Batman ReturnsThere's a lot of pageantry around the holidays. Take Christmas, for example. We decorate trees with lights, and put wrapped presents under them. We go out to congregate for social gatherings in the bitter cold and snow. And sometimes we wear costumes...just a little bit like we do for Halloween. And what does dressing up in costumes and following the associated rituals say about us? That we may find comfort in the rote, everyday, humdrum lives we lead, but somewhere deep down, there stirs an unsettled urge to be something--someone--different...someone else that represents us, even if it isn't really us. Or maybe it's the other way around.
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Directed by Tim Burton, Batman Returns is the follow up to the blockbuster superhero movie, Batman. Starring Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne, this sequel is a far stranger beast than its predecessor. It is overtly inspired by the likes of German Expressionism, set on the eve of Christmas in the exceedingly industrial Gotham City. With cold steel, concrete, and snow occupying nigh every inch of the set design, the movie might as well have been shot in black and white, since it is drained of almost all color. And this is key, since one of the villains (there are a few) is a sinister industrialist named Max Schreck (Christopher Walken), who is practically a vampire by the way he comports himself and through his motives to bleed the city dry of electrical power. He actually says the line, "you can never have too much power" with a straight face. (Movie buffs should catch that Schreck's name is a nod to F. W. Murnau's classic silent film, Nosferatu, and the actor who portrayed the legendary vampire) Schreck is referred to as Gotham's "Santa Claus" by the mayor, yet this is a sly jab at the vile capitalist. He owns a massive department store, so he isn't giving away anything, but it's amazing what you can make the public believe. And that's the real message underlying this oddball superhero yarn. Yes, there is the familiar, Jungian tale of duality found in many superhero movies--it is especially pronounced in Batman Returns--but another theme that runs through this movie is how power corrupts, and that's exemplified in both Schreck and one of the film's marquee villains, the freakish "Penguin", a.k.a. Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito). Superhero movies often portray villains as insidious or sneering, even deformed or cruel. The Penguin is this and more. He is not only ambitious and vicious--apparently so from his infancy, if that cat in the prologue has anything to say about it--but worse...he is a natural born politician. Or to be more precise, he is a caricature of all that is loathsome in politics; all that vileness is made manifest in him. He exploits his tragic upbringing for media attention after faking an abduction of the mayor's son by way of one of his clown compatriots in the Red Triangle circus gang he runs. It's ridiculously obvious that it's staged, and yet everyone gobbles it up. Because the reporters depict Oswald as a hero, everyone reading the paper believes it. These days, in a post-Disney MCU world, "superhero movie" is a phrase generally used in a pejorative way. But for a movie like Batman Returns, this gleefully cynical satire of media manipulation and political skullduggery is truly inspired. (Heck, Schreck even makes an offhand comparison between Cobblepot and Nixon.)
