Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 552 "The Joker" (Pure Plot) (6k)

(This chapter is all about the movie plot, so you can order it based on your preference. If you don’t like it, it’s better to just skip it.)
In Gotham City, garbage transport workers have been on strike for 18 days, and countless amounts of garbage are piled up on the streets.

The city is sick.

Many people cannot find jobs and many businesses are on the verge of closing down.

Arthur is a clown actor who makes a living by performing for people and getting work from companies.

This time, his task was to advertise for a store that was about to close down and was clearing out its inventory.

No one paid any attention to him among the people coming and going on the street.

Everyone is short of money, so it’s useless no matter how cheap you are.

Although the effect was not significant, Arthur still performed very attentively.

But Gotham City has always had a simple and honest folk customs, and a few gangsters snatched the billboard from Arthur's hand.

Arthur chased after him, but was beaten up and the billboard was broken.

……

In fact, Arthur is not an ordinary person. He was once hospitalized due to mental illness.

Nowadays, he also receives regular psychological counseling provided by the government.

The psychologist suggested that he write down the funny jokes or ideas that came to his mind in a notebook to help alleviate his condition.

This advice is related to his dream.

He has always wanted to be a talk show host.

My favorite thing in my life is the late night talk show "The Franklin Show" and its host Murray Franklin.

Those interesting stories and jokes in the notes are his accumulation.

To this end, he often went to bars, observed professional talk show hosts there, learned how they spoke, and recorded it.

The doctor looked at the notes in his notebook and saw the words "I hope my death will be more valuable than my life" written on it, but didn't care.

She didn't care about the dream Arthur mentioned, she just wanted to know whether Arthur's condition had improved.

Arthur said that with society now being what it is, it would be better to lock him up.

Or prescribe him some more effective medicine.

Finally, Arthur left with the medicine.

On the way back, a black kid kept staring at him.

Arthur made faces to make the child laugh, but was warned by the child's mother.

Then Arthur laughed.

This was a symptom of his illness: uncontrollable laughter without warning.

This would render him speechless.

"Is it funny?" the black mother asked.

Arthur smiled and shook his head silently, and handed the other party a small card with the following record on it:

"Please forgive me, I have a disease that often makes me laugh, but it does not represent my mood."

……

When he got home in the evening, Arthur watched "The Franklin Show" with his mother.

My mother used to be an employee of Wayne Group, but she was fired a long time ago.

She wrote frequently to Wayne but never received a reply.

Arthur was puzzled and felt that these top people would not care about their life or death.

But the mother believes that the situation is so bad now that only a rich man like Thomas Wayne can save them.

While watching "The Franklin Show", Arthur didn't know whether he was recalling or imagining that he had met Murray in person at the recording site of the show.

When Murray was selecting the audience, he selected Arthur and listened to his past stories.

“As long as I can remember, I have had to shoulder the responsibilities of the family, but I don’t find it hard.

My mother always told me that no matter how hard life is, I must always smile.

My mission is to bring laughter to the world.”

Murray then called Arthur to the stage and gave him some words of encouragement and praise.

Arthur was very happy at that time. He vaguely felt that if he had a father, he would encourage and praise him in this way.

……

In the fitting room, Arthur changed into his work clothes, revealing his hunched back covered with bruises.

Colleague Rand heard about Arthur being beaten and gave him a pistol.

"This will protect you," he said.

As a mentally ill person, Arthur cannot carry a gun and wants to refuse.

"Don't worry, no one will know. As your big brother, I will protect you."

Arthur accepted.

In the office, the boss mentioned a customer complaint about a broken billboard.

He didn't care why, or whether Arthur was bullied or not.

"Either return the brand or deduct the money, your choice."

Arthur could only vent his anger towards the garbage dump on the way back.

On the way back, there was a long flight of stairs leading home. Every time he walked this distance, he would feel very tired.

Today was particularly difficult.

