Joker: A Jungian Analysis.

Joker (left) & Man and His Symbols (right).

The 2019 film Joker and its 2024 sequel, Joker: Folie a Deux, are unique examples of Jungian Psychology. Joaquin Phoenix’s character, Arthur Fleck, suffers from mental illness caused by traumatic events in his childhood and his interactions with those around him. In many ways, they capture the spirit of this age, with both films outlining the problem and the solution to the current epidemic of mental illness in society. This essay will examine these ideas, including Carl Jung’s concepts of the Shadow and Individuation, which he believed were essential to achieving psychological wholeness.

Part I: Joker

To understand the message of Joker, it is crucial to outline the film’s plot. The film begins on 15 October 1981 with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) being assaulted by a teenage street gang in Gotham City. From this and subsequent scenes, we learn that Arthur works as a party clown while pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. He lives with his mother and sees a social worker each week who prescribes seven different medications to help alleviate his mental illness and negative thoughts. However, after he brings a pistol into a children’s hospital, Arthur is fired from his job and is assaulted by three Wall Street workers while travelling home on a train. He kills all three men with his pistol, which awakens the dark side of his personality.

After performing a stand-up comedy act at Pogo’s Comedy Club, Arthur is told by his mother, Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy), that he is the son of Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). However, upon meeting Wayne, Arthur is told this is false and that he was adopted in 1951 by Penny and subjected to physical abuse by her boyfriend. After confirming this truth through Arkham State Hospital, Arthur murders Penny and appears on the Murray Franklin Show, transforming into the Joker. While on the show, he gives everyone watching a wake-up call by telling morbid jokes and explaining how society has become self-centred and rude. After shooting Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), Joker is arrested and committed to Arkham State Hospital, where the film ends with him leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints and being chased by a staff worker.

At the film's beginning, Arthur Fleck asks his social worker, “Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” (Phillips, 2019). Although set in 1981, Joker perfectly describes our world in the twenty-first century. In many ways, the Ancient Hermetics predicted our current period of chaos two thousand years ago. In Asclepius, Hermes Trismegistus tells his disciples that at the end of the Iron Age, “The dark will indeed be preferred to the light, and death thought better than life” (Salaman, 2007, p.80). This is poignantly expressed in Joker when Arthur Fleck’s social worker reads a passage in his joke diary that says, “I just hope my death makes more cents than my life” (Phillips, 2019). This scene reflects the despair and nihilism that have become prevalent among many people in Western society. It is also echoed in Hermes’ prophecy, which says:

   “To men, tired of living, the cosmos will no longer seem an object of wonder or something to be reverenced…Because of this people will no longer love, but come to despise it…An angry man will be considered strong and the most evil regarded as good” (Salaman, 2007, p.80).

One of the overarching themes of Joker is Arthur Fleck's desire for human connection through his “fantasies”. The film's fantasy sequences see him using his imagination to connect with Murray Franklin as a father figure and Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) as a romantic interest. In Jungian Psychology, dreams of this nature represent unconscious aspects of our psyche, known as archetypes, which are primal images in the collective unconscious that date back to our evolutionary past. In Arthur’s case, Murray and Sophie represent the father and lover archetypes, symbolising Arthur’s desire for closeness and warmth in his relationships. When Arthur attempts to connect with Thomas Wayne, only to be rebuffed by him, he says, “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I don’t know why everyone is so rude. I don’t know why you are. I don’t want anything from you. Maybe a little bit of warmth. How about a hug dad?” (Phillips, 2019). In the end, Wayne and Franklin meet Arthur with hostility and heartlessness, while his longing for a romantic relationship is only fulfilled in Joker: Folie a Deux in the form of Lee Quinzel.

At this point, it is crucial to summarise what Jungian Psychology is. Jungian Psychology, also known as Analytical Psychology, was developed by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) following his break with Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in 1913. Unlike Freud, Jung taught that “the mind and the ‘unconscious’ could largely be trusted, and that it was all the time attempting to assist the individual” (Anonymous, 2025). Jung’s model of the psyche consists of four components, divided into three aspects: the conscious mind (persona and ego), the unconscious mind (shadow and animus/anima), and the Self, which oversees the entire psyche. Through these interactions operate the collective unconscious, which is the realm of archetypes, and the personal unconscious, which is “a product of the interaction between the collective unconscious and the development of the individual during life” (Hopwood, 2025). Jung’s ideas have proven immensely popular among psychologists, psychiatrists, and the general public, and terms such as archetype and introvert have become standard parts of the English language.

