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- Following the altercation with Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) when Arthur confronts him about possibly being his father, it's revealed that not only is the billionaire not his dad, but Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy) isn't even his biological mother, either. Arthur finds adoption papers showing that Penny adopted him as a baby and named him Arthur.
screenrant.com/joker-name-arthur-fleck-reason/Why Is The Joker’s Name Arthur Fleck In Joker? - Screen Rant
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Oct 11, 2019 · While the movie presents this idea as a delusion that Arthur adopts from his equally unbalanced mother, there is some evidence to suggest that Penny Fleck was telling the truth about a love affair with the famous billionaire and that he fathered her son.
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- Joker Set Photo Promotes Thomas Wayne's Run for Gotham Mayor
A great memorable quote from the The Dark Knight movie on Quotes.net - The Joker: Do you wanna know how I got these scars? My father was a drinker...and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual.
- Batman’s dad is a very different kind of guy in the Joaquin Phoenix movie.
- Thomas Wayne: A Distant Dad
- The Problem With Paternalism
- Architect of Unrest
By Jeremy Peel
Updated: Oct 16, 2019 7:56 pm
Posted: Oct 16, 2019 7:25 pm
Full spoilers follow for Joker.
You smell ’80s Gotham before you see it. The Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie opens with a radio report of streets piled high with waste, the result of a garbage strike that has affected everyone in the city. Some, though, are hit by the stink sooner than others.
The rarefied air up in the balcony of Wayne Hall must be cleaner. In the television interviews that punctuate his mayoral campaign, Thomas Wayne draws a hard line between those who make something of themselves, and those he dubs “clowns.” It’s a comforting perspective for the privileged of Gotham - the idea that there’s a karmic reason for the suffering endured by those they step over in the street.
Wayne’s apparent disposal of Arthur Fleck and his mother, Penny, is a mystery that runs throughout Joker. The truth behind their relationship remains open to interpretation. But what’s beyond dispute is that Penny worked in Wayne Manor as a young woman. By the time we meet her, however, she has spent part of her life institutionalized in Gotham’s mental health system.
Cullen believes Wayne put Penny there after their proximity led to a relationship and her pregnancy became a professional inconvenience. That’s a perspective supported by the old photo Arthur finds of his mother late in the film, which bears a note on the back: “I love the way you smile - TW.” Could Arthur be imagining this? It’s possible. We just don’t know.
Is Joker a "dangerous" movie? Joaquin Phoenix and director Todd Phillips respond to critics:
Whatever your takes on this cascade of revelations, it’s not the only view Joker offers of Thomas Wayne as a dad. Consider the glimpse we get of Bruce’s lonely childhood. Wayne’s instinct is to protect his son, but it’s left his boy isolated behind the high gates of the manor. He’s surrounded by the trappings of his father’s success but brought up at arm’s length by Alfred. Bruce might not be orphaned when we meet him, but absent parents are already shaping the emotional detachment of the future Batman.
While you could argue that Thomas Wayne’s distant treatment of Bruce is ultimately good for Gotham, what’s less so is his comparable approach to politics. His mayoral campaign is rooted in paternalism: the idea that the people he would be responsible for don’t know what’s good for them, and must be taught to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
It’s a nominally caring philosophy: doing for people what they cannot do for themselves. But in medicine, paternalistic attitudes are considered dangerously dated, associated with a time when ordinary people had little choice in their care. In this case, Wayne’s paternalism also carries an implicit suggestion of laziness - that the poor of Gotham are unwilling, rather than unable, to access the opportunities that have led Wayne to the peak of societal power. Brett Cullen as Thomas Wayne in Joker.Gotham’s vulnerable don’t have the support Wayne assumes from a distance. They are, as the heavy metaphor in Arthur’s daily routine suggests, climbing a long, bleak staircase every day and facing a painful fall should they slip. The feeble social services they have relied on are drying up. When Wayne points blame at the most desperate, he becomes as much responsible for igniting the film’s riots as Arthur.
In Batman stories like Batman Begins, Thomas Wayne has traditionally functioned as a tragic backstory - both to Bruce and to the city he’d hoped to save. He’s the failed pitch for funding and policy change that justifies all of Batman’s perp-punching. In Joker, by contrast, he's a fascinating villain: simultaneously condemning Gotham's poor as workshy, and asking them to trust him with their futures. That shift in perspective lets us empathize with the people of Gotham for the first time on film - they're not just goons-in-waiting, but the victims of hands-off disciplinarians like Wayne.
With the view we have of Arthur’s life and the city around him, we know that Gotham is suffering. This is the perspective that allows us to understand, if not condone, the violent anger that builds throughout the film.
Watch Joaquin Phoenix discuss Joker's makeup design in the following video:
When Arthur finally confronts the would-be mayor in a bathroom at the Chaplin show and breaks into uncontrolled laughter, we get to see how Wayne deals with what he doesn’t understand - anger, disgust, and a punch in the face. He isn’t the potential savior of Gotham who never got his shot, but the cruel representative of the 1% who tips it over the edge.
When Arthur finally confronts the would-be mayor in a bathroom at the Chaplin show and breaks into uncontrolled laughter, we get to see how Wayne deals with what he doesn’t understand - anger, disgust, and a punch in the face. His coldness in personal matters such as these reflects a lack of empathy in his politics. He isn’t the potential saviour of Gotham who never got his shot, but the cruel representative of the 1% who tips it over the edge.
What did you think of Thomas Wayne in Joker? Let's discuss in the comments!
Apr 29, 2020 · No one knows who Joker’s parents are. But is that the truth, or is Alfred covering for his boss? Is Thomas Wayne Joker’s dad? Considering the movie’s angle on Thomas, it seems likely.
- Ani Bundel
Oct 5, 2019 · One of the biggest bombshells in Joker has to do with the Batman villain’s parentage, but between Thomas Wayne’s actions and Arthur’s mom’s mental state, it becomes a flaw.
Oct 9, 2019 · In Joker, Thomas Wayne (Batman's father) and Penny Fleck (Joker's mother) are key characters. Penny claims that Thomas is actually Arthur's father.
Thomas denies being his father, claiming that Penny is not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and reads Penny's file, which states she was a delusional narcissist who adopted Arthur while working as a housekeeper for the Waynes.
