Remember when the biggest controversy surrounding Joker was when star Marc Maron said that comic book movies were for nerds and children? As Todd Phillips’ gritty origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime edges closer to release, the movie has been generating plenty of negative publicity surrounding its depictions of violence that threaten to overshadow what has the potential to be a record-breaking debut at the box office when it hits theaters this week.
Despite Joker being heavily marketed as an R-rated psychological thriller that bears only the smallest links to the extended Batman mythology, theater chain Alamo Drafthouse has nonetheless released a warning to parents thinking of bringing their kids to the movie. Anybody who has even the slightest idea about Joker’s content should know this already, but in an effort to deter families from seeing the adult-orientated pic, they’ve released a statement anyway.
“Joker is rated R and for good reason. There’s lots of very, very rough language, brutal violence, and overall bad vibes. It’s a gritty, dark, and realistic, Taxi Driver-esque depiction of one man’s descent into madness. It’s not for kids, and they won’t like it anyway. (There’s no Batman.)”
Just because Joker contains a familiar character that most people with even a passing interest in either comic books or popular culture itself recognize, parents should still be more than aware that it isn’t a movie for kids. Just because the character has battled Batman in several films over the years doesn’t mean that it’s your standard superhero movie, and anyone thinking of taking young children to see Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness should probably heed the warning.
However, this kind of thing has happened before, with parents crying foul after buying tickets to see Deadpool, despite the marketing being heavily sold on the fact that the Merc with a Mouth’s first big-screen adventure was a foul-mouthed, violent romp. True, young audiences are usually the key demographic when it comes to comic book movies, but they’re definitely not the target audience for Joker.