Dream interpretation also plays a significant role in Jungian Psychology. In a way, Arthur Fleck’s fantasies represent his unconscious mind’s attempt to deal with his inner turmoil. According to Carl Jung, “The general function of dreams is to try to restore our psychological balance by producing dream material that re-establishes, in a subtle way, the total psychic equilibrium” (Jung, 1964, p.34). In other words, dreams are often trying to convey something about our personal lives and future events. For example, a dream about a woman in the company of a man symbolises confidence and decisiveness, as seen in Arthur’s imaginary date with Sophie (Fornari, 1990, p.252). However, while dreams often announce things long before they happen, they are not the result of clairvoyance or supernatural powers. As explained by Jung, “Many crises in our lives have a long unconscious history…But what we consciously fail to see is frequently perceived by our unconscious, which can pass the information on through dreams” (Jung, 1964, p.36). This is echoed in Joker: Folie a Deux when Arthur experiences a vision of himself being killed, which ultimately comes true at the end of the film.

One archetype embodied in the character of Arthur Fleck is the Trickster. In Jungian Psychology, the Trickster represents the first rudimentary stage in the development of the hero myth, embodying the instinctual, uninhibited, and childish aspects of the protagonist [Charlie Chaplin embodies this archetype in the 1936 film Modern Times, with a clip from the film being featured in Joker – BB]. According to Jung, the Trickster is naturally introspective and closely attached to his mother, which is reflected in Arthur Fleck. In Jung’s words, “He missed out on the playfulness of the child…and he is seeking ways in which those lost experiences and personal qualities can be rehabilitated” (Jung, 1964, p.110). Jung also suggests that the Trickster often undergoes an initiatory ordeal, which detaches him from parental influences. In my opinion, this viewpoint is outdated since modern scientific studies have shown that boys who have healthy relationships with their mothers are less likely to engage in violence, are more likely to succeed in life and live five years longer (Newsom, 2015).

When Arthur sees his social worker for the second time in the film, he says to her, “For my whole life, I didn’t know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice” (Phillips, 2019). This scene symbolises the Shadow side of Arthur’s psyche becoming conscious following his murder of the three Wall Street workers. In Man and His Symbols, Carl Jung explains that “What we call civilized consciousness has steadily separated itself from the basic instincts. But these instincts have not disappeared. They have merely lost their contact with our consciousness and are thus forced to reassert themselves in an indirect fashion” (Jung, 1964, p.72). When Jung wrote these words in the early 1960s, the world was engulfed in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Jung saw the lies, deceptions and threats between these two military powers as reflections of each other, with the Soviet Union being described as the “evil shadow” of the West’s insecurities and problems. As Jung said, “It is this state of affairs that explains the peculiar feeling of helplessness of so many people in Western societies” (Jung, 1964, p.73). In turn, this reflects the period in which Joker is set.

After Arthur kills the three Wall Street workers, he inadvertently starts a movement among Gotham City’s lower class aimed at protesting against the wealthy upper class. This conflict between the individual and society was anticipated by Carl Jung, who saw it as the result of the unintegrated Shadow. According to Christopher Perry, Jung believed that the failure to recognise, acknowledge and deal with shadow elements is “what fuels prejudice between minority groups or countries and can spark off anything between an interpersonal row and a major war” (Perry, 2015). This is seen in Joker with Gotham’s poorer residents wearing clown masks and makeup while inciting riots and assaulting police officers during protests. According to Jung, much of this behaviour stems from projection: what we dislike in others reflects aspects that we dislike within ourselves. I will return to the concept of the Shadow in Part II of this essay.

One of the best and most thought-provoking scenes in Joker is towards the end when Arthur Fleck is invited to appear on the Murray Franklin Show to talk with Murray Franklin. While the entire scene won’t be quoted in full, extracting and highlighting specific lines is relevant. These sentences are as follows:

   “Comedy is subjective, Murray. Isn’t that what they say? All of you, the system that knows so much, you decide what’s right or wrong, the same way that you decide what’s funny or not…Everybody is awful these days. It’s enough to make anyone crazy…Everybody just yells and screams at each other. Nobody’s civil anymore! Nobody thinks what it’s like to be the other guy!” (Phillips, 2019).

