{"id":18445,"date":"2019-11-01T02:35:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T02:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18445"},"modified":"2019-11-02T10:45:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-02T10:45:57","slug":"joker-fans-flocking-to-a-bronx-stairway-highlights-tension-of-media-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/joker-fans-flocking-to-a-bronx-stairway-highlights-tension-of-media-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Joker’ fans flocking to a Bronx stairway highlights tension of media tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura M. Holzman<\/a>, IUPUI<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

New York\u2019s newest tourist attraction<\/a> isn\u2019t a museum, park or art installation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a stairway.<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between apartment buildings in the Bronx, it\u2019s been dubbed by moviegoers the \u201cJoker Stairs,\u201d earning its name and fame after being featured prominently in \u201cJoker<\/a>.\u201d Since the film\u2019s release, fans have flocked to the stairs, where they\u2019ve been posing for photos \u2013 much to the annoyance of some local residents<\/a> \u2013 and uploading them to social media.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve learned from studying film-related tourism<\/a>, it\u2019s common for people to visit the places they see in their favorite movies and TV shows. But the relationships among tourist sites, visitors and locals aren\u2019t always the same, and some destinations are more benign than others.<\/p>\n

A place appears on screen \u2013 and is transformed<\/h2>\n

The Joker Stairs are the site of one of the movie\u2019s most memorable scenes: when Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, embraces his murderous Joker identity and blithely dances down a long stairway near his apartment.<\/p>\n

The film cues viewers to the significance of the moment. Peppy music eclipses the sounds of the city. Slow-motion shots allow viewers and Fleck to linger. The scene appears on movie posters<\/a> and in other publicity materials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When fans learned that the iconic scene was filmed on location at the outdoor staircase connecting Shakespeare and Anderson Avenues in the Bronx, they started traveling to the site<\/a>. Some wore costumes. Some played music from the film\u2019s soundtrack. Others simply brought their cameras. Images tagged #JokerStairs<\/a> started appearing on Instagram, introducing the visually striking site to even more people, who then wanted to see it for themselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for people to visit sites they know from movies, TV shows, books or memes. Tourists strike their \u201cAmerican Gothic<\/a>\u201d pose in front of the Eldon, Iowa, house from Grant Wood\u2019s famous painting. So many people flocked to the shore of Thailand\u2019s Maya Bay after watching \u201cThe Beach<\/a>\u201d that the site became overcrowded and polluted. In Northern Ireland<\/a>, official tours showcase places that appear in \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d and South Korea\u2019s tourism board<\/a> highlights sites from popular dramas.<\/p>\n

Tourists who visit these attractions view them through what scholars call a \u201cmediatized gaze<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a way of seeing a place that\u2019s been influenced by its depiction in some form of media. The mediatized gaze can change an otherwise unremarkable site into a must-see destination. It can make locals, not just visitors, think differently about a place.<\/p>\n

One of the most famous examples of this phenomenon involves another set of stairs. In 1976, \u201cRocky<\/a>\u201d sparked a fan practice that turned the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art<\/a> into a landmark now known as \u201cthe Rocky Steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

One set of stairs isn\u2019t like the other<\/h2>\n

Beyond the fact that they\u2019re both outdoor stairways that have become tourist destinations, the Rocky Steps and the Joker Stairs are more deeply intertwined.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s director, Todd Phillips<\/a>, has acknowledged that \u201cJoker\u201d pays homage to many movies from the 1970s and early 1980s. Its scenes, stylistic features and characters include nods to films such as \u201cTaxi Driver<\/a>,\u201d \u201cNetwork<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe King of Comedy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few critics, however, have made the connection to \u201cRocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each film tells the story of a down-and-out guy who, over the course of the movie, gradually finds his confidence. And each film uses an architecturally striking set of stairs to symbolize the protagonist\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Rocky, the boxer played by Sylvester Stallone, initially struggles to run up the art museum steps; he\u2019s out of shape and daunted by the prospect of training for the biggest boxing match of his life. Only after building up his physical strength and self-esteem does he bound up the steps, pump his fists and soak in the view of the Philadelphia skyline.<\/p>\n

In early scenes of \u201cJoker,\u201d Phoenix\u2019s Arthur Fleck trudges up the long flight of stairs \u2013 a routine that underscores his sad existence. When he emerges as Joker, however, he navigates the stairs with eerie aplomb.<\/p>\n

At the turning point in \u201cRocky,\u201d however, Rocky ascends the stairs; Fleck, on the other hand, descends. For one character, it represents his heroic potential. For the other, it symbolizes his descent into infamy.<\/p>\n

The Rocky Steps and the Joker Stairs are different in another important way. The Rocky Steps lead to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a space designed for crowds and tourists, and imbued with cultural power. The Joker Stairs are located in a more residential neighborhood that is poorer than other parts of the city.<\/p>\n

In the film and through tourism, the Rocky Steps bring people into a space of privilege. They represent success and accomplishment, both for the fans who spring up the stairs and for a city that has benefited from their pop culture fame.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Two fans of the 1976 movie \u2018Rocky\u2019 imitate Rocky Balboa on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the Joker Stairs, however, it\u2019s the people with privilege who are more likely to descend on the neighborhood and its newly famous steps. They see and treat the site differently than locals who know the stairs as part of their commute, the place they used to skateboard or where their parents told them not to walk after dark.<\/p>\n

These differences contribute to the tension surrounding the Joker Stairs. While a tourist might be excited about the adventure of tapping into a piece of popular culture, a local might be wary about the attention from outsiders.<\/p>\n

To truly understand what\u2019s happening at the Joker Stairs, it\u2019s important to think about the role they play \u2013 both in the film and in real life.<\/p>\n

[ You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can get our highlights each weekend.<\/a> ]\"The<\/p>\n

Laura M. Holzman<\/a>, Associate Professor, Public Scholar of Curatorial Practices and Visual Art, IUPUI<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laura M. Holzman, IUPUI New York\u2019s newest tourist attraction isn\u2019t a museum, park or art installation. It\u2019s a stairway. Sandwiched between apartment buildings in the Bronx, it\u2019s been dubbed by moviegoers the \u201cJoker Stairs,\u201d earning its name and fame after being featured prominently in \u201cJoker.\u201d Since the film\u2019s release, fans have flocked to the stairs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[308,2225,1747,4222,484,7176,492],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18451,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions\/18451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}