The Joker is a hard movie to write about, it is so dense and interconnected that to explore its themes in a linear fashion, as one must in a blog post, is a daunting task. To chase one theme, one sub narrative or idea is to ignore all others, and for that reason, every analysis is only grasping at parts, illuminating some bits, while leaving much unexplored.  I believe movies are best analyzed in conversation, where a more probing, circular, approach is possible. Thats not what I did here, instead, I tried to reconstruct the narrative of the movie by chasing down some of the key thematic threads. I'll leave the reader to decide how illuminating this is. Spoilers ahead, you have been warned.