The hysteria (which I participated in) about whether the film romanticized lonely angry men completely missed the point, as did fans of the film that claimed it was a sympathetic portrayal of mental illness or economic inequality: the film fit neither narrative.

Instead, Joker is a deeply cynical, almost voyeuristic film about watching someone who's *already* beneath contempt following an almost inevitable spiral into mindless violence, which the mob eats up because they're dumb sheeple.