You may not have seen what is arguably one of the most overrated films of the year yet, Warner Bros. and DC’s “Joker,” but there is even more controversy surrounding the aggressive film now.
The movie already had its fair share of controversy. For instance, the premise of the Joaquin Phoenix’s character being a sympathetic portrayal of a desperate mentally ill mass murderer.
But now there’s more controversy surrounding the stairs featured in a pivotal scene in the climax of “Joker.”
According to Box Office Mojo, the violent rated-R “Joker” has made $256 million domestically and $491 million internationally bringing the worldwide total to an unfathomable $747 million. It’s on track to surpass both “Deadpool 1 & 2” as the highest-grossing rated-R movie of all time.
You may not have seen it yet but you’d probably recognize a particular scene from the trailer.
It’s Joaquin Phoenix as the titular character dancing down a set of stairs to convicted pedophile Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll 2.”
Here’s the scene:
the dance of freedom. the death bells. the rising of the joker.
one of the most magnificent, sublime, monumental, extraordinary scenes in cinema history pic.twitter.com/uczsga2AZQ
— gabriela (@sherlwatson) October 18, 2019
Ignore the absurd commentary in the tweet that this scene is somehow one of the most “extraordinary scenes in cinema history.” It really isn’t and that comment is delusional at best.
But, more importantly, those steps have become quite an attraction since the movie hit theaters and have inspired massive groups of tourists to take pictures in front of it like it’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The 132-step stairs, which join Shakespeare and Anderson Avenues in Brooklyn, NewYork have become known as the “Joker Stairs.” In fact, if you Google it then it says “Joker Stairs” on Google Maps.
It has become so overrun by tourists that locals are furious.
Fans are obsessively recreating the scene, which has become an understandable nuisance to residents of the area because it’s attracting such massive crowds that it’s holding up traffic.
Also, the stairs are known to be a place notorious for crime, which is probably why the filmmakers used that particular set of stairs for that scene, to begin with. It’s a territorial spot of systemic crime.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who grew up in the Bronx, remembered avoiding the steps growing up. “Everyone would tell us to stay away from those steps or go with a friend. The Bronx is much safer now and I’m happy to say that. I think the way a lot of us feel is, listen, like, keep your Instagram posts outside of the Boogie Down. This is for us.”
So imagine a bunch of naïve tourists visiting these steps just because it’s featured in a hit movie when crime occurs there all the time?
The steps used in “The Exorcist” located in Washington DC’s Georgetown neighborhood became infamous for that very reason but it never attracted crime like these steps have.
It’s just a movie and they’re just stairs. Get over it. They’re just steps.