Joker 2 needs to avoid one big movie musical mistake. The announcement that the Joker sequel would be a musical has been decisive, leaving some audiences concerned about the seemingly absurd genre shift and others excited for a fresh approach to superhero films. While it is still too early to tell how Joker: Folie à Deux will approach the genre, there is one thing it can do to avoid a common criticism of movie musicals.
Joker: Folie à Deux will continue its predecessor’s genre experimentation, although in a way that few viewers expected. Joker was highly successful as a psychological thriller in an age when most superhero movies are blockbuster action flicks with light comedy on the side. The Joker 2 musical will explore another genre rarely tied to superhero films, but the shift from a darkly serious genre to one associated with feel-good entertainment and children’s movies is jarring to many. The anticipation surrounding Joker: Folie à Deux is now mixed with skepticism as audiences wait to see whether director Todd Phillips will deliver another stunning film or a spectacular failure.
There are many factors that will determine the success or failure of the Joker sequel, but it can start by avoiding one movie musical mistake. Joker: Folie à Deux should write its own music instead of using existing songs for its soundtrack. Jukebox musicals — musicals that draw from well-known pop songs — can be wildly popular, but taking a similar approach would be a mistake for Joker 2.
Why Joker: Folie à Deux Needs to Write Original Music
Cultural classics like Mamma Mia! and Moulin Rouge represent the best of jukebox musicals, but movies like 2021 Cinderella shows potential musical problems that can arise from using existing songs. Song covers often fail to convey a character’s psychological depth because the lyrics are not tailored to the situation. The use of pop songs often makes the problem worse because these songs are usually written to be broadly relatable and generic. Because the original Joker was acclaimed for its exploration of Arthur Fleck’s psychology, continuing to explore his mental and emotional state will be essential to the Joker: Folie à Deux musical. Joker 2 will also be responsible for equally developing Dr. Harleen Quinzel and showing her transformation into Harley Quinn, an undertaking that will be all the more difficult if the movie only draws from existing pop songs for its soundtrack. The use of original music means that the songs could fully reflect the Joker 2 characters, preserving the original film’s psychological focus.
Current jukebox musicals that make existing songs work tend to frame those songs as part of the movie’s universe. The characters singing them are then consciously covering these songs as opposed to presenting them as their true feelings. Pitch Perfect and Sing, for example, follow this pattern through their respective focuses on a cappella groups and a singing competition. Yesterday also uses this approach creatively by erasing the central band from every mind but one. These musicals avoid the issue of mismatching lyrics and characters by developing characters separately from the songs they sing, although occasionally they overlap at certain moments. So far, a Joker: Folie à Deux musical lacks the set-up to make such an approach work. Neither Arthur Fleck nor Dr. Quinzel — nor any potential Arkham Asylum inmates (or Arkham State Hospital patients, as they may be in this universe) — currently have a believable motivation to sing a large number of Gotham City’s biggest hits in the actual reality of the movie. Unless an appropriate structure is introduced in the future - like the movie intentionally leaning into surrealism to emphasize how removed from reality Fleck has become - Joker 2 would be better off using original songs that do not need their presence explained.
With so much scrutiny focused on its genre, Joker: Folie à Deux has a lot to prove in order to uphold Joker’s legacy. It will need its writing, cinematography, acting, sound design, and every other element to be just as good as the first, and it must get them right while shifting into a very different genre. Joker: Folie à Deux will have to be so much more than its music, but it must prove that shifting the genre to a musical was the right choice. The musical aspect of Joker 2 has to be perfect, and writing an original soundtrack would be one step in the right direction.
