How a movie drove peaceful Americans to madness and violence

screenwashed (adjective) – When something seen on a screen completely changes how someone thinks or feels, as if their old beliefs have been erased and replaced by what they just saw.

By Joshua Taylor | updated 1 hour ago

In 2020, violent protests rocked the United States and devastated major cities. Since then, dozens more have appeared, so many that they almost seem normal.

But this is not normal.

List the most violent protests of the past 20 years and you’ll find that most of them didn’t happen until after 2019. Before that, most protests, even big ones like Occupy Wall Street or the Tea Party protests of the early 2000s, were just a bunch of people walking around with signs until dark. There are exceptions, such as the disastrous riots in Ferguson, Missouri, but these events are noteworthy because they are unusual.

Violence, especially from so-called peaceful protesters themselves, is now the norm. In some cities it’s a daily occurrence, in others it’s a seasonal, regular event. What has changed? In 2019, a movie took theaters by storm and manipulated its most ardent viewers into not behaving well.

What a story this is clown The on-screen glamorization of Americans allows them to accept violence as personal expression.

clown story

clown It’s billed as being about Batman’s nemesis, but it has no real connection to the comic book world. Instead, it’s a grim character study of Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill, socially invisible man slowly being crushed by a city that doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. There are no superheroes, no great plot, and no redemption arc, just a sad, broken man who discovers that the only time the world notices him is when he stops playing by the rules and embraces nihilism.

When “Joker” was released, it was both controversial and a huge box office success. No film occupied a greater share of the cultural conversation in 2019, and movie theaters were packed with people looking for something edgy, different, and even dangerous.

lonely observer

Debate over “Joker” often centers on whether it will trigger mass shootings or homicides. All this discussion ignores the real dangers in the movie.

Only one person saw the truth. We don’t need to worry about an increase in mass murderers or individual homicides. a few months later clown’s After publishing, at the start of the 2020 George Floyd unrest, persuasion guru Scott Adams made this observation:

“I bet 90 percent of the protesters have seen ‘Joker.’ It’s so powerful and so well-made that it bounces around in your brain and sinks into it, forming dominant patterns in your thinking.” ——Scott Adams

Scott then asked, “Can a movie push young people into violence and anarchy? A bad movie can’t. Even a good movie can’t do that. But clown able. That movie is next level, convincing. “

clown It doesn’t just depict the unrest; it romanticizes it. It uses some very specific persuasion techniques to do this.

Catharsis through violence

The film presents social collapse as cathartic. Arthur Fleck’s personal collapse was intertwined with arson, rioting and killings by masked demonstrators across the city. The camera always sees it as liberating.

This is cathartic. Releasing pent-up emotions through experience or expression can safely release previously repressed or unresolved feelings, resulting in greater mental clarity.

The need for catharsis exists in all of us. It’s an irresistible attraction. This can be healthy and promote reflection, relief, and clarity. But it can also distort judgment, causing people to pursue emotional release for their own sake, overreact, or accept narratives that justify anger, sadness, or guilt just to feel unburdened.

This is what the Joker exploits.

The violence is not described as tragic or alarming. This is opera. The mob forms a choir, confirming Arthur’s transformation. The chaos in Gotham is not a failure of civilization, but a necessary cleansing.

This is important because culture is not created through coaching; It is learned through association.

Arthur Fleck is introduced as powerless, humiliated, and ignored. Immerse the audience in his pain forward If any violence occurs, the film makes sure the audience identifies with him emotionally.

Six screen-washing tips for clowns

“Joker” uses six different persuasive techniques to dazzle the audience.

Responsibility for violence is always shifted from characters to abstract forces: “the system,” “the rich,” “society.” This trains the audience to view violence as This is an inevitable result, not a moral failure.

• two, The aestheticization of chaos

The riot was beautifully shot. When violence is visually pleasing, the brain associates it with power and release rather than danger or shame.

• three, cathartic substitution

The film substitutes violence for resolution. Destruction is its own reward, reinforcing the idea that “burn it down” is a valid emotional endpoint.

Arthur’s transformation is not verified by rational argument, but by popular approval. Audiences subconsciously accept the same validation cycle.

• five, Think about past sales

The story strongly implies that violent social collapse is inevitable. Audiences stop asking when the outcome feels predetermined regardless Violence is right, start by just asking when.

• six, meaning infuses anger

Most importantly, the film gives Fury a story. Primal rage becomes “truth.” Once anger is viewed as insight rather than impulse, taking action will feel justified.

forward clown, American culture only accepts truly peaceful protests. back clownthe cultural zeitgeist became one where violent protest was not only acceptable, but the only way to express one’s opinion.

In the movie, clown There was nothing to say; he just wanted to be heard. Now, the most important thing is being heard, not whether you have anything worthwhile to say.

The case against clown persuasion

Those who don’t understand persuasion say that audiences are smart enough to separate fiction from reality and are not affected by what they see on the screen. If a movie can change culture, why can’t movies change culture? V for Vendetta Is there a similar effect?

like a movie V for Vendetta can never achieve the same effect because it treats violence as symbolic, ideological, and abstract rather than emotionally personal. V is not an ordinary person in the audience; he is a mythical figure of clarity, planning, and moral certainty. His actions are presented as allegorical rather than cathartic. The film creates distance through stylization, speech, and overt political philosophy. This keeps the audience analyzing rather than identifying.

clown It’s a completely unique piece of screen-washing work because it breaks down that distance, rooting chaos in intimate humiliation and emotional dissatisfaction, making the release of mass violence feel personal, spontaneous, and psychologically relevant rather than dramatic or ideological.

Was the clown influence intentional?

I think it’s important to say here that it’s unclear who director Todd Phillips clown. Little is known about Phillips’ personal political views. He refuses to be categorized.

Philips’ goals may be different from what he achieves. In fact, the sequel to the film showed that he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the impact the first film had on audiences. Joker 2 An attempt to undo much of the first film revealed the Joker to be a liar, and his followers as well.

Of course, clowns aren’t the only culprits of the culture’s shift toward violence. The coronavirus lockdown created a tinderbox that was ignited by irresponsible media reporting. But will things be as bad as before and continue to move in this direction years later? clown Wasn’t it possible to mediate the rioters in advance at that moment?

Watch one of the riot scenes clown. Then watch any protest in Portland, Oregon, and ask yourself if what you see is organic or just organic clown role play.

clown Violent protest was not invented. But it did do something arguably more impactful: It made violent protest understandable, beautiful, and emotionally correct. Once culture gives moral permission, reality follows, no declaration needed.

Congratulations, fierce but mostly peaceful protesters, you’ve been washed off the screen.