Under Construction - MHWA Retreat

To the first point, I think that society and media both tend to make villains out of normal people. Especially over the last couple decades we've seen a lot of characters who have been pushed to the edge by society, and as storytellers we've fallen pretty deep down that rabbit hole of illustrating moral gray areas and sympathizing with villains, instead of teaching people with issues that it's okay to get help rather than to act upon negative impulses. That's one side of a coin, and it's the more interesting side for the audience because there's so much drama to be explored, but I think we'd be better as a society if it were balanced more. If we had better representation and more representation that shows characters being treated instead of stigmatizing them and or criminalizing society as a whole.

I think a lot of the craziest most dystopian elements that we have in society right now are medical. Like you mentioned in the example, we are sharing these heart-warming stories about crowd-funding health care, but that's something that we should really be looking at in a more serious light. This is really prevalent in the wrestling community, where it's unlikely that a wrestling champion is going to live past 65 (when their medical payouts kick in) and the fans pool together multiple times a year to pay for procedures for their favorite retired wrestlers.

To pick my own disturbing and depressing example (that isn't antivaxxing, although I also find living in the golden age of information and ignoring it to be highly dystopian) we have a maternal mortality crisis going on in America right now that isn't even getting proper coverage because it's being overshadowed by hotter political debates about places that are trying to provide healthcare to women.

As for bullying, the victims obviously suffer lifelong insecurities and will be less likely to open up and seek support. One thing that doesn't get talked about a lot is the fact that it also does harm the person doing the bullying, and to society as a whole. If a bully wins, for instance, it teaches them that there are benefits to that sort of harmful behavior. It teaches them, incorrectly, that they're right, and that continues the cycle of oppression. As they gain power, they have less and less connection to reality and the harm that they're inflicting. They become too detached from it, and harder to correct. That's not a good way to live, and over time it eradicates decent values.

The last point, the depiction of mental illness, is just so complex. I think that there is a place for depiction of mental illness in the media that we consume, including movies and television, but I wouldn't say "movies like this."

Where I take issue with Joker specifically (in this movie, and as a character generally) comes largely from the company. DC has a controversial (and to me, personally offensive) history in their depiction of mental issues - particularly where the Joker is concerned. While I wholeheartedly would love to see a character openly discussing their issues in a popular, high budget movie, I would like to see that attempted with a character that doesn't have a history of poorly done adaptations (harmful portrayals of mental issues, glorification of violence, romanticizing of domestic abuse, etc.) I'd also probably like to see it from a company that I trust more to deal with character development tactfully, like a smaller studio or even Marvel (which has also had missteps, but I'd say not as bad.)

There are shows and movies (even controversial ones) that have been accused of using issues for entertainment that I think have really opened my eyes to certain issues and brought certain discussions to my attention, and I appreciate them for that. Maybe Joker will do that for some people, and I hope that it does. I don't foresee that being the case, just because in my experience with DC they're more likely to use a mental illness for entertainment than for sparking honest debate or initiating sympathy for conditions.