The Pathology of Joker’s Dance: The Origins of Arthur Fleck’s Body Aesthetics in Todd Phillips’s 2019 Joker Film

Anna Sophie Jürgens*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Todd Phillips’s 2019 movie Joker reconfigures and actualizes body aesthetics and performance traditions—eccentric movements and so-called epilepticdancing—celebrated around 1900 on the popular stage and in early film. This body language, consisting of bizarre contortions, dislocations, jerking, and gesticulating, is linked to medical discourses about the nervous system, and can be traced in popular theater throughout the twentieth century. This paper examines how it emerges in Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)321-337
    Number of pages17
    JournalDance Chronicle
    Volume43
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

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