Hello, and welcome to the show! I’m your gracious host, The Matinee Moviegoer. In today’s installment, we will be discussing Joker and Taxi Driver. More specifically, we will be discussing the archetype of the outcast protagonist, or as I like to call them, the lonely loners.

WARNING: Taxi Driver contains racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and extreme violence. I am in no way endorsing any of this, I am simply recognizing that these elements contribute to fleshing out a character

As we all know by now, Joker was a massive success not only for superhero movies, but for small budget “artisan” flicks in general. It’s stellar cinematography places you in a depressing and visceral urban environment that is in itself characterized through the mountains of trash, oozing smoke, and bat-shit crazy citizens. The score is unsettling and beautiful, much like Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the titular character. Joker is an intriguing character study, and it’s success is reflected in It’s leading man winning an Oscar.

Upon first viewing Joker is nothing short of mesmerizing, as a superhero/character study movie like this has never happened before (or at least hasn’t been pulled of with this much success). However after a second viewing I began to question my initial perception of Joker. Sure, the beats still hit, but they certainly didn’t resonate nearly as much as they did during the first sitting. It began to feel much more shallow than I initially had believed it to be.

Obviously, this could be chalked up to the law of marginal utility, that being the more you watch something the less benefit you receive from watching it. However that wasn’t the case. After sinking my teeth into it I began to recognize the reason certain elements and scenes felt so empty. The reason being that Joker stands on the shoulders of a giant. Joker wouldn’t be the movie it is if not for the 1976 masterpiece, Taxi Driver.