Originally posted by: ZeldaFreak
Originally posted by: coffeewithmrsaturn
I enjoyed the slowness (character development), grittiness, exploration of mental illness, and some parallels to current politics/society, but there are definitely some racial, misogynistic, incel overtones, and I can't tell what the intended message there is. I mean, if the director just wants me to be wondering what his intended message was, then it worked.
I have to admit, I really don't understand where people are getting misogynistic or incel overtones from this movie beyond all the massively overblown media bullshit. Like the race thing, I guess, Arthur's "relationship" is with a black woman, but it isn't really about the race with that. The woman just happens to be black and Arthur just happens to be white, the race of them isn't an important factor to that aspect of the plot at all. And as far as the other two go, I really just don't quite understand where that's coming from at all honestly, I'd love it if you could shed some light on that to help me understand a bit better where you're getting those overtones from.
I think... well, first of all I think not all movies have to have some profound message to them, I think there's nothing wrong with just trying to make a good movie and tell a good story without trying to gleam some kind of a message out of it. But with that said, if this movie does have a message, I think it's just that we should give mentally ill people as much care as we can and not treat them like completely fucked up individuals, to not treat them as lower than everyone else. I think the movie is just saying that we should treat mentally ill people with just as much kindness and respect as anyone else, and being mentally ill myself, that's definitely a message I can get behind.
Thanks for being respectful in how you followed up my post. I don't want to get too much into it, but besides his "girlfriend", there is also his social worker and the woman at the very end of the movie. It's sort of a pattern of rejection or inability to connect with these women who are supposed to be caring for him (and all three happen to be black). I'm not saying I'm 100% certain that this is all on purpose and has a grand message behind it, but I thought it was worth thinking about. One of those things where once you see it or it's pointed out to you, it can be hard to unsee it.
