There has been a lot of commotion surrounding the release of the new Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, with a lot of the discourse either revolving around the possibility of the film inspiring violence or arguing about the quality of the product. And with all of the controversies swirling about the film’s release, that means it is ripe for parody as it opens in theaters.This provided two comedians the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation by posting fake signs at their local theaters, poking fun at the incel narrative that’s pervasive in the discourse of Joker.
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Nick Ciarelli and Brad Evans revealed that they posted fliers in front of an ArcLight movie theater, prompting the company to denounce the so-called “policy.”
Went to see Joker at @ArcLightCinemas and they had this sign up pic.twitter.com/hDqYctMJtj
โ Nick Ciarelli (@nickciarelli) October 4, 2019
The “NO GUYS WHO LOOK LIKE THEY’VE NEVER HAD SEX” policy was swiftly denounced by ArcLight’s social media team, who issued the following statement:
“Apologies for any confusion, but this document was not authorized nor posted by ArcLight. It does not reflect our operational policies and has since been removed.”
So of course, this gave Ciarelli and Evans the opportunity to post yet another sign:
Okay I guess that sign wasnโt real, I went back and they have this one up now pic.twitter.com/kdCzVMfkuF
โ Nick Ciarelli (@nickciarelli) October 5, 2019
Despite these comedians attempting to ban celibate audiences, Joker is well on its way toward become a massive hit at the box office. It is currently set to make $94 million in its opening weekend, breaking the October record set by Venom last year when it made $80 million.
Even though the film is set up for major success, the discourse surrounding the film seems to be dominated by reports of possible acts of violence being inspired by the plot with emergency workers preparing for such possibilities, while the filmmakers behind the movie are more concerned with how the current cultural climate is affecting their work.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, director Todd Phillips blamed “woke” culture for the reason why he no longer makes comedies like The Hangover and Old School anymore.
“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips said. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymoreโI’ll tell you why, because all the f*cking funny guys are like, ‘F*ck this sh*t, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comediesโI think that what comedies in general all have in commonโis they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but f*ck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from.”
Joker is now playing in theaters.