Coming back to the theme of duality, this is (of course) best represented by way of Batman/Bruce Wayne, but also in the inclusion of Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer)--once a milquetoast secretary to Schreck (make that executive assistant) before he defenestrated her (rare to get to use that word in context) for snooping around his "protected files". Following this, Selina is resurrected by alley cats (yes, that's right), and returns home in a daze. One grating answering machine message advertising beauty products too many and her perfectly pink ghetto apartment with a fold-out bed becomes the object of her frustrated ire by way of black spray paint and smashed neon bulbs. But Selina's transformation into a BDSM-influenced anarchist truly receives its coup de grace after she magically transforms a black leather jacket into a form-fitting full body suit, all with a little wire and her sewing machine. (Easily the most unlikely of events in the whole movie, but I digress.) Selina sees herself as having "died" at the hands of Schreck, but psychologically rationalizes her survival as being associated with that old saying that "cats have nine lives"; she's just spent one is all. Well, this mental break turns her from a mousy little thing and awakens the inner predator lurking within, which we see glimpses of earlier in the movie, like when she casually sticks her would be assailant with his own stun gun and giggles. This event has given Selina permission to be the woman she really believes herself to be, her "id" coming to the surface. For her, the Catwoman persona is an act of revenge against a patriarchal society that is comfortable using her (and by association, women on the whole) to satisfy their own egos. That's certainly one read on this "femme fatale". Interestingly, this personality shift makes her incredibly appealing to the same men who would otherwise look down on her. It's true for the tongue-tied Schreck, and since Bruce has no frame of reference, it's probably true for him when he first sees her. After she returns to work, Schreck isn't just shocked because she survived; both men are on the verge of drooling at this confident, funny, and dangerous minx who strolls into the board room like she owns the place. She turns on the alpha juice, and both men are turned on as a result. Would Bruce Wayne have given the time of day to Selina Kyle otherwise? Of course the exciting mind games come later when they discover who the other person really is. Their first impulse is to consider going outside to "fight" while they are at Schreck's Christmas party. Strange behavior for two outwardly normal looking people. It's like these comic book aliases are their true selves, and not just their "shadow selves"--in that Jungian way of looking at that dark side of ourselves we hide away--and the names on their birth certificates are really the masks they wear for the world instead. Bruce stammers while trying to explain to Selina that there are "two truths" when she askes how he broke up with his last girlfriend. She even catches him saying that he mistook himself for someone else when Bruce and Selina first meet, because it's already after Batman and Catwoman have had their first dust up. Deep down, he sees himself as Batman first...much like Selina knows that she has always been Catwoman, not some bespectacled waif to be thrown out of a window.
Lots of movies pride themselves on realism and verisimilitude; not Batman Returns. But before thinking that this is a criticism, consider its primary inspiration: German Expressionism. Compare the look and feel of this movie with something like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and the influence is immediately apparent. Even Oswald Cobblepot looks like Rotwang of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The Gotham City of Batman Returns is clearly shot on a set--the town square is far too small to accommodate a city the size that Gotham is suggested to be. And even though the fashion worn by characters is clearly of the late Eighties/early Nineties variety (I think Bruce is wearing Oliver Peoples frames), everything else looks right out of the Twenties or Thirties, such as Bruce Wayne's Rolls Royce. This Gotham City is a hodge-podge of eras, a collage of looks that affords it the privilege of appearing like something truly gothic, familiar, and yet eerie all at once--something that defies nature. Many events don't follow a logical train of thought. For instance, after Catwoman crosses paths with Batman and The Penguin outside of Schreck's and delivers her deadpan "meow" before the place explodes, both villains flee in opposite directions. And even though The Penguin is using a (slow-moving) helicopter umbrella to make his egress and is conspiring to take over the city by force, Batman apparently chooses to chase Catwoman instead. And even before he can reason with her, she picks a fight with him, kicking him in the face. She feigns an injury--on the basis of "being a woman"--and sucker punches him, then dangles him over a ledge. His response: throw acid at her arm. Yikes! That's a little out there, even for this dark knight. So Gotham City, and its inhabitants, are really existing in a kind of madhouse version of reality, where everyone is just a bit unhinged--chalk it up to urban neurosis, I guess. Either way, combine this with a vivid and dreamlike look and Batman Returns survives not as a "blockbuster" or quintessential superhero flick, but as something that lingers in the mind of its audience long after...something very different. Because maybe it's something like a dream each of us has once had, and our dreams are where we get to be our true selves...where we get to let our masks drop.
Recommended for: Fans of a gothic and evocative superhero story that owes more to vintage silent films than the blockbusters that fill our cinemas today. Batman Returns apparently caught some audiences off-guard when it released in 1992, who were expecting more "family friendly" (read: neutered and tepid) entertainment to sedate their children. Imagine the surprise when kids saw black ichor oozing from The Penguin's pointy-teethed maw as he is on the verge of death, or Catwoman offering to give herself "a bath" in Oswald's hideout, then preceding to lick herself. No wonder it's become such a beloved cult classic!