What Arthur Fleck says in this scene is highly relevant. I have always felt that there is a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech. In other words, tolerance is fine, a noble and necessary thing in human society, except when it tolerates intolerance, because then it provides fertile soil for violence and hatred to fester in society. Put another way, people know right from wrong: many choose to be ignorant of other people’s feelings to maintain the status quo. Instead of belittling those with whom we disagree, we should focus more on uplifting others by highlighting their inner beauty, helping them see their truth more clearly. In other words, even if people disagree, we can still be kind to one another and treat each other with courtesy and respect.

The underlying message of Joker is that there would be less mental illness in the world if people were much kinder to each other. Indeed, in Asclepius, Hermes Trismegistus tells his disciples that following this period of chaos and disruption, the world will be restored to its former beauty and splendour and songs of praise to the universe and life will be sung by human beings. To quote Hermes, “There will be a return to all that is good, a sacred and spiritual re-establishment of Nature herself compelled by the course of time through that will, which is and was, without beginning and without end” (Salaman, 2007, p.81). Part II of this essay will explain how we get to this bright future.

Part II: Joker: Folie a Deux

Joker: Folie a Deux takes place in 1983, two years after the events of Joker. The film begins with Arthur Fleck incarcerated in Arkham State Hospital and awaiting trial for the murder of five people. While there, he is transferred to a music class where he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), with whom he falls in love. During his trial, Arthur is represented by Maryanne Stewert (Catherine Keener), who attempts to convince the jury and Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) that he was mentally ill when he committed those murders. After two weeks, Arthur fires her and decides to represent himself in court. However, after being sexually assaulted by prison guards at Arkham State Hospital, Arthur admits to all his charges, which causes Lee Quinzel to leave the courtroom. The jury finds Arthur guilty, only for a car bomb to blow up the courthouse, allowing Arthur to escape. He reunites with Lee, but she tells him, “All we had was the fantasy, and you gave up” (Phillips, 2024). Devastated, Arthur is reincarcerated to Arkham State Hospital, and the film ends with him being stabbed to death by a psychopathic inmate.

At the beginning of the film, Maryanne Stewert tells Arthur Fleck that his abusive childhood “caused a split…this fragmentation in you…to help you cope with your pain” (Phillips, 2024). This refers to the Shadow side of our psyche, which Carl Jung said is expressed in the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In Man and His Symbols, Jung refers to this as dissociation and says, “In the story Jekyll’s “split” took the form of a physical change, rather than (as in reality) an inner, psychic state” (Jung, 1964, p.7). Jung says the Shadow “contains the hidden, repressed, and unfavourable (or nefarious) aspects of our personality” (Jung, 1964, p.110). However, while the shadow and the conscious ego are inextricably linked, they also possess positive attributes, including normal instincts and creative impulses. Indeed, according to Christopher Perry, “it is necessary to emphasise that positive, loving feelings, fantasies and impulses can become as much part of the shadow as negative, hostile ones” (Perry, 2015). Jung explained that the process of assimilating and acknowledging the Shadow leads to self-acceptance and healing within the individual.

The film also explains how music can help heal the psyche and achieve wholeness and Individuation. The music teacher at Arkham State Hospital tells Arthur, “We use music in this class to make us whole, to balance the conflicting forces, the fractures within ourselves” (Phillips, 2024). In the sixth century BCE, Pythagoras taught that music had a special power over the soul and was essential to the harmony of the individual and the cosmos. Today, this understanding has been revived through music therapy and sound healing. In his book, Healing Sounds, Jonathan Goldman said that in the ancient world, “There were healing temples which focused upon music as the main force for harmonizing the body and spirit, thus effecting cures” (Goldman, 2002, p.29). Goldman also said that music can induce altered states of consciousness. In his words, “Sound can be used as a Jacob’s ladder to journey to different levels of consciousness, or ‘heavens’ as they may be called” (Weidner, 2001). In other words, music serves as a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms.

In The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Manly P. Hall wrote, “Harmony is a state recognized by great philosophers as the immediate prerequisite of beauty” (Hall, 2007, p.215). This means that goodness acting according to its nature is harmony, and beauty is harmony manifesting its true nature in the world of form. Pythagoras taught that studying music could help one understand all aspects of nature. The Ancient Mystery Schools taught that everything was in a state of vibration and that “Everything is frequency. Sound can change molecular structure. It can create form” (Goldman, 2002, p.viii). This has been demonstrated in scientific experiments where frozen water molecules were subjected to different sounds and emotional intents before being photographed. What the experiments showed was that “The clean water molecules look like snowflakes, displaying geometric forms, while those of polluted water look like mud” (Goldman, 2002, p.158). Given that the human body is composed of approximately 70% water, it is logical to assume that the same principles that apply to water molecules also apply to the human body. Indeed, any music can be used to heal physical, mental and spiritual ailments if the frequency and intention are in harmony with each other (Weidner, 2001).

