The Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, charts the rise of one of the most iconic movie villains of all time. Failed comedian and party clown, Arthur Fleck lives in Gotham, a city that is being torn apart by crime, unemployment, inequality and alienation. His own internal and external struggles eventually explode in a series of violent outbursts that take on social meaning among the dispossessed of Gotham City. His isolated acts, become the site that corrals the general disenfranchisement, suffering and violence erupting in the city into a meaningful cry. While, on the surface, this movie might appear to offer a crude psychologizing of Joker, what we actually witness is something more profound. Much like the Titanic became The Titanic because of the way a contingent accident became the incarnation of the contradictions of an epoch, so Fleck becomes The Joker when his nihilistic outbursts are taken to capture the contradictions of the city.
In this seminar we’ll be taking a deep dive into the relationship between Joker, Batman and Gotham city in order to understand why Joker is such a powerful figure, why Batman is impotent against him, and how we actually need to tarry with this sinister figure. By doing this, we will gain insight into the nature of the symptom, the meaning of divine violence, and how change happens.
As always, it can also be watched live or later via Patreon. To access this - and all other - pyroseminars, you just need to be signed up to the Flame level, or above, on Patreon.
OTHER PYROSEMINARS INCLUDE:
Embracing the Absurd | Atheism isn’t Enough
Beyond Belief | Christianity and Ideology Critique
The Alien from Inner Space | Sin and Prometheus
On Love | The Unwanted Gift of Nothing
Embracing Failure | On Not Getting what you Want
The Tech of Pyrotheology | Transformance Art
The Tech of Pyrotheology | Decentering Practices
Freedom from Meaning | Drive, Grace, the Absurd
The Last Guru | On Fantasy and Transference
Escaping the Sitcom | On Brent and Gargoyles
Catching Light | Lewis and the Sublime
God After God | The Certainty of Doubt
Joined by Lack | The Ontic and the Metaphysical
Confronting the Holy | Whole or Hole
Losing the Lost Object | On Conversion
On Envy and Jealousy | Girard and Christology
Deranged Animal | Desire, Drive and The Thing
The Meaning in Life | Drive and the Transcendental
Alienation Times Two | Traversing the Fantasy
God Forsaking God | Conversion, Forgiveness, Joy
Who is No. 1 | Peterson, PC and the Unconscious
Is God Dead | The Event of Radical Theology
Mapping Pyrotheology | Returning to the Start
Problem or Symptom | The Zizek/Peterson Debate
The Magic Trick of Christianity
The Difference Between Identical Wines
Pyrotheology and Ultimate Concern