Rob245

Answer: I think they intentionally rammed a police car, not because Joker was in it but simply because it was a police car.

lionhead

Answer: I think the guy stole the ambulance and intentionally rammed the police car because they were rioting against the police.

Suggested correction: Nobody says she raised him as a child. As soon as he turned 18 he could have chosen to live with her again. Quite possibly because he didn't like his foster home.

lionhead

Answer: It isn't exactly specified in the film what illness she suffers from but she definitely appears to be schizophrenic. This would also explain why she claimed Arthur was Wayne's son.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: Murray Franklin is loosely based on Johnny Carson. He can also be seen as sort-of a general reference to nighttime talk-show hosts. Robert De Niro has also said he played the character as a bit of an homage to his character Rupert Pupkin from the 1982 film "The King of Comedy." (Though he stresses they are not meant to be the same character).

TedStixon

Answer: I'd probably rule out of the last reason you mentioned, on the first one you have to consider that the lie goes deeper than just the father's identity, if that is a lie at all. Through the information he saw on the medical record - and he kills her after seeing that record - it turns out that she had let him be abused and beaten up since a tender age, which would probably be the cause of his mental and physical issues. In his line before the murder, he mentions her full name, and how he has not been happy a minute of his whole life, so the terrible childhood, which maybe now came back to him, is a real factor. Mentioning the comedy, so a play, might also imply a sort of detachment now that he understands that it was all a lie from the beginning and she's not even his real mother (if that's what he believes).

Sammo ★

Answer: 1 - Why does he dance a bunch of times in the movie? It's kinda his thing! You can see that Murray himself does little goofy dances all the time during his show and Arthur sorta seems to have taken that trait from him. 2 - I have heard that "comedy is subjective" for years and years. It is sort of a truism but it does fit, some people like a certain kind of humor that can fall completely flat for others. I am not sure if you should read some specificity about it in this movie, except for the fact that obviously he's using it to justify his own actions to the point of considering 'funny' to commit murder in the context of the perspective change when he starts considering his tragic life a whole big joke with no punchline. I don't really see in this movie a satire of show business or shock comedy, since it seems to focus on other themes (mental illness, emargination, etcetera).

Sammo ★

Answer: 1. It's supposed to be a highly emotional moment for him, the first time he takes control of his own life. He basically celebrates that. 2. I think he is referring to Murray, or at least something in-universe. This is all of course speculative.

lionhead

Answer: Arthur's therapy and medication are paid for by the city government. The entire program was cut and Arthur can't afford it on his own.

Brian Katcher