Photo by Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros.
Director Todd Phillips has called Joker, his grimy reinterpretation of Batman’s iconic nemesis, “a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film.” That’s a pretty accurate description. Joker is a comic book story channeling the narratives and aesthetics of several critically acclaimed “real” movies — particularly Martin Scorsese’s 1982 film The King of Comedy and David Fincher’s 1999 film Fight Club.
Like Joker, King of Comedy and Fight Club are about men who violently rebel against a society they feel has cheated them. Joker builds directly on The King of Comedy’s plot and setting, in which a struggling comedian becomes obsessed with a famous talk show host in 1980s New York City. It also draws on…