Social Worker: What's so funny?
Arthur Fleck: I was just thinking... just thinking of a joke.
Social Worker: Do you wanna tell it to me?
Arthur Fleck: You wouldn't get it.
Arthur Fleck: My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose: to bring laughter and joy to the world.
Social Worker: They don't give a shit about people like you, Arthur. And they don't give a shit about people like me either.
Police Officer: The whole city's on fire 'cause of you.
Arthur Fleck: I know. Isn't it beautiful?
Arthur Fleck: Please, I don't support that language, just don't... DON'T.
Arthur Fleck: Ugh, why is everybody so upset about these guys? If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you'd walk right over me! I pass you every day and you don't notice me. But these guys. What? Because Thomas Wayne went and cried about them on TV? Playing my video. Inviting me on the show. You just wanted to make fun of me. You're just like the rest of 'em.
Murray Franklin: I'm waiting for the punchline.
Arthur Fleck: There is no punchline.
Arthur Fleck: I killed those guys because they were awful. Everybody is awful these days. It's enough to make anyone crazy.
Arthur Fleck: Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?
Arthur Fleck: I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realise, it's a fucking comedy.
Arthur Fleck: Everybody's telling me my stand-ups, are ready for the big clubs.
Murray Franklin: All that sacrifice, she must love you very much.
Arthur Fleck: For my whole life, I didn't know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice.
Thomas Wayne: Gotham's lost its way. What kind of coward would do something that cold blooded? Someone who hides behind a mask.
Arthur Fleck: What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that abandons him and treats him like trash? You get what you fuckin' deserve.
Arthur Fleck: You don't listen, do you? You just ask the same questions every week. "How's you job?" "Are you having any negative thoughts?" All I have are negative thoughts.
Arthur Fleck: I don't want you worrying about money mom, or me.
Arthur Fleck: She always tells me to smile, and put on a happy face.
Sophie Dumond: You're so funny, Arthur.
Arthur Fleck: You get what you fucking deserve.
Answer: In a nutshell, it's because the film's protagonist is a mentally disturbed killer, and certain groups in America thought the film's violence would lead to copycat behavior.
Phaneron ★
I never got this aspect of the controversy, if anything, it goes to show what can happen when mental illness goes untreated.
ctown28 ★
I agree with you on that, but unfortunately, there's so many people, at least in the United States, that have no sense of nuance and are prone to knee-jerk reactions. They would rather condemn and blame different kinds of media for society's ills, rather than stop and look at the message something is trying to tell.
Phaneron ★
I read about the concern over possible copycat behavior in an on-line article; Phaneron's answer is correct.
KeyZOid