Lady Gaga's Response To 'Joker 2's' Failure Makes Me Wish People Liked It More

There were plenty of reasons I wasn’t interested in seeing Joker: Folie á Deux. First and foremost, I didn’t really love the first Joker. I didn’t hate it. Joaquin Phoenix did a fine job but the movie was ugly and dirty and kinda racist. When it ended, I felt no desire to return to that world and didn’t think that was possible. Then, a sequel was announced, and I said, “meh.” However, they cast Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and said it would be a musical and I thought, “eh!”

Admittedly, the first thing that killed the slight excitement brought on by Lady Gaga was the reveal that the film would be a jukebox musical instead of featuring original songs. I cannot emphasize enough how much that bummed me out. It’s lazy! The movie didn’t get thrown into production right away. Even if it was, there are TV shows on stricter schedules that can generate original music and they don’t have Lady f***ing Gaga attached!! To make it even more embarrassing, Gaga released a new album of music inspired by the movie to coincide with its release. She was right there!

The second thing that hampered my anticipation and kept me from seeing the film was the general response to it. If you’re not familiar, Joker 2 was a massive failure. It tanked at the box office, critics dismissed it and audiences despised it. My younger brother, who loved the first film, walked out halfway through the second. There were a few contrarians like Quentin Tarantino who hailed it as a masterpiece, but that didn’t change people’s minds. Attention paid to its lack of positive response even got a second life when awards season came along and Joker and Harley were left out in the cold.

It would be easy to s*** on the film now that it’s been labeled a dud. Plenty of actors and creators have gone on “apology tours” where they separate themselves from a stinker. Lady Gaga is built differently and had a much more measured response when asked about Joker 2. “People just sometimes don’t like some things,” she explained in an interview with Elle. ‘It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended.” Dammit. She rules.

Many artists deal with failure and so few are this humble about it. She doesn’t try to pass the buck. There is no attempt to salvage the piece (even though she would have every right to). It’s just more of a “them’s the breaks” type answer, but nicer. She even takes a moment to explain that artists shouldn’t be afraid to fail, and that fear of failure can be dangerous. “When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of,” Gaga noted. “It’s part of the mayhem.” I wish your movie were better or even more well-liked, Lady Gaga. You deserve it.