Okay, these “fan theories” (the Joker was a good guy, Daniel was the bad guy in Karate Kid) have got to stop. Admittedly, I enjoyed the Karate Kid interpretation. I thought it was funny, but it occurs to me that some may take these seriously. Yes, you can pick apart and project and bend the story and refocus particular plot points or scenes on the wrong objectives so that it seems to match your very flawed interpretation. But ultimately, these interpretations are just loosely woven bits and pieces taken out of context.
These “theories” have no actual evidence in the story that backs them up. The whole story has to be taken as evidence, too. What’s the goal of the story, of the characters? You just can’t say Daniel is the bad guy in the movie, because he acts as you expect bad guys to act in particular scenes.The movie isn’t written that way. He’s the protagonist. The one we root for. You can sympathize with Johnny, maybe understand where he’s coming from, just like we can sympathize with the Joker because the storytelling is that good. We want to have conflicting emotions about our characters. However, to say that the construct of the movie is the complete the opposite of what it really is is wrong. The films don’t ultimately present that theory as the truth in the end.
Just like The Shining is not filled with clues to say that Kubrick filmed the fake moon landing. Theorizing about these things is like sitting around watching The Wizard of Oz on mute with Dark Side of the Moon playing. Sometimes it clicks, but man, that’s all just coincidence and craziness.
Apryl Lee 