Arthur Fleck's Hero's Journey in Todd Phillips' Joker (2019)

Abstract

The hero’s journey is stages that a hero has to cross from the ordinary world to the unknown world to achieve the goal. This research was aimed to explain Joker or Arthur’s journey while facing the social concern with Gotham city. This research used Christopher Vogler’s hero’s journey to explain Arthur Fleck’s journey in Joker (2019). Qualitative research was also used to explain this research. The data used in this research was from the script of Joker (2019) and also the screenshots from the movie itself. The result of this analysis showed that Arthur or Joker passed the twelve stages of Hero’s Journey. Arthur had passed all the stages in the Departure Stage, which were the ordinary world; the call to adventure; refusal of the call; and meeting with the mentor. Furthermore, Arthur passed all the stages in the Initiation Stage, which were crossing the threshold; test, allies, and enemies; approach to the inmost cave; and the ordeal. Not only that, Arthur also had passed the Return Stage, which were the reward; the road back; the resurrection; and return with the elixir.