Before Joker even came out in theaters, some critics worried that it might cause a panic.
Days after the film premiered last month, one contributing editor at Vogue wrote she “won’t be seeing the new Joker movie.” Why? Because she, like many other writers, was afraid that the violent movie would inspire more violence.
Unlike most films based on comic book characters, Joker is far from funny. The film’s director said he decided to make the film gritty, not humorous like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy or Avengers films because it’s hard to make good comedy today. “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” director Todd Phillips said. “It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter.”
In the end, none of the predicted doom arrived, and the Joker ended up making a different sort of cultural wave. While the film received mixed reviews, whether or not its exploration of mental health worked as social commentary didn’t matter. It killed at the box office.
Joker is now the highest-grossing R-rated film ever, and it just became the world’s most profitable comic book movie. Its makeup and hairstyling, which turned Joaquin Phoenix into a truly devilish Joker, are already generating Oscar buzz.
The film drove swarms of tourists to the “Joker Stairs” in New York, which appear as a “religious destination” on Google Maps.
The Joker Stairs — the setting of the scene’s most memorable moment, a sick, joyous Joker dance — join the “Rocky Steps” in Philadelphia and the “Exorcist Stairs” in Washington, D.C., as mundane spots made famous by film. Nestled in between two buildings in the Bronx, the 132 steps of the Joker Stairs have become so popular that locals are starting to complain.
“Please, if you’re reading this and you’re not from around here (or ever been to the Bronx, Yankee stadium does not count) PLEASE DO NOT COME HERE,” one Bronx resident tweeted.
Nevertheless, there are thousands of #jokerstairs posts on Instagram and Twitter, echoing a popular meme of the Joker dancing on the steps. In the film, the scene marks the Joker’s transition from disaffected loner to full-on killer. But for fans of the film, the spot is just a good place for photographs.
If you visit, though, you may not be able to jump on the steps right away. Time Out New York warns, “Expect to wait your turn posing on those steps.”
