THE PEOPLE'S JOKER (2022) dir. Vera Drew

oooooooh my goodness im not surprised WB rushed to stop this get any more releases because of its transgression towards their IP but a indie parody of film in no way harms them. i hope this instance puts more eyes on this film so it can get somewhere

So I just watched The People's Joker

I had only heard of it as "Trans Joker film that got shut down after one screening at TIFF because it didn't have permission to use batman characters"

What I saw was delightful pop culture sludge that is pretty much a shitpost but a shitpost with heart. and the kind of collaborative creative work that's a delight if you go in without the expectation of this looking like a standard hollywood film

was so good to watch this in a full cinema where every joke was landing laughs.

the plot was weirdly focused on making fun of SNL and the references that weren't to the batman universe would probably put some people off but if you don't mind the memecore brand of humour that's like- here's a celebrity rendered in overly simplistic cgi playing a batman villain for a throwaway gag- there's a lot of charm to how of this time the movie is.

IDK HOW this movie manages to do so many things i dislike in other contexts well enough that i like them here but it truly does work so well

also the soundtrack slaps

I JUST WATCHED THE PEOPLE'S JOKER! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

The People's Joker is a microbudget Batman parody and transfem coming out story from Vera Drew that you might remember for being pulled from TIFF in 2022 under pressure from Warner Brothers Discovery. (The film opens with a disclaimer "This is an unauthorized parody" etc. and ends listing WB under the thank you's "for all the free publicity" lmao.) AND I JUST SAW IT IN LA AND IT WAS A BLAST.

Oddly enough, the emotional stuff worked better for me than some of the humor (and the emotional stuff hit me hard in the best of ways, y'know?) Her mother telling her as a child that she's being an emotional toll on her mother because she's a child who is... stumblingly questioning her gender. Jonathan Crane prescribing Smylex to her, which just makes you smile more so that you look outwardly happy and the people around you aren't inconvenienced by seeing you in pain. The complicated, conflicting emotions that come from memories of an abusive relationship, where you still remember the good times with a bitter taste in your mouth ("You were my happy beginning..." ouch.) Little soft moments like gender exploration during sex (in 2D animation even.) The final heart-to-heart between Joker the Harlequin and her mom. The unexpectedly poignant musical finale involving a puppet Mxyzptlk and a very earnest song.

And it's an absolute phantasmagoria of different styles. We've got 2D animation that veers between jagged and elegant. We've got greenscreen. We've got stop-motion action figures in place of our actors for certain scenes. We've got models. We've got sock puppets. And there's infinite displays of creativity on a low budget. It's a feast.

@themousefromfantasyland @thealmightyemprex @ariel-seagull-wings @grctw @brokenwild

The People's Joker is the superhero film of the year because it turned a generation of kids trans and a generation of trans clowns.

how do the "superhero stories are Modern Mythology, superheroes are our pantheon of gods!" people feel about The People's Joker?

The People's Joker Hey folks, if you can, try to check out The People's Joker this month as it is playing in select cities everywhere. It's the first trans superhero movie and i have friends in it & it's gonna be fucking wild!

this is GREAT for the group chat rn (and for the Cinema Bitches in southern california) (thank you avery @grandfatherbird)

Clowning around 🤡🌈

Another day, another wrapped and ready-to-release female-led movie with tons of hype that WB/DC is quashing! James Gunn has really decided that their new brand is just alienating, disappointing, and harassing as many fans as possible, huh?

Anywaaaays. Some gems from this interview that have me willing to fly to Australia right now to see one of the banned screenings of The People’s Joker:

“The idea of casting a trans person in a Jared Leto role was very important, because I think his performance in Dallas Buyers Club set our community back so much.”

“I wanted to make the rudest Batman movie ever made. There are jokes in it where I wanted people to watch it and go, “Can you actually say that? I’m worried a cis person might see this!”

“It definitely feels like [queer representation] is the worst it’s ever been because it is just so, like, straight. It’s really queerness through this cishet lens.”

“Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, when Joker is a kid, her mom takes her to Arkham Asylum, because the kid’s experiencing gender dysphoria and mom’s immediately like, “What the fuck am I supposed to do here? My kid’s crazy!” A child asking such a simple question like, “Mom, was I born in the wrong body?” — for me, it set off a lifetime of getting diagnosed with everything else under the sun. I was on every kind of medication. I saw so many psychiatrists. I don’t think I was born with mental health problems; I had gender dysphoria when I was a kid, and not getting proper treatment for that led to me having a ton of mental health issues throughout the course of my life.”

#freethepeoplesjoker

I want so badly to see The People's Joker.

Everything I've read about it thus far tells me it's gonna be brilliant and I'm gonna love it. The critiques seem like they're on point. The sincerity of its queer coming of age story would bring me unparalleled joy. The humor sounds right up my alley, and experimental art pieces can be so amazing when they're done right.

Why must we live in a world where multimillion media conglomerates hold all the power even when they're clearly wrong? Why must the monstrous claws of copyright strike down legal parodies now?! Why can't I watch the trans clown queen's transcendental comedic masterpiece of a 92 minute comedy skit in peace?!

Submitted April 6, 2023

Just saw The People's Joker and uh...that sure was a movie. Very happy I got to see it, had a great time. Was really cool to hear the Q&A with Vera afterwards.

Couldnt tell you if it was good or not if my life depended on it.

"I think there should be a lot more art about transitioning. I’ll see trans people and queer people all the time say things like, we should be talking about queer joy. Does every piece of queer art need to be trauma porn?  I’ve even gotten criticism about how you could make the Joker a trans woman. The Joker is a murderer, and you think that’s going to help trans women? I think I made a movie with a queer villain, and I live in a country where queer people are villainized every single day." - Vera Drew

Stijl’s work blends practical and environmental animation, something he brought to the “Purple World” and Hell sequences (Joker the Harlequin goes a lot of places in this movie). For the narrator’s space, Stijl set up a mirror with a clay frame that had wool over the sides of it. He then set up a projector in his shed and played clips of Drew narrating onto the mirror. “I recorded it on my little DSLR that I’ve had since middle school and somehow it turned out amazing,” Stijl said. by Sarah Shachat

this is what @tuckerwooley @tucker13x has to say about the peoples joker GO FUCKING WATCH IT

HEY IF I HAVE EVEN AN IOTA OF INFLUENCE IN THIS WORLD, I AM USING IT TO TELL YOU TO WATCH THIS FUCKING MOVIE. NOW.