As usual, I opened the mailbox, but there was nothing inside. My mother probably didn't get a reply.

Arthur was not very happy due to the bad circumstances these days.

Fortunately, when he was in the elevator, he saw his female neighbor next door smiling at him.

As if jokingly, he made a gun with his hand and pointed it at her forehead.

"Bang~"

This made him smile from the bottom of his heart, which was rare.

Unable to afford a caregiver, Arthur had to bathe his mother himself, which had become a daily routine.

The two talked about the future.

Arthur thought that since he knew there would be no result, he might as well not write the letter.

"I will become a great comedian, perform in bigger clubs, make a lot of money, and won't make you worry about me anymore."

The mother was surprised and asked, "But why do you think so, Happy (the nickname given to Arthur by his mother)? Isn't it necessary to be funny to be a comedian?"

Life is already so hard, why do you think you can make others happy?
Speechless for a moment.

At night, Arthur took out the revolver that Randal gave him.

Holding it, a wonderful emotion seems to surge in my heart.

He couldn't help dancing.

He accidentally pulled the trigger, but luckily he covered it up with the sound of the TV.

Despite being flustered, he also liked this feeling of power.

The next day, Arthur quietly followed his female neighbor.

I found out her name was Sophie, she was a single mother and worked in a bank.

At night, Sophie knocked on Arthur's door because she discovered that he was being followed during the day, but she didn't seem to care too much.

"I knew it was you. I thought you were going to rob the house."

Arthur said, "I have a gun, how about I go tomorrow?"

Sophie couldn't help laughing, "You're so humorous, Arthur."

Arthur felt warm inside and started to smile as well.

He invited the other party to go to see his performance when he was free.

Sophie nodded.

Life suddenly got better.

Another day, Arthur was performing at the Children's Hospital, but an accident happened in the middle of the performance.

The gun fell out and frightened the children.

He didn't even have time to remove his makeup and hurriedly called his boss to explain.

Said it was just a performance prop.

But the boss said you'd better stop talking nonsense.

Rand has already told Arthur that he has a gun, and that Arthur bought the gun from him.

The boss fired Arthur directly.

Life finally started to get better, but it immediately fell to the bottom.

He didn't understand why Lando betrayed him.

Arthur felt so cheated that he slammed into the glass of the phone booth.

It wasn't just the glass that was broken, it was also his heart.

On the subway on the way home, three drunk men in suits were molesting a woman.

Arthur did not want to intervene, but then his illness struck him and he couldn't help laughing.

The woman took the opportunity to leave.

Seeing that good things were being disrupted.

And a clown dared to laugh at them!

The three drunks turned their teasing to Arthur.

Arthur wanted to take out the card to explain his illness, but his bag had been taken away and the clown mask on his head had also been snatched away.

He was then knocked over and the three men beat and kicked him.

Arthur was almost powerless to resist. This was almost exactly the same as the time when the billboard was stolen.

The lights of the subway flickered, and Arthur laughed as he was beaten.

Suddenly, he pulled out a gun and shot down two people in succession.

The last one to escape from the carriage was chased to the stairs by Arthur and beaten to death.

All clean.

After the murder, Arthur fled to a nearby restroom.

After closing the door, Arthur danced for the second time, looking very intoxicated.

In the mirror, the clown's makeup was very conspicuous, and it looked like a clown was dancing.

Afterwards, Arthur's mentality changed.

He found Sophie and kissed her madly, and Sophie was half-hearted.

That night, Arthur grew up.

The incident of the Joker shooting the gangster spread in the newspapers.

Arthur returned to the office to pack up his things and could still hear his colleagues discussing.

Arthur's colleagues didn't care about being fired.

Some people even mocked him, asking if he wanted to commit suicide by swallowing a gun in the hospital. Only his dwarf colleague showed concern for his current situation.

When he left the company, Arthur changed the slogan on the wall from "Don't forget to smile" to "Don't smile".

It's so painful to strive to move forward, how can I laugh?

