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Joker: Folie à Deux Commits the Mortal Sin of Wasting Lady Gaga

I mean, what are we even doing here?

But its depiction of a downtrodden outcast who embraces violence and clown makeup also existed in the orbit of edgelord 4chan memes and the 2012 Aurora mass shooting, which took place at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. While Arthur’s been heavily medicated and confined to the high-security ward at Arkham State Hospital, he has repeatedly been ruled mentally competent and is finally set to go to trial for killing (six, counting his mother) people — an event that becomes a media circus and that also turns him into a folk hero for the nihilistic outlaws and outcasts who start gathering outside the courthouse to cheer him on. In its relentless gloom, Folie à Deux plunks Gaga in a visitation booth where she tries to pretend she couldn’t blow the plexiglass walls off the place with her rendition of “(They Long to Be) Close to You.” It’s a waste of her presence, even if the courtroom-suit version of a Harley Quinn outfit that she dons as the film approaches its climax is destined to inspire thousands of imitators come Halloween.

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