Some fans of comic books may be surprised, but the concept of superheroes and villains has always been very gay. Think about it: the extraordinary skin-tight costumes, the dual identities and clandestine lives, the sense of not fitting in or connecting because you’re separated from the “normal” world by your powers—all the usual tropes that define this genre of pop culture myth-making are so rich with evidently queer-coded subtext that it seems ridiculous to think anyone could miss it.
Although it’s not to say that all hero stories are truly parables about being gay, some of them may feel that way. “Batman,” whose home life with a teen boy as his “ward” and near companion has been causing controversy since 1940, is an obvious illustration. Warner Brothers’ well-known ’80s-’90s collection of movie adaptations starring gay director Joel Schumacher’s much-maligned “Batman and Robin,” featuring George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in costumes that highlighted their nipples, were probably the most controversial superhero films ever made.
Or at least it was. That title might now have to be transferred to “The People’s Joker”, which—as it emphatically and repeatedly reminds us—is a parody in no way affiliated with DC’s iconic “Batman” franchise or any of its characters, even though writer, director, and star Vera Drew begins it with a dedication to “Mom and Joel Schumacher”. Although the movie, it still has plenty of food for serious consideration in between the laughs.
It’s the story of a young, closeted transgender comic (Drew) who leaves her small-town home to travel to Gotham City and audition for “GCB,” the official government-produced sketch comedy show. It’s set in a sort of comics-inspired dystopian meta-America where unsanctioned comedy is forbidden. Unfortunately, she’s not a very good comic, and after a rocky start, she decides to leave to form a new comedy troupe (labeled “anti-comedy” to skirt legality issues) along with penguin-ish new friend Oswald Cobblepot (Nathan Faustyn). Our protagonist begins to find her groove after identifying herself as “Joker the Harlequin,” confronting her self-absorbed and transphobic mother (Lynn Downey), and choosing to play by the rules or break them before she can fully become the militant comic activist she was always meant to be.
The story of “People’s Joker,” billed as a wildly whimsical, mixed media narrative that combines live action with a quirky CGI production design and various animation styles (with different animators for each sequence), is by no means the big-budget blockbuster we would expect from a superhero—or, in this case, a supervillain movie, but it should be obvious from the synopsis above that’s not what Drew was going for, in any way. Instead of using her cliched vision of an alternate “Batman” world as the method for a mythologized book, the Emmy-nominated former director uses her unconventional perspective to express her own real-life voyage, both toward embracing her trans personality and forging a maverick career path in an industry that discourages nonconformity and also parodies the absurdities of contemporary culture. It’s an accomplishment likely to impress her fellow comic book fans, even if they can’t quite get behind the gender politics or her portrayal of Batman himself (or rather, an animated version voiced by Phil Braun) as a closeted gay right-wing demagogue and serial sexual abuser. Subverting well-known tropes, yet skillfully weaving together multiple threads from the “real” DC Universe she’s appropriated with the detailed savvy of a die-hard fangirl.
These elements, of course, are meant to be deliberately provocative. Drew, like her screen alter ego, is a confrontation comedian at heart, bent on shaking up the dominant paradigm at every opportunity. Yet although she takes aim at the expected targets—the patriarchy, toxic masculinity, corporate hypocrisy, etc.—she excels in striking up fights with draconian ideals of political correctness and weaponized “cancel culture,” which are used without adversity from ideologists on both sides of the political divide. This implies that she is risking alienating an audience that might otherwise be completely in her shoes, but it also provides the unbiased personal truth that prevents the film from becoming propaganda and raises it, like “Barbie,” to the level of absurdist allegory.
Because ultimately, of course, the point of “People’s Joker” has little to do with the politics and social constructs it skewers along the way. At its core, it’s all about the real human things that resonate with all of us, regardless of gender, sexuality, ideology, or even political parties: the need to feel loved, to feel supported, and most of all, to be fully actualized. The central plot of Joker’s troubled relationship with her mother and daughter, superbly rendered in both Drew and Downey’s performances, is where she finally breaks free of her own self-imposed limitations and simply “be” who she is.
Other performances deserve mention, too, such as Faustyn’s weirdly lovable “Penguin” stand-in and Outsider multi-hyphenate David Leibe Hart as Ra’s al Ghul—a seminal “Batman” villain here reimagined as a veteran comic that serves as a kind of Obi-Wan Kenobi figure in Joker’s quest. In the end, though, it’s Drew’s show from top to bottom, a showcase for not only her acting skills, which are enhanced by the obvious intelligence (including the emotional kind) she brings to the table but her considerable talents as a writer, director, and editor.
Although Drew leans into the limitations of her limited resources to convey what she wants with the means she has at her disposal, it’s possible that some viewers will find the low-budget vibe of this crowd-funded movie to be difficult to appreciate. Others, obviously will have bigger problems with it than that. In fact, the movie, which debuted at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, was pulled from competition there and withdrawn from subsequent festival screenings after being subject to allegations of corporate bullying (presumably from Warner Brothers, which owns the film rights to the Batman franchise), which pressured Drew to pull it back. Evidently, the concern over the reaction from conservative fans, who are likely to never see the movie anyway, justified strong-arm tactics from nervous executives. Nevertheless, “The People’s Joker” made its first American appearance at LA’s Outfest in 2023, and is now receiving a rollout theatrical release that started on April
5 in New York, and continues this week in Los Angeles, with Washington DC and other cities to follow on April 12 and beyond.
If you’re in one of the places where it plays, we say it’s more than worth making the effort. If you’re not, never fear. Soon will be a VOD or streaming release.
