Synopsis: A down-on-his-luck comedian learns the life-affirming power of murder.
Who is Murray Franklin?
Murray Franklin is a popular late night talk show host in pre-Batman era Gotham City.
One of his biggest fans is Arthur Fleck, a failed entertainer with severe mental health issues, whose only tether to a normal, happy existence is watching Murray’s show.
Arthur looks up to Murray as not just a comedy icon, but also a father figure. He fantasizes about Murray picking him out of the audience, inviting him on stage, praising him for being a caretaker to his ailing mother, and then, like the loving parent Arthur never had, embracing him.
But then Murray humiliates Arthur by airing clips of the poor guy’s disastrous set at a local nightclub. Turning a guy who’s clearly unwell into the butt of a joke on live TV is a low blow. Not that I expect Murray to punch above the belt, but it’s lazy comedy, and I question his integrity. At any rate, this turns out to be one of the final nudges that sends Arthur over the edge into insanity.
He smothers his comatose mother with a pillow and then, later, drives a pair of shears into his ex coworker’s face before smashing his head against the wall, killing him.
And just as he’s accepted this new life of villainy, he receives a call from a producer for Murray Franklin, inviting him to be a guest on the show.
Then, well, something akin to hilarity ensues, but not really, because Arthur pulls out a gun and shoots Murray in the head live on primetime television. It’s the ultimate form of cancellation.
Who’s in the Circle of Trust?
For approximately 15 minutes, Arthur Fleck (a.k.a, Joker) and, for an unclear period of time, his producers.
Murray trusts Arthur because he believes he would make an entertaining guest on the show, being a terrible comedian, strange guy, etc. When he looked at Arthur, all Murray saw was ‘great TV ratings,’ choosing to overlook the more obvious ‘aspiring serial killer’ vibes, like how Arthur shows up dressed like a clown (the symbol of the ongoing kill-the-rich riots in the city), and how he kisses another guest on the lips for like 10 seconds then sits in silence in the guest chair for 10 more seconds, and how he makes a ‘dead kids’ joke, and how he admits to murdering the three young men on the subway and how he finds their deaths “funny.” Someone in the crowd even calls for the studio to cut Joker off. None of that matters, because Murray still trusts that Arthur makes for good TV, which I guess he does1? It isn’t until Arthur calls Murray “awful,” that their relationship begins to take a dip.
As for the producers, he has obviously trusted them for however long they’ve been working together to make his show the best it can be.
Does anyone move in or out of the Circle of Trust?
There was a lot going on when Arthur murdered Murray. Emotions were running high and no one really knew what was going on.
That said, there must have been a split second period between Arthur pulling out the pistol and Murray dying, where Murray a) realized he was about to get shot in the head, b) regretted inviting Arthur on the show, and c) lost all faith in his producers because they neglected to pat down this clearly insane man. He was a walking red flag and the producers dropped the ball.
Next week: The Deer Hunter (1978) [Not currently on streaming, but worth renting]
Check out the Robert De Niro Circle of Trust spreadsheet here.
What is this project?
Live! With Murray Franklin probably broke audience records, but suffered poor ratings because Murray died.