The Peoples Joker (2022)

Many films are advertised with the promise of a wild ride, but few deliver with as much tenacity as “The People’s Joker” (2022), which can be rented or bought on Apple TV or YouTube. Filled to the brim with jokes and references spanning the “Batman” comics, films and cartoon franchises, this film is unapologetic queer cinema in all its remixed and multimedia glory. There are copyright infringements, and this film does not care, haphazardly tossing in and blending together all manner of superheroes and villains from the DC universe by name in this charming and hilarious romp.

The protagonist begins her journey to find herself and pursue comedy, departing her small Midwestern town of Smallville for the East Coast metropolis of Gotham City — a city described by her mother as a den of “neon biker gangs, leather freaks and cross-dressers.“ The only problem is that comedy is illegal outside of the televised sketch comedy show “UCB Live“, a highly gender-segregated program. On “UCB Live”, the cast is separated into Jokermen, who are allowed to perform sketch comedy, and Harlequin Dancers, who serve as provocative eye candy for viewers at home. Our hero — or dare I say, villainess — Joker the Harlequin decides to take matters into her own hands and start an underground anti-comedy club for herself and her fellow villains. Here, she meets her Mr. J, and in true Joker and Harley Quinn fashion, he both helps her realize she’d like to “go Joker to Harlequin“ while also engaging her in a toxic relationship that perpetuates a cycle of abuse. What follows is an exploration of dismantling the illegality of comedy while also breaking out of the abuse perpetuated through Gotham’s hero-to-villain pipeline — all while maintaining the consistent dark humour one would expect from a parody of the Joker character.

The aesthetic and editing style of “The People’s Joker” unabashedly embraces and pushes its chaotic, Adult Swim-esque visual concept to the edge, with scenes that at times feel like a phantasmagoria of “Batman” references and dark visual gags. The textures that come across from the layers of images on the green screen, which mark every single scene in the film, transport viewers into a world of rust and grime. The city of Gotham is so consistently collaged together that its deliberateness overrides any other detriment it could have on the viewing experience.

The DIY nature of this film is on full display — completed thanks to extensive crowdsourcing — but it only adds to its charm and world-building thanks to the writing and directing of Vera Drew, who also stars as Joker the Harlequin.

The film’s use of a popular copyrighted franchise skirted some controversy, causing it to be pulled from some film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival. However, marginalized people have historically been pioneers of making art with the materials available to them, such as the use of samples in hip-hop music. As such, “The People’s Joker“ persists in bringing its tale of queer parody to the world. Whether you enjoy the idea of digging into the inherent queerness of Batman’s archnemesis, “Folie à Deux” wasn’t to your expectations, or you just want the catharsis of removing the Joker character from far-right indoctrinated edgelords for a day, I can’t recommend enough that you buckle in and let Vera Drew’s Jokermobile take you for a ride.

Andie Angelis (they/them) is a writer and pop culture nerd, born and raised in the Greater Vancouver Area. They enjoy dissecting queer media and writing sci-fi/fantasy stories that challenge cis-heteropatriarchal norms.