The Joker movie hit brings us characters whose works are hard to justify but easy to regret. We have to wonder if anything like this has ever happened in the video game medium.
I looked at the Joker last night and I have to publicly express that I am shocked. Positive, but shocked anyway. I was expecting the movie to be different from what Hollywood serves on the comic book template, but I wasn't really close to being prepared for such a dark and disturbing performance. I am so impressed that I can find no objection to the movie. Contrary to the Joker, I only have positive thoughts. I liked absolutely every scene and I can't praise it enough.
On the plus side, I gravitate to gloomy themes and adore tragic characters in stories; I'm sure some more experienced movie connoisseurs will agree that it's an awfully difficult job to tell a story about a character that audiences should not identify with and should not cheer for. That is, it is difficult to tell the story from the perspective of such a character, without the story being irritating, so you still want to consume it to the end. And that is exactly what the Joker is the perfect thing to do.
This article is not intended to be a review, but for the sake of the point, I must say that I was primarily fascinated by the movie, because it's been a long time since a story has been great to me and its protagonist is disgusting like the Joker. This is the first thing that comes to my mind only Perfume: The History of a Murderer, but the question is whether anything like the Joker directed by Todd Phillips ever achieved in the video game medium.
It's not hard to find a game where the main characters do horrible things, with or without player control. There are such a lot, but very rarely the game remains morally neutral and leaves you to decide for yourself what is good and what is bad. For example, there are times when in games like The Witcher or Deus Ex you have to choose more or less evil because there is no other choice, but these stories usually end up so that the main character fulfills his heroic task and does a good thing. There are characters who are aware that they are bad people, such as the phenomenal Arthur Morgan of last year's RDR 2, but they also repent and redeem themselves over time. For redemption is also a kind of catharsis and for the one consuming the story, best demonstrated by the cult series Breaking Bad.
It's not some spoiler to tell you that the Joker doesn't become a good person in the movie. His transformation into a villain goes in only one direction and this makes him a different character from anything the viewer is used to. I already had one plan in mind when trying to justify the ending of the Game of Thrones series and the click that occurred in Daenerys Stormborn's head. But as much as I tried to argue why it was completely justified that the character went crazy, I couldn't stand up for that story. This is probably the best proof that character transformations are not always easy to perform. Even when we know they are coming, as in the case of Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader, things can easily lose balance.
With games, that balance is an even bigger problem. Games that have disgusting main characters, with which you do horrible things without a bit of conscience, are mostly games where you do just that. And because of that, they are extremely controversial. In Manhunt, for example, you play as a killer who is forced to take part in a snuff film. In Hatred, you express the main character's hatred of humanity in a very violent way. None of these games are focused on the story of the character themselves, but acting through the role of the character is the focus of the whole story. It's disappointing, and after watching the Joker, I got the impression that something was missing from the video game medium.
However, I think in the video game world there is at least one example of something close to the Joker level. The original The Last of Us basically has a protagonist who doesn't (p) remain a good person at the end of the story. And since the player does not influence his decision, there is no consequential moralizing about whether Joel's move is good or not. Even if moralizing comes through some conflict of views in the sequel to the story, both views of Joel's decision have valid arguments.
If you have watched Tarantino's Kill Bill then you know the perfect example of such a situation. In the final argument between Beatrix and Bill, one such conversation goes like this:
Bill: It's not up to you to make that decision.
Beatrix: Yes. But the decision is right.
The Last of Us is thematically as dark as the Joker, and it looks like the sequel might dig even deeper. In a recent interview, the playwright of The Last of Us Part II described the play as follows: “Ultimately, it's a story of cyclical violence. But beyond that, it's a conversation about the consequences that trauma leaves on one's soul. Ellie is traumatized and that leaves a mark on her and the way she deals with the world. "
I don't expect Ellie to go psychologically to a place she doesn't return to, but I'm actually more interested in Joel's role in the story. I think Part II is chosen in the name of the game for a reason, as the part that continues to the previous action, because number 2 in the name of the game does not necessarily mean a sequel - for example, Red Dead Redemption 2 is chronologically ahead of part one. The continuation of the story is not only a relay lecture but also a conscious reaction to what preceded the story. This is where The Last of Us: Part II could enter very dark territory.
Of course, these are my guesses now, but I really hope so. The Joker thrilled me as a movie that pulls the viewer out of the comfort zone, and I think it would be fantastic if we had something like this in interactive form. Time will tell if my hopes are grounded or not, and until then - everyone will go to the movies to watch the Joker!
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