The Batman 2022 Movie Review: The Joker Character Is Real, Hence It Was Removed Due To Concerns Of Bad Impact In Society

Poster for the film The Batman which will start showing in Indonesian cinemas on March 2, 2022. (Instagram)

JAKARTA – The Batman 2022 film received extraordinary attention from the audience. In the Batman film, besides the character Bruce Wayne, who became a superhero. Fans also like the antihero who is Batman's main enemy, the Joker.

But in The Batman, the Joker character is removed. There are only Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman accompanying Batman. What is it?

The Joker character scene that was removed from the film The Batman has finally appeared in cyberspace. The scene of Barry Keoghan and Robert Pattinson is also going viral and has become a trending topic. The deleted image was shared by director Matt Reeves on his social media accounts.

The deleted scene shows the shape of the wound on the Joker's face. Concave lines around the mouth and cheeks and a permanent smile. The scene shows bubbly, scarred skin on the Joker's face, consistent with acid damage. Netizens said his appearance was scary and spooky.

The part of The Batman movie that was removed, because it was seen as too vulgar. (YouTube Screenshot)

However, regardless of who the cast is, the Joker character itself always attracts attention. The Joker is a figure who is both hated and loved.

As a psychopath who considers cruelty and chaos as humor, the Joker is presented to be a symbol of all catastrophe. This assumption is made even more perfect by the scar on the lips that makes the Joker always grin.

In Laughing at Nothing: Humor as a Response to Nihilism (2003), John Marmysz argues that for a character like the Joker, that is, someone who feels he is the target of a bad destiny, humor is a way of understanding life.

"Laughter, in each case, is just an outburst that arises as a result of a mismatch between the image and reality," Marmysz wrote in the book.

This iconic DC Comics villain is described as having a character who makes him laugh when he's sad. Many fans of this character think, is this condition real or just fiction?

Mental Illness

Reporting from the health site WebMD, that the Joker's mental condition called Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is real. That is the condition of not being able to control emotions and feel them according to the situation they face. They laugh and cry suddenly, uncontrollably at the wrong time.

The number of sufferers of this disease in America reaches 1 million people. About 50 percent of stroke sufferers in the world experience emotional disturbances that the Joker character suffers from.

The Joker character whose presence is always an attraction in every Batman movie. (Doc. Warner Bros Pictures)

This response is not caused by mood swings or mood swings, but because of a nervous system disorder. PBA is also known as emotional incontinence, emotional lability, crying involuntarily, laughing and crying pathologically.

The Joker character, for example, will laugh out loud when he is stressed or sad, but on the other hand, the Joker will cry uncontrollably when the mood is filled with joy. Outbursts of frustration and anger, laughing and crying and facial expressions that do not match these emotions can occur several times a day or several times a month.

PBA Symptoms

The crying and laughter of people with PBA is different from the characteristics of other mental disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder. In contrast to laughter and crying in normal people, people with PBA symptoms can laugh and cry uncontrollably and excessively.

Patients with PBA do not experience disturbances in eating and sleeping patterns, so they do not experience weight loss as experienced by sufferers of other mental disorders.

Scientists believe PBA is caused by damage to the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that controls emotions. PBA usually occurs in people who have experienced neurological disorders, such as: head injury, stroke, epilepsy, parkinsonism, alzheimer's, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Joaquin Phoenix brilliantly played the role of Arthur Fleck, a PBA sufferer who transformed into the Joker in the 2019 film The Joker (Pixabay).

The doctor will ask about the symptoms experienced, perform a physical examination to determine whether the patient has PBA. It is very important for the patient to explain the symptoms they are experiencing, such as when and how long the symptoms have lasted. Symptoms of PBA are similar to mental disorders.

The doctor will perform several supporting examinations, such as an MRI scan or CT scan, to ensure that there is no brain injury or stroke. An electroencephalography (EEG) examination is also performed to see if the patient has epilepsy or other neurological diseases.

Treatment Method

A number of treatment methods are with drugs, such as antidepressants, dextromethorphan, or quinidine. The goal of giving these drugs is to relieve the severity of symptoms, and reduce the frequency of uncontrollable emotions.

To help patients carry out daily activities independently, doctors will also suggest yoga therapy. In patients with PBA, it can cause sufferers to feel anxious, embarrassed to depression. Even in some cases suffering from PBA isolates themselves so that it interferes with their activities.

For sufferers of disease like the Joker character in the film The Batman 2022, crying, laughing and angry for no apparent reason can be controlled by taking drugs given by doctors and undergoing therapy. By doing this, it is hoped that PBA sufferers can carry out their activities normally.