It’s been interesting to see the critical praise for Parasite and the critical condemnation for Joker given that they’re basically the same film. The main point of each film, as Joaquin Phoenix explicitly states in Joker, is that "you get what you deserve." However, the main difference between these films is that Joker begins as a tragedy and ends as a comedy while Parasite begins as a comedy and ends as a tragedy. Consequently, the shared point of these films gets expressed as a moral in Parasite but a punchline in Joker.

And I can't help but wonder if this explains the difference in critical reception.

Read More