Language, Stigma, and Identity Transformation in Joker (2019): A Discourse-Pragmatic Analysis

This study examines how cinematic dialogue discursively constructs social alienation and identity transformation in Joker (2019). While previous analyses have emphasized the film’s psychological or cinematic dimensions, this paper foregrounds the linguistic mechanisms through which Arthur Fleck’s marginalization is enacted. Adopting a qualitative discourse-stylistic design, five high-stakes authority encounters between Arthur and institutional figures (his therapist, manager, Thomas Wayne, and Murray Franklin) were transcribed and analyzed through speech act theory, politeness/impoliteness frameworks, and stylistic markers such as rhetorical questioning and evaluative lexis. The findings reveal that Arthur is consistently subjected to delegitimizing speech acts, face-threatening evaluations, and ridicule, which reproduce stigma and institutional power asymmetries. Over time, his discourse shifts from tentative self-reflective questioning to accusatory rhetorical reframing and confrontational assertions, dramatizing his discursive reconstitution as the Joker. These results extend impoliteness theory by showing how hostile humor in mediated interactions operates as discursive violence, while contributing to film stylistics by demonstrating the central role of dialogue in representing mental health stigma and social exclusion.