The subway clown shooting incident gradually escalated.

The three people killed were employees of the Wayne Group.

Thomas Wayne spoke for his employees on TV, "Although I don't have a personal relationship with them, I know that they are all good people."

But the people at the bottom are on the side of the Joker.

Thomas Wayne: "Gotham City has fallen. I will run for mayor and make Gotham great again."

Reporter: "Witnesses said the suspect was wearing a clown mask. What do you think about this?"

Thomas Wayne: “I think it makes sense, only a coward would hide behind a mask.

He is just a clown who is jealous of others who are happier than him. We, the successful people who have made our own fortunes, look down on such rubbish.”

Arthur was smoking and watching Wayne's speech on TV, and couldn't help but smile with disdain.

In the cramped room, Arthur once again received psychological counseling.

The psychiatrist told him that the city government was cutting spending.

This kind of psychological counseling room with welfare nature will no longer exist in the future.

"People don't care about people like you or me," the psychiatrist said.

The only place where he could tell his suffering was gone, and Arthur accepted it calmly. He seemed to have gotten used to it.

As more and more people in the city begin to imitate the clown, the killer clown becomes more and more famous.

The good news is that Arthur has recently gotten closer to his dream.

He received an invitation and tried out a stand-up comedy performance in a club.

Although I couldn't help laughing during the performance, it went smoothly.

At night, Arthur couldn't resist his curiosity and opened the letter his mother wrote to Thomas Wayne.

In the letter, the mother mentioned her secret affair with Thomas Wayne and their common son Arthur.

Arthur refused to believe it and asked his mother agitatedly if it was true.

The mother admitted it.

The next day, he came to Wayne Manor.

In front of the iron gate of the manor, he met Thomas' youngest son Bruce Wayne.

An iron gate separated the two people, like separating two societies.

Bruce is a child from a wealthy family, but he doesn't look happy at all.

Arthur then used his hands to help him "smile" through the door.

We poor people are unhappy, how can you as a rich person be unhappy?

The housekeeper came and pulled Little Wayne away.

Arthur told the butler that he wanted to see Thomas Wayne, and his words revealed the relationship between his mother and Thomas.

But the housekeeper said sarcastically that Arthur's mother was delusional and nothing had ever happened between her and Thomas.

Another round of blows.

When I got home, I wanted to talk to my mother, but I learned that she had a stroke. The Franklin Show was playing on the TV in the ward.

However, on TV, Murray actually mocked Arthur's performance some time ago.

As if treating it as a joke.

Arthur looked at this scene with a serious expression. The warmth he once had became a joke at this moment.

I lost my job, my mother is in the hospital, and now even my hobbies have become the object of ridicule.

Arthur lay on the bed, hugging the quilt and curling up like a fetus.

He felt like he couldn't hold on any longer.

On TV, a "clown storm" is sweeping across Gotham City.

Ever since Thomas Wayne called losers clowns, anti-rich sentiment in the city exploded instantly.

People took to the streets and protested wearing clown masks.

Arthur looked at the images on TV with a strange expression.

But anyway, he was recognized.

The parade will take place at Wayne Hall.

Arthur changed his clothes and entered the hall, and finally managed to meet Thomas Wayne in the bathroom.

The butler was right, Thomas was indeed not Arthur's father.

Not only that, Arthur wasn't even his mother's biological son, but was adopted.

Arthur's mother was once imprisoned in Arkham Asylum for mental problems, and there is evidence there.

Arthur couldn't accept it, he felt that everyone was lying.

He just wanted a little warmth, or a father's hug.

It turned out that the other party was just insulting himself and his mother Penny.

Arthur laughed sadly again.

Yes, Arthur's laughter often occurs when he is nervous, sad, lost or other negative emotions.

Thomas left as if he was a psycho.

Back home, Arthur stuffed himself into the refrigerator, trying to calm down.

The phone rang. It was the Franklin Show crew calling.

