‘Is it me, or is it getting crazier out there?’: The psyche of the interior in Joker: An analysis of psychological space in Todd Phillips Joker (2019) through collage

Abstract

Encounters with interior spaces are influenced by past experiences and state of mind. Much of how architecture is experienced therefore is not readily apparent and is sensed rather than seen. Psyche impacts this experience of lived space, from an individual’s awareness of themselves within it, to the perception of space itself. Film offers a distinctive representation of this subjective experience through its narrative form and command of visual, audio and temporal language. The emotive and visceral power of film render it an accessible and immersive medium, and as such make it uniquely placed to communicate less tangible qualities of space and character. This paper analyses the use of interior space in the film Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019). The acutely intimate discernment of the protagonist’s interior environment is the result of environmental and psychological disruption, where boundaries break down between the real and imaginary, and the surreal intrudes upon the tangible depiction of the interior. The exposition of the character’s damaged psyche within space is analysed at key points within the narrative, using collage as an exploratory, visual methodology to analyse and experiment with, to potentially reveal the less perceivable, yet invasive intangible layers of lived space. This article addresses the frequent oversight of psychological qualities of the interior in architectural discourse, through an analytical and experimental method rendering the psychological content of space visible. Defining this intangible nature of architecture as the psychosphere (or the psychological atmosphere), I term this technique the ‘psychospheric collage method’. The process consists of interrogating expressive film language and content through an architectural lens documented through sketching, storyboarding and textual enquiry. From these fragmented components I compose a new visual language capable of signifying the layered psychological atmosphere in which a character resides, thus facilitating its consideration within architectural design and enabling articulation of our intimate encounter with the interior.