'Joker' Director Todd Phillips Calls Out 'Far-Left' For Overblown Outrage Over Upcoming Film

Nick Kangadis | September 27, 2019
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Is there a term for being outraged at “outrage” and “cancel culture?” If there is, it probably applies to me, because I’m sick and tired of people complaining about every little thing to the point that they feel it needs to be banned, cancelled and/or removed. If you don’t like a movie or whatever else in pop culture, we can absolutely criticize it. But when your first instinct is to get so rabid that you want whatever or whoever it is to be “cancelled,” you become an authoritarian who thinks they know how everyone should live their lives better than them.

The new movie “Joker,” which opens in theaters October 4th, has been receiving a lot of criticism from the “far-left” ahead of its release for, what critics are saying, a possible influence for people to commit violent acts.

Todd Phillips, the film’s director who has also directed “The Hangover” movies, pushed back against “outrage culture” and the “far-left” for making a mountain out of a molehill.

“I think it’s because outrage is a commodity, I think it’s something that has been a commodity for a while,” Phillips told entertainment site The Wrap. “What’s outstanding to me in this discourse in this movie is how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda. It’s really been eye opening for me.”

Phillips is correct in his assessment that “outrage is a commodity.” Except, most of the time, it’s far-left extremists like the communist group Antifa that gins up not only divisive and ridiculous rhetoric, but also violent acts against those that might just be walking down the street.

And that’s the point. This is a movie. Is it “dark” and “edgy?” It looks like it, but if you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Critics and government entities that are claiming “Joker” could inspire violence are only putting the thought into more people’s heads. Certain individuals might never have thought about going that route if it was for the media and government officials planting the seed.

“We didn’t make the movie to push buttons,” Phillips said. “I literally described to Joaquin [Phoenix] at one point in those three months as like, ‘Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film’. It wasn’t, ‘We want to glorify this behavior.’ It was literally like ‘Let’s make a real movie with a real budget and we’ll call it f–ing Joker’. That’s what it was.”

Sometimes it’s as simple as wanting to make a movie. Nothing more, nothing less. Save the drama for your momma.

H/T: Timcast (YouTube)

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