 The brand new Joker trailer has come out starring Joaquin Phoenix and there's been a massive reaction and I've had a ton of people ask me to make a video about it because this movie is going to discuss mental illness but there are some things going on surrounding this movie that I want to talk about when it comes to mental illness. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution and if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health and sometimes I like to pull topics from the community and pop culture and movies and TV shows and music and all that kind of stuff to try to teach you how to improve your mental and emotional well-being. So I am stoked. Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor. It's so cool that he's going to be playing the Joker. I'm a huge comic book fan and I've loved Batman just since I was a kid. I love it. I love it. I don't care which movie comes out like if there's a movie coming out, I'm going to see it. I might not like it but I get excited about it nevertheless. So anyways, in this trailer that was released, it's clear that Joaquin Phoenix is struggling with mental health issues. There is a scene shown where he's writing on a notepad and writing down some jokes and he talks about mental illness and then there are some shots of Arkham Asylum, one of the most iconic spots in the Batman series where most of the bad guys go. But anyways, I came across this article from salon.com and it's titled Why It's a Problem If Joker Connects Mental Illness to Villainy. Alright? And here's just a little quick excerpt from it. In the opening shot of the trailer, Phoenix's character Arthur is asked by a professional of some kind whether it helps to have someone to talk to, a question that he answers with a creepy, slightly unhinged smile. A few shots later, we see him jotting down in a notepad that the worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't. It also becomes clear that Phoenix's Joker has a Freudian, perhaps downright, Oedipal relationship with his mother and that the bullying he receives at the hands of random outsiders is linked to his visible displays of mental illness. And then this quote says, the worst stereotypes come out in such depictions, mentally ill individuals as incompetent, dangerous, slovenly undeserving. The portrayals serve to distance them from the rest of us. Stephen Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley told US News and World Report in 2015. And like, okay, so let's talk real quick. Part of my channel, like I advocate for mental health. Okay, like this is a huge deal. There's a, there's a massive stigma. Alright, and there's not enough awareness. We don't talk about it enough. That's one of the reasons I have this channel so we can have the conversation. But you guys, you guys, people, people are giving way too many facts about this. Like, this is absolutely ridiculous. Like, I, I take such an issue, like what there's so much going on in the world, when it comes to mental illness, mental health, and all of that, where we're focusing on fictional movies, fictional movies. Okay, like, it seems like we get so upset. And, and it's part of outrage culture, which I am so, so against. Okay, and people get so upset that this is affecting them. Like, play this scenario out. Okay, like I understand the argument. I understand the argument. If a movie depicts mental illness in a certain way, then it can create this narrative about mental illness in the real world. But, like, how many times do you think it's ever really happened that somebody met somebody with a mental illness and like, I saw this comic book movie, and I think people like you are dangerous. I cannot, I cannot imagine that ever happening. And if I'm wrong, please tell me down in the comments below. But like I mentioned too, like, in the Batman universe, like, Arkham Asylum is, is a major part of that where all the villains go when they get locked up and Arkham Asylum is a psychiatric institute. Okay? Like, this is what happens. This is part of it. And, like, comic books and comic book movies are meant to be fun and entertaining and completely fictional. And, and I do not understand the logic behind getting so upset about this. This happened when Split came out too, because of dissociative identity disorder, and a lot of people getting upset about that as well. And you guys, like, here, here's the thing, like, there are things that we need to focus on and care about it, but I do not think, I do not think movies are one of them. Like, for example, the mental health care system in the United States sucks. It sucks extremely bad. A ton of people can't get treatment, can't get therapy, even with insurance is extremely, extremely expensive. Like, for every ounce of energy that we waste whining and complaining about a fictional movie, that is energy that could be focused towards the real issue. Like, how many of us, how many of us have at least one person in our life that is struggling with a mental health issue? Whether it's, it's trauma or depression or anxiety, or even something like grief, you know, because they lost somebody, right? There are so many people who are just willing to tweet out outrage or write articles about this, but how much time are they spending trying to help the people in their actual lives? You know what I mean? Because I don't think it's that much. And that's one of the sad part about, about the internet, is that so many people just have this focused outrage, and we're completely neglecting the real life issues that are actually happening. So what's the solution to this? What is the solution to this? Like, I love taking like, movies and TV and music and kind of breaking them down. Like, especially when it comes to addiction, those of you who are just now meeting me, hi, I'm Chris. I'm a recovering addict and alcoholic with over six years clean. Like, I like to look at and say, okay, was this accurate or was this inaccurate, right? Like, there was a way to have this conversation in a calm adult manner. Like, and oh my God. So like, once, once the movie comes out, make some articles about this, write something about it. Like, there was nothing more ridiculous to me than people freaking out over a trailer. Right? We see this happen constantly. It happened with some Netflix shows and things like that. Like, wait until the film actually comes out. But even still, like, wait until it comes out and then look at it, analyze it, say what's accurate, say what's inaccurate. I believe if we want to do our part and decrease the stigma, like, let's talk about it. But there is, it makes, I think it makes all of us look ridiculous and it hurts our cause. When a two minute trailer comes out and people like, oh, they're mentally ill. So I see this argument quite often where people say that, you know, these, these make others believe that mentally ill people are more likely to commit violent crimes and all that. And that's not the case. I think even in this article, which I'll link down below, it's, it says something like, maybe they're not, they don't have mental health issues. They're just bad people. And this is why I'm trying to change this conversation around mental health. Like, anybody who commits these violent crimes has a mental health issue. They might not have a diagnosis, but I think it's safe to say that there is something up with their mental health, whether it's emotional regulation, whether it's impulse control, whether it's empathy, these are all states of the mind. So I don't think it's too far off to say someone who commits violent heinous acts has something going on with their mental health. Okay, nobody who has very good mental health is going to do something like that. And that's something that I wish would change in the conversation. Because yes, like, if you look at anybody just in real life, like any real life people who have committed these kind of violent acts, if you look at their history and everything like that, you can look and say like, oh my God, like this person had problems. Like, we should have done something ahead of time. We should have intervened. You know what I mean? Now, this doesn't mean that they had a certain mental illness that would be diagnosed as per the DSM. But, but it's safe to say that they were not in control when they were going through this whole thing. And sometimes it wasn't just like a brief instance of insanity. It was a long ongoing thing. If you look at a lot of these people, too, who are creating these acts, there's a lot of, you know, traumatic childhood. Maybe it was even like like what the Joker trailer is depicting, like being bullied and beat up and all those things. None of these things are justified. But like all of these things can take their toll on your mental health. And that's the other thing that upsets me when we're talking about this. Sorry, I'm on a little bit of rant right now. But people are like holding the term mental health in this precious little case. And it's one of the reasons why we don't talk about it enough. We need to recognize how these things are impacting real life people and put our efforts where efforts need to be placed. Alright? But anyways, anyways, if you got upset with the Joker trailer, calm down. It's a fictional movie. And I don't think too many people are going to be affected by it. Alright? Chill out. Go watch the flick. Have a good time. It's going to be okay. Let's focus our efforts where they should be focused. Alright? So anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. Let me know your thoughts down below on this topic. And if you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because I make a ton of videos. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. You're all amazing. And if you'd like to become a patron, get involved in our monthly Q&A and all that good stuff, you can click or tap right there. Alright? Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.