'Joker' -- A Political Parable For Our Times | Opinion

(CNN)"Joker," the Todd Phillips movie that reimagines the origins of Batman's killer-clown nemesis, opened this weekend to record-setting box office -- fueled by deft marketing and some of the most polarizing critical reaction of any mass-market film in decades.

Further fueling the hype around the movie: A shocking Golden Lion win at the Venice International Film Festival and a joint bulletin from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warning about online threats of mass shootings at "Joker" screenings.

Set in a very thinly disguised New York City, Phillips's version of the Joker story has as its protagonist Arthur Fleck, a middle-aged, working-class man who lives with his invalid mother. Fleck works as a clown for hire while fantasizing about romancing the lovely single mother who lives down the hall.

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"Joker," at its core, is the story of the "forgotten man," the metaphoric displaced and disenfranchised white man whose goodwill has been abused and whose status has been reduced. A man who has been crushed underfoot by the elite, dragged down by equality-demanding feminists and climbed over by upstart nonwhite and immigrant masses.

(NOTE: Well, now that you mention it... --ed.)

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