Although the ancient Mystery Schools saw sound and music as spiritual and sacred, this metaphysical truth was questioned during the Middle Ages. In Temple of the Cosmos, Jeremy Naydler explains how, in Medieval universities, two groups with opposing views emerged: the Realists and the Nominalists. According to Naydler, the Realists argued that the essence of something “is laid hold of by the human mind in the concept it forms of that object. The concept formed in the mind is thus rooted in the spiritual world, to which the essence of the object belongs” (Naydler, 1996, p.139). In contrast, the Nominalists argued against this. They said words are “merely empty sounds without any intrinsic reference to things…and…are applied to things simply for the convenience of the human beings who use them” (Naydler, 1996, p.139-40). In other words, the Nominalist view was that words have no inherent spiritual basis and are arbitrary concepts applied according to human convention. Ultimately, the Nominalist worldview emerged victorious and influenced Western thought so profoundly that science and music have become seemingly separate fields of study.

Returning to Carl Jung’s psychology, the process whereby the individual achieves psychological wholeness and integration is called Individuation. This integration involves the animus (masculine component) and anima (feminine component) coming into a sacred union, symbolised on screen by the romance between Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. Indeed, our disconnection from our animus/anima is what causes toxic masculinity and toxic femininity in all its many forms. As explained by Sarah Elkhaldy:

   “It’s not like women don’t need boundaries and men don’t need to be informed by their heart centre. As a woman without the ability to assert boundaries is a prime target for stalkers or any variety of perpetrator energy. And a man cut off from his ability to access empathy can fragment into psychopathy” (The Alchemist, 2022).

Jung stated that our relationship with our animus/anima was partly based on the relationship we had with our parents as children. If those interactions were positive, we would develop healthy masculinity and femininity. If those interactions were negative, they would appear as emotional and psychological issues that impact the individual and their relationships [I would add, as a parenthesis, that while a lack of good role models can create harmful habits, we are all born with the natural ability to be good at relationships, particularly when our minds slow down and experience more emotional bandwidth. For more information, read Funny Little Human by Fiona Lukeis – BB]. Jung saw the process of Individuation as harmonising our undeveloped animus/anima by integrating the conscious and unconscious minds.

The essence of Carl Jung’s philosophy was that “Man becomes whole, integrated, calm, fertile, and happy when (and only when) the process of individuation is complete, when the conscious and unconscious have learned to live at peace and complement one another” (Jung, 1964, p.xi). The process of Individuation was heavily influenced by the alchemical marriage of the Red King and White Queen, which Jung began researching in the 1920s. As explained in Man and His Symbols, “Man’s knowledge (Logos) then encounters women’s relatedness (Eros) and their union is represented as that symbolic ritual of a sacred marriage which has been at the heart of initiation since its origins in the mystery religions of antiquity” (Jung, 1964, p.126). In other words, the alchemical marriage of thought and feeling creates the Philosopher’s Stone, an occult metaphor for love and spiritual enlightenment. This is why many great works of art are love stories: the male and female characters symbolise the Red King and White Queen, or animus and anima.

To conclude this essay, I would like to discuss how achieving psychological wholeness can contribute to the improvement of society. In the early 1980s, a scientific study was undertaken in three countries to understand how mental practice, particularly Transcendental Meditation, could produce a “field effect” of improved quality of life in society. The study brought together 3,000 meditators in New Delhi, India, to practice Transcendental Meditation from 6 November 1980 to 31 March 1981, although this number dropped to 250 after one month. Nevertheless, during that time, crime and suicide rates fell by 11% per day in New Delhi alone (Dillbeck, 1987, p.81). Similar experiments in Puerto Rico and the Philippines produced identical results, and this phenomenon became known as the “Maharishi Effect” after the founder of Transcendental Meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi said, “The quality of collective consciousness of the society is seen as the integrated expression of the consciousness of each individual in the society” (Dillbeck, 1987, p.75). This follows the Hermetic principle of correspondence, which states there must first be peace within yourself for peace to manifest in the world: “As within, so without.”

The Joker films present a fascinating insight into Analytical Psychology. Arthur Fleck has a mental illness caused by his negative interactions with others. While the first film explains what has caused the problems in the world today, the second film elaborates on the solution to those issues. In conclusion, the message of both films is that there would be less mental illness in the world if more people experienced love and psychological integration in their lives.

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