About

In Order to Play the Joker, Joaquin Phoenix… is a series of image macro memes that imagine actor Joaquin Phoenix preparing himself for the role of Joker by undergoing various mentally and psychologically taxing challenges. Spawned by a viral Reddit post, the format gained major prominence online in late 2020 where people use the phrasal template by recaptioning the bottom text.

Origin

On August 31st, 2019, AP News^[1] published an article "Joaquin Phoenix discusses preparing for role in ‘Joker’" in which it listed several ways the actor prepared for his performance in the 2019 film Joker. According to the article, preparing for the role involved losing weight, studying personality disorders and practicing the laugh over and over again.

In 2019 and 2020, several more articles about Phoenix's preparation for the role were published, including pieces by Time^[2] and Looper.^[3]

The original post of the macro could not be discovered but was likely made in mid-October 2020. On October 16th, 2020, Redditor juanbatata posted the earliest recaption of the macro in the /r/formuladank^[4] subreddit, a Formula One meme that gained over 16,800 upvotes in two years (shown below).

Spread

The format received initial spread in late October 2020, as Instagram and Facebook accounts humorously recaptioned the macro. For example, on October 19th, 2020, Facebook^[5] page Machine Power posted a meme that received over 300 reactions and 270 shares in two years (shown below, left). On October 20th, Facebook^[6] page Dank Law Memes posted a version that gained over 5,000 reactions and 680 shares in two years (shown below, right).

On November 9th, 2020, Redditor^[7] EducatedEduard posted a meme based on the format that received over 52,600 upvotes in /r/memes in two years (shown below, left). On December 26th, Redditor -tobyt posted a meme about League of Legends that received over 45,700 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard^[8] in the same period (shown below, right).

Following the /r/okbuddyretard post, the format achieved viral popularity online, primarily on Reddit and Twitter, and maintained moderate popularity online through 2021 and 2022.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References