manner to technological development and the exponential increase in its destructive potential, as made unmistakably clear by two world wars and the atom bomb. By way of a Freudian strategy, this unsustainable awareness was immediately repressed from the collective consciousness and projected onto another not scientific but “science fiction” dimension, characterized by “alien” enemy figures whose omnipotence could be contrasted by equally as fantastic creatures, namely superheroes. Quite simply, Phillips’ film destroys the illusion and brings us back to reality: we are the enemy. VL - 10 IS - 1 ER -