GED101 – Understanding the Self

Prof. John Mark H. Villanueva

Name: Sañosa, Carl Angelo C. Section: A15 Date Submitted: 01/03/20

“JOKER”
: A Reflection Paper

1. Who is the main character? Describe his social self.

- The main character in the movie entitled “JOKER” was Arthur Fleck. Arthur was a
failed stand-up comedian who lives in Gotham City with his mom. In the movie,
Arthur find out that he was abused by his own mom when he was a child
because his mom suffered from a delusional disorder. But since then, his mom
always tell that Arthur was happy boy that’s why she didn’t notice Arthur was
suffering from a disease called pseudobulbar affect (PBA). This disease is
characterized by regular repetitive crying, laughing, or other emotional displays
that are exaggerated or detached from the actual emotional state of the person.
So, whenever Arthur feels discomfort, sad, and stress, he laughs exaggeratedly
without any reason of fun. Describing his social self, makes me pity of him
because he is being judged based on his condition. People tend to look at him as
a psycho for having that disease, they treat him rudely for his social status, and
because of that scenarios, he turned into someone that he did not really choose
to be. For me, he had that mindset because of how the society treated him. He
spread crime and chaos and became a psychopath who subjects fun by killing
people.
2. What are the agents of socialization that affected his social self?

- The agents of socialization that affected Arthur’s social self was first, family. In
the movie, Arthur was the son of Penny Fleck and Thomas Wayne. Thomas
Wayne is a well-known politician who somewhat likely had an affair with Arthur’s
mother, Penny. Later that time, Thomas abandoned penny and didn’t know about
Arthur. So, in result to that, penny suffered from a delusional disorder and Arthur
was a victim of that. He was abused by penny during his childhood. Next is
peers. Arthur dreamt of being a big-time stand-up comedian but he wasn’t able to
fulfill that dream of his. He was mistreated by people, judged him of negative
things, and ignored his presence because of his disease. Last is mass media.
Arthur and his mom enjoyed watching “The Franklin Show” that was hosted by
Mr. Murray Franklin. Murray was a stand-up comedian that was very popular
because of his unique sense of humor. Arthur idolized Murray for being popular
and funny and made him really pursue his dream of being a well-known stand-up
comedian someday.

3. Choose 3 scenarios in the movie that would explain how society changed his social self.

- The first scenario was when Arthur went to his psychiatrist and he shares his
feelings, what happened to him in every day, and thoughts about things. He likes
to talk to people that have interests in him but his psychiatrist don’t hear out his
thoughts and feelings, instead she immediately asks why he is like that, shortly,
his psychiatrist judges him also and doesn’t want to help him anymore. That’s
why Arthur always tell that nobody wants to hear him out and every body can’t
and won’t understand him. The next scenario was when Arthur read the letter
that his mom has written for Thomas Wayne and found out that he is also the son
of Thomas Wayne. He then first went to Thomas’ house and saw Bruce but, he
was not able to talk to Thomas. Then later in the movie, he was able to talk to
Thomas on a restroom for he sneaked in to the hall that Thomas was into for a
theater act and Thomas went into the restroom. He then asked Thomas if he
knew his mom, Penny and Thomas was shocked when he knew that Arthur was
Penny’s son. He denied that he is the father of Arthur and said bad things about
Penny. That offended Arthur and made him shout at Thomas and cursed him for
saying such words. Thomas then punched Arthur and leave. And the last
scenario was when Arthur was in the hospital because his mother was brought
they’re for having a seizure and he was watching The Franklin Show. Mr. Murray
was talking about a performance that went viral and Arthur didn’t expect that it
was his performance in the bar that he went before his mother had a seizure.
Arthur was amazed and felt excited for his idol recognized him. But in that
excitement, it changed into disappointment and hatred for Mr. Murray made fun
of his performance.