It seems that because the clip in which Murray complained or mocked in the last show received a good response, they invited Arthur to the scene as a guest.

We agreed on a time, and it’s set for next Thursday.

Arthur finally arrived at Arkham Asylum.

He found his mother Penny's medical record, which stated that she did suffer from paranoia and narcissistic personality disorder.

There were some newspaper clippings in the file, recording the news that Penny abandoned her child and allowed her boyfriend to abuse the adopted child.

This is the truth, this is how Arthur has lived since he was a child.

Being abused, subjected to domestic violence, and being tied to a radiator and burned.

But his mother still told him to keep smiling and even gave him a name, "happy".

Standing in the stairwell, Arthur let out a heart-wrenching laugh that was neither a smile nor a laugh.

It rained heavily at night and Arthur returned home.

He came to Sophie's door, hoping to get a last bit of comfort.

After opening the door of his female neighbor's house, he sat on the sofa, waiting for Sophie to come back.

However, Sophie's reaction seemed as if she was not very familiar with Arthur.

It turns out that everything that happened with Sophie before was just his fantasy.

The next day, in the hospital, Arthur talked to Penny about his illness.

He has always believed that uncontrolled laughter is a disease.

But now it seems that is the real me.

He has never been happy since he was born.

"I used to think my life was a tragedy, but now I realize that to others, it should be a very funny comedy."

As he said this, he picked up the pillow and pressed it on Penny's face, killing her.

He lost his job, his lover, his mother and his imaginary father, and almost all the identities that society had given him.

Arthur decided to commit suicide on The Franklin Show to complete "a death that is more valuable than life."

At home, he rehearsed the interview process and its final outcome.

He began to put on makeup as a clown and couldn't help dancing.

Knowing that he was about to die, Arthur felt so relieved for the first time.

At this time, the bell outside the door rang.

The ones who came were former colleagues Randall and the dwarf Gary.

They learned that Arthur's mother had passed away and came to comfort him.

But it was obvious that Randal was not really concerned about Arthur's situation.

He has been questioned by the police several times recently and is worried that Arthur will reveal that he gave him the gun.

"We need to unify our views and make sure we are speaking the same language."

"Why? Because I'm your younger brother?" Arthur asked back.

Lando nodded shamelessly, "That makes sense, you know what I mean."

"Thank you so much, Lando. Thank you."

A knife swiftly stabbed into Lando's neck.

A few clean and sharp cuts killed him instantly.

Arthur vented his anger and leaned against the wall with blood on his face.

He had no intention of harming his dwarf colleague and waved him off.

This is the only person who cares about him and treats him well.

After everything was over, Arthur put on his makeup, put on a red suit, and walked out of the house.

The Joker has arrived.

In the past, I always had to climb a high flight of stairs to get home.

Now, walking out of the house and going down from the high place feels extremely easy.

Accompanied by BGM, the clown danced happily, kicking his legs wildly and opening his arms ostentatiously.

It is difficult to strive for progress, but now if you abandon everything and indulge your desires, all you will get is ease and comfort.

The Joker has now become spiritually complete.

Robert Downey Jr. watched this plot and for some reason, he felt a little relieved.

He was clearly a good person in the social sense, but he turned into a sinful clown.

"Chen shot this scene really well, using stairs going up and down to show Arthur's 'upward' and 'falling', what a genius idea."

The little pepper next to him heard it and couldn't help but agree, "Yes, one is lifeless and the other dances freely. The intention is very clear."

Although the movie has reached this point, there is still one last scene to go.

But the two were almost certain that this movie would become a classic.

The Joker began to take on the qualities of a super villain.

The police had found him by then and determined that Arthur was a major suspect.

Faced with the police pursuit, he easily caused chaos around him and evaded the pursuit.

Come to The Franklin Show.

At the beginning of the interview, Murray asked him, "Since you are a comedian, why don't you tell a joke?"

