The Use of PBA in Joker 2019 Contradicts Idealogy that Laughter is Beneficial to One’s Health

Abstract

For decades, going on centuries, popular notion has driven the idea that laughter is the best medicine, however that may not always be the case, and such a notion should be broken down. Previous studies have mostly focused on benefits of laughter, such as its abilities to decrease stress and increase life expectancy, but these studies focus only on positive laughter. However, laughter can also come from from a negative space, such as laughter meant to mock or cause harm. Negative laughter can even arise as medical symptoms due to neurological disorders. In this paper, we dissect Todd Phillip’s use of the neurological disease PBA in the 2019 film Joker, a disorder that causes uncontrollable laughter or crying that juxtaposes against the victim’s emotions. We first use previous studies and scenes in the film to diagnose the Joker with PBA, and explain what PBA is. We discuss the numerous types of literature that pushes out the idea that laughter can always be used for good, and we set them aside studies that say otherwise, alongside discussing the numerous views that have arisen due to common themes in media and the stigmas surrounding mental health. Alltogether, we found that while laughter can have both positive and negative connotations, and that it’s important to understand the stigma surrounding either side, or any mental illness.