“I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it.
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it.
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’.
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’.

— Bob Dylan,
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

 

 

Whenever I think of being a contrarian, of breaking the norm, of redefining the world we live in, Bob Dylan often comes to mind — particularly the time when he decided to “go electric”. 

When he was just in his early 20s, he was already hailed as one of the world’s greatest songwriters. He was the “Voice of the Generation”, penning anthemic folk songs that spurred massive social change in the 1960s.

But after a while, he grew tired of his own music, and of being the folk genre’s poster boy. He wanted to experiment with new sounds, and new ways of songwriting. So, he picked up an electric guitar and started playing rock music — a decision that his fanbase largely saw as a huge betrayal, as him selling himself out.

Many of his former fans came to his shows just to heckle him. In one particular show, someone in the audience yelled out, “Judas!” But Dylan was undeterred. He turned his back to the audience, and commanded his band to “play it fucking loud!”, as they belted out the opening notes to Like a Rolling Stone.

It’s such a monumental moment in art, where the artist gives the middle finger to their own fans, to pursue their own artistic growth and evolution. 

But lately, I’ve been forced to think a little deeper about this story. And it’s because I made the regretful decision of watching Joker: Folie à Deux, or for simplicity’s sake, Joker 2. 

It got me thinking, makes a contrarian like Bob Dylan different from someone like Todd Phillips, who directed the Joker films?

On the outset, it might be fair to say that Todd Phillips and Bob Dylan are alike. Like Dylan, Phillips dared to turn his back to his fans, and to take the unconventional or unexpected path with his art — which to him, meant making Joker 2 what it is. 

But if you were to take a closer introspection, you’d realize that they aren’t so similar after all. The difference between a Bob Dylan and a Todd Phillips is in the fine line between confidence and pretentiousness; between craftsmanship and self-indulgence.

Dylan knew exactly what he was doing. He alienated his fans, yes. But he also attracted masses of new ones. After he went electric, he continuously reinvented music and songwriting with album after album. 

Most notably, Dylan was responsible for fusing surrealist poetry with accessible rock music. He also elevated the idea of a “singer-songwriter” — an artist who writes and performs their own songs — a trend which used to be very uncommon back in the day. He even won the Nobel Prize for Literature — how’s that for reinventing music?

Meanwhile, Phillips is a different story. He has a track record of ruining good films with bad sequels, such as the Hangover films. This time, he ruined Joker with a sequel that is bad on all fronts. It is a bad musical, a bad prison movie, a bad courtroom drama, and a bad romance (no pun intended).

Evidently, his ego got in the way. He reportedly shut himself off during the making of Joker 2, as he “wanted nothing to do with DC (Studios)”. DC’s new boss, James Gunn, gave Phillips notes for the film, which he ignored — he used them as toilet paper, probably.

Not only that, Phillips refused to do any test screenings for the film. Likely knowing that the film was utter trash, he secluded himself in a ranch during the film’s opening weekend. Of course, the film’s opening was a disaster, as it bombed even harder than Morbius. 

Joker 2 is so bad that it isn’t a tragedy; it’s a fucking comedy — because it’s worth pointing and laughing at. Phillips alienated his fans, for no good reason, and for no gain. 

Before I descend into a full-blown rant about Joker 2, let me cut to the chase.

Being a contrarian isn’t merely about challenging the status quo. It’s about actually being right about whatever standing for. It’s about actually having substance in what you say and do, rather than rebelling just to stroke your own ego, to show how smart or how good you think you are.

For Dylan, he had his valid reasons to be disillusioned with the folk genre. For one thing, he had come to a point in his adulting where he realized that the world isn’t as black-and-white as he had described in his “finger-pointing” songs. He wanted to write about the world as it was, in all its blurry grey areas. 

Todd Phillips was just being Todd Phillips.

Being a contrarian takes homework. It requires you to be crystal-clear in your intentions, before you announce it to the world. To paraphrase a Bob Dylan lyric, you have to learn your song well before you start singing.