Joker

Abstract

A heated political debate erupted in Greece in October 2019 when two civil servants invited the Greek Police to intervene and remove from the premises minors found watching Joker. The 15-year-olds, who were watching the movie with their parents, were in breach of Law 3905/2010, a law that reiterates legislature from the 1930s (Law 445/1937) forbidding minors from accessing non-age-appropriate cinematic productions in public cinemas. The public debate surrounding the incident created ripple effects, with some from the left arguing that the (conservative) government aimed at stifling waves of political protest against social inequalities, as depicted in the film, amongst Greek youth. Unfortunately, issues related to Joker’s capacity for ‘toxic masculinity’ as well as the film’s implications for a curtailed mental health system within austerity went largely amiss in the public and media debate, which was overwhelmed, instead, by the ‘vulnerable-child-in-need-of-protection’ hegemonic discourse. In this chapter, at first we contextualize Joker within the discussion about ‘toxic masculinity’ and address the lack of discursive interest in mental health issues; we move on with the media publicity and social media contributions surrounding the event, before we continue with a critical discussion of the media violence debate regarding children and youth.