‘You’ Netflix— Why is Joe Relatable?
Now that Netflix has confirmed You for a fourth season, Joe Goldberg reminds us that we can all relate with a psychopath on screen. How is that even possible?
Let’s face it, we all kinda rooted for Joe in You. It’s not that we’re bad people, and it has nothing to do with how the writers introduce us to his character. Joe acts like a psychopath from episode 1, his character is crystal clear from the start, with little to no sign of redemption across the first few seasons.
The reasons we find him interesting reach far beyond the realm of the mysterious, romantic and charming—all feelings that Joe seems to radiate perfectly. Joe is a stellar example of anti-hero and, despite his despicable ways, he is presented as a deeply relatable character. And it all comes down to the way he was written for the screen.
I should make clear that this is not a reason to justify Joe’s ways. Some time ago, starring actor Penn Badgley found it necessary to advise fans against supporting Joe and his toxic behaviours. Joe is a sociopath with regressed traumas and certainly a dangerous individual, but he managed to capture the hearts and attention of many fans. Which is certainly good news to the series’ showrunners.
A Solid Anti-Hero: Why Do We Like Joe in You?
Joe is certainly not the first anti-hero, nor the most complicated or controversial in the history of fiction. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita comes to mind instantly, as well as Dostoevskij’s Crime and Punishment. Even video games are full of such characters. They’re incredibly difficult to write, requiring the author to make an extra effort to fit the shoes of a murderer, psychopath, stalker, assassin and whatnot.
Because of this, and of how far they are supposed to be from the average reader/player/viewer, we can’t help but find these figures fascinating.
Little does it matter that Joe is a deluded and a blatantly selfish murderer. Viewers do not (or choose to not) see that.
For most of the time, what we see on screen is the descent of a mad man into his dark abyss, and all we do is just tread along. We even hope for him to re-emerge at times—we hope he will come out of it victorious, or at least earn his peace and redemption. Even though everything Joe does is exclusively for himself — with some exceptions.
Want VS Need
One of the most notable elements in good fiction writing is the delicate struggle between desires and needs. Joe himself has one of the most relatable desires of all: to find love and happiness, to live the perfect life alongside his beloved one. We all know what Joe wants and, as viewers, we play along — because to an extent, we all want the same things for ourselves. The whole story is built around Joe’s wish, leading us to empathise with his feelings and situation.
Joe’s constant voice-over narration gives depth to his thoughts, which act as a filter between what he does and what viewers need to know. It also sends precise red flags to the most attentive viewers: Joe sees himself as a hopeless romantic but his actions betray a selfish, opportunist and calculating behaviour. The contrast between Joe’s thoughts and his actions make him a delightfully unstable character. Which is a dualism that keeps the interest alive at all times.
On the other hand, the viewer subconsciously realises Joe’s needs from the start: he needs to deal with his past, to be found and stopped before someone else gets hurt. Season 2 elaborates on that point and gives even more depth to his psyche, by digging up forgotten traumas. And yet, we still root for the bad guy who chopped up one of his exes into pieces.
So the truth is that we, as viewers, mostly don’t care. Because of his most basic human desires (and this is the biggest paradox of all), Joe is an incredibly likeable character, one we can all empathise with. Add an extremely tight first-person narration into the mix, and viewers have no choice but see more of Joe than of other characters — listening to his motivations, his internal struggles, his anxiety and paranoia.
What keeps us on the edge of our seats is the consciousness we don’t want to empathise with him, and yet, sometimes, we still do. We nod in scandalised assent to his naivety, as he makes one poor choice after another and delves deeper into his personal abyss. By the time we can foresee a chance for redemption for him in Season 2, it’s already too late; we are already trapped in his net and intrigued by his character.
And because the devil is in the details, sometimes Joe even reminds us of our own selves. We all love when he starts looking people up online, for instance, exaggerating the kind of mental processes we are all familiar with when wanting to know more about someone who intrigues us. The difference is that Joe always takes that extra step, the one that none of us would do, and that we openly condemn; cleverly, he makes us believe we are better than him. This is the one key to Joe’s portrayal on screen.
The Viewer
Funny enough, the viewer may not even be conscious of all that. What the viewer sees is a good-looking character, with genuine desires and (apparently) good faith, and that alone is more than enough. Because we all believe, deep down, that there is one element of good in everything Joe does.
The show’s writers know about our struggle pretty well too. Here is what Will tells Joe in the 4th episode of Season 2:
I know you want to do the right thing, or you wouldn’t have asked at all. I’ve done business with bad people, you’re not them. You do bad things when you feel trapped or, key, to protect someone. Which we all hope we would have the courage to do that. To me, that makes you more good than bad. I think you’re a good man.
I love Will’s speech. It bluntly externalises the viewer’s feelings about Joe, and it is a way to ‘sell’ the main character to us in the process. It goes to the heart of the entire matter: we all know Joe is a disturbed and deranged person to say the least; but we also think there’s some good in him. It’s the show’s writing that makes us feel like we shouldn’t care, and stick with Joe until the end. Because we all believe that, deep down, all Joe wants is to love and be loved in return.
There is an increasing trend to appreciate dark characters and anti-heroes in recent times. That is why a character such as Joe can easily impress in today’s world — not to mention how current and timely all of his actions are to our daily lives, from stalking someone online to handling personal data in the digital era. However, I don’t believe this kind of interest in dark characters is anything new. We have always found darkness intriguing, in the form of villains, people going against the norm and characters showing signs of something ‘different.’
There’s a reason the dark side of the moon appears so fascinating to us humans. What matters is to avoid digging too deep into its craters.
