Psychoanalysis Of A Movie Character: Joker

Psychoanalysis on The Joker
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Jocker is an American psychological thriller released in 2019 based on DC comic book character, the Joker. The protagonist of the film is a standup comedian in Gotham city whose failure and people’s judgment push him to the edge and he becomes the joker. From a psychoanalytic perspective, his nature can be studied to help why the Joker turned out this way and what underlying factors were present. The essay will analyze the Joker’s behavior in the movie through two perspectives, Ego psychology by Sigmund Freud and Erick Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development.
Ego psychology by Sigmund Freud is based on a structural model of the mind of id-ego-superego and can be used to analyze the Jocker’s behavior. The jocker is a devious and pathological liar, a psychopathic murderer that lacks any form of empathy all the while showing schizophrenic tendencies. The id is the unconscious piece of an individual’s personality that is responsible for impulses, desires, drives and motivates the individual to seek immediate gratification of their impulses and avoid pain and displeasure at any cost. The id is present in an individual since birth and it is responsible for how they act in a bid to satisfy their urges. The Jocker’s personality is odd and, in the movie, he is misunderstood and seems to be residing in a world of his own. The individual is a loner and lives with his mother in Gotham city where he also works as a clown on a part-time basis. He has very poor communication skills, bizarre behavior, facial expressions and body movements that are off-putting to people around him which causes others to shun, avoid or bully him. As a clown, his odd behavior is more visible and it proves to be unsettling for the crowd. He suffers from a neurological disorder that causes him to laugh pathologically to the point that he cannot deliver his jokes well and also triggers other people for his disregard for social cues.
The ego is described as the link between the ego and the reality in which it tries to please the desires of the id by bringing them to reality. The individual is consciously aware and although not all functions are conscious, the operations are cognitive, defensive, intellectual and reliance on perception. The jocker is aware that he comes off as odd to people but he does not understand the extent to which people consider him weird. He does not understand why he is always stigmatized, bullied and is never accepted socially and it is evident because his main relationship connection is with his mother, whom he loves so much. The jocker has a past with being abused and the injuries caused are likely to be the ones responsible for the disorder that he has, Involuntary Emotional Expression Disorder (IEED). The disease is characterized by involuntary and exaggerated laughter and doctors attribute this to the lack of ability to control their facial muscles as they express their emotions. The effects of this disorder can be seen as embarrassing and socially inappropriate and the jocker is aware of the judgment towards it but does not understand why he is the subject of this judgment.
The superego deals with the analysis of s...