'The People's Joker' - Queer superhero parody blasts genres and genders

"The People's Joker" is proof that miracles do happen. Beginning as a re-edit of Todd Haynes' 2019 "The Joker," the superhero parody cinematic anomaly revolves around a transwoman, Joker the Harlequin (Vera Drew, who also directs the iconoclastic feature), as she looks to penetrate the Gotham media scene as a stand-up comedian and falls in love with the Mr. J (Kane Distler), who also happens to be trans. The character and place names may be familiar, but this is unlike any caped-crusader film so far. Films don't usually look or feel quite like this.

The Batman (Phil Braun) still has Robbins, but these ones he sexually grooms. He's also a closeted gay man whose big pockets fund a fascist technology state. All of this is on top of the film's irrevocable affirmation of trans identities and queer sexualities, things that remain on the periphery, at best, of the major studios that make the superhero films being parodied. It's an impossible film, made through crowdfunding and unexpectedly skating by potential lawsuits, that is now available for streaming all around the world.

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