The Joker flipped through Arthur's notebook and read the words on it, "I just hope that my death will be more meaningful than my life."

"This is indeed a good opportunity to commit suicide," he thought.

The Joker dug out Arthur's joke and read it, but was interrupted several times by Murray.

Murray once again laughed at his jokes for not being funny, even a talk show host had to look up notes when telling jokes.

"That's hilarious."

There was laughter from the audience.

The Joker then stops trying to tell jokes and starts talking about the subway shooting.

He directly admitted that he was the murderer.

"You killed those three young men?" Murray frowned.

"uh-huh."

"Why should we trust you?"

"I have nothing to lose, nothing can hurt me."

He smiled and said, "My life is a comedy."

The answer is totally irrelevant.

But the Joker's relaxed and carefree demeanor made Murray believe it a little.

He asked the other party whether he wanted to start a movement or become a symbolic figure.

But the Joker shook his head, "It's just because those people deserve to die."

Murray disagreed with this statement and the audience booed. In public opinion, those three people were pitiful good guys.

The Joker laughed.

“Any bad thing can kill a person.

If it was me who fell on the street instead of those three people, the audience would never have sighed pitifully as they did now.

Because I am insignificant, in the eyes of the public, only rich people like Thomas will be noticed.

They are human beings, and their deaths deserve attention.”

Murray: "You have a problem with Thomas Wayne, too?"

Joker: "Yeah, that's right."

Murray looked puzzled.

"Do you know how bad the world outside is right now? Have you ever been outside? Everyone is so irritable and indifferent. They don't care about others or think about others. It's already difficult for them to live."

"Do you think people like Thomas Wayne would think about people like me? They don't think about anyone except themselves."

"They just think that we will all endure it silently, like obedient children, and not resist."

Murray: "That's all? You only think about yourself, Arthur. This is just an excuse for murder."

“Not everyone is bad.”

"You are just very bad, Murray," the Joker looked at him with cold eyes.

"You put my video on and invited me to your show, you just want to laugh at me."

Murray sneered, thinking that the man in front of him was sick.

He had no recollection of mocking Arthur.

Murray retorted.

But the Joker was tired of hearing these words.

"Want to hear another joke, Murray?" The Joker laughed.

"No, I think we've heard enough."

“When you get mad…” “Stop it.”

"A person who has been abandoned by society as trash..." "Stop talking about it. It's boring."

“What happens to people on the edge who are mentally ill?”

At the end, the clown turned into an angry and loud shout.

"Call the police, Keen."

Murray still didn't care at all, this was a live broadcast.

"Let me tell you what will happen. You will suffer the consequences." "Call the police."

"Bang", a gunshot rang out.

The Joker raised his gun and shot at Murray, and bright red blood splattered on the wall behind him.

The audience at the scene exclaimed.

The clown sat on the sofa and shook his legs complacently.

Then, he stood up, walked to the camera, picked up the lens, and said to the audience in front of the TV,

"Good night, don't forget, this is the clown!"

……

Eventually, the police arrested him and drove to the police station in a police car.

At this time, riots had already broken out in the streets.

Gotham completely fell into depravity and began to become the Gotham City that everyone was familiar with, with its "simple folk customs".

There were people smashing, looting and robbing everywhere.

Suddenly, an ambulance rushed out and knocked down the police car.

A group of people wearing clown masks rescued their spiritual leader.

The clown stood up amid the cheers of the crowd.

He used the blood in his mouth as fuel to repair the smile makeup that had already faded a little.

Life should be full of smiles!

……

On the other side, because of the riots, Thomas Wayne was preparing to go home with his wife and children.

While passing through an alley, rioters in clown masks killed the couple and stole their belongings.

Only young Bruce Wayne was left standing there, watching the scene unfold.

……

Finally, in Arkham Asylum, the Joker receives counseling from another psychiatrist.

Later, he walked out of the room, leaving bright red footprints in the corridor.

(End of this chapter)