Coming back to the theme of duality, this is (of course) best represented by way of Batman/Bruce Wayne, but also in the inclusion of Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer)--once a milquetoast secretary to Schreck (make that executive assistant) before he defenestrated her (rare to get to use that word in context) for snooping around his "protected files". Following this, Selina is resurrected by alley cats (yes, that's right), and returns home in a daze. One grating answering machine message advertising beauty products too many and her perfectly pink ghetto apartment with a fold-out bed becomes the object of her frustrated ire by way of black spray paint and smashed neon bulbs. But Selina's transformation into a BDSM-influenced anarchist truly receives its coup de grace after she magically transforms a black leather jacket into a form-fitting full body suit, all with a little wire and her sewing machine. (Easily the most unlikely of events in the whole movie, but I digress.) Selina sees herself as having "died" at the hands of Schreck, but psychologically rationalizes her survival as being associated with that old saying that "cats have nine lives"; she's just spent one is all. Well, this mental break turns her from a mousy little thing and awakens the inner predator lurking within, which we see glimpses of earlier in the movie, like when she casually sticks her would be assailant with his own stun gun and giggles. This event has given Selina permission to be the woman she really believes herself to be, her "id" coming to the surface. For her, the Catwoman persona is an act of revenge against a patriarchal society that is comfortable using her (and by association, women on the whole) to satisfy their own egos. That's certainly one read on this "femme fatale". Interestingly, this personality shift makes her incredibly appealing to the same men who would otherwise look down on her. It's true for the tongue-tied Schreck, and since Bruce has no frame of reference, it's probably true for him when he first sees her. After she returns to work, Schreck isn't just shocked because she survived; both men are on the verge of drooling at this confident, funny, and dangerous minx who strolls into the board room like she owns the place. She turns on the alpha juice, and both men are turned on as a result. Would Bruce Wayne have given the time of day to Selina Kyle otherwise? Of course the exciting mind games come later when they discover who the other person really is. Their first impulse is to consider going outside to "fight" while they are at Schreck's Christmas party. Strange behavior for two outwardly normal looking people. It's like these comic book aliases are their true selves, and not just their "shadow selves"--in that Jungian way of looking at that dark side of ourselves we hide away--and the names on their birth certificates are really the masks they wear for the world instead. Bruce stammers while trying to explain to Selina that there are "two truths" when she askes how he broke up with his last girlfriend. She even catches him saying that he mistook himself for someone else when Bruce and Selina first meet, because it's already after Batman and Catwoman have had their first dust up. Deep down, he sees himself as Batman first...much like Selina knows that she has always been Catwoman, not some bespectacled waif to be thrown out of a window.
Lots of movies pride themselves on realism and verisimilitude; not Batman Returns. But before thinking that this is a criticism, consider its primary inspiration: German Expressionism. Compare the look and feel of this movie with something like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and the influence is immediately apparent. Even Oswald Cobblepot looks like Rotwang of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The Gotham City of Batman Returns is clearly shot on a set--the town square is far too small to accommodate a city the size that Gotham is suggested to be. And even though the fashion worn by characters is clearly of the late Eighties/early Nineties variety (I think Bruce is wearing Oliver Peoples frames), everything else looks right out of the Twenties or Thirties, such as Bruce Wayne's Rolls Royce. This Gotham City is a hodge-podge of eras, a collage of looks that affords it the privilege of appearing like something truly gothic, familiar, and yet eerie all at once--something that defies nature. Many events don't follow a logical train of thought. For instance, after Catwoman crosses paths with Batman and The Penguin outside of Schreck's and delivers her deadpan "meow" before the place explodes, both villains flee in opposite directions. And even though The Penguin is using a (slow-moving) helicopter umbrella to make his egress and is conspiring to take over the city by force, Batman apparently chooses to chase Catwoman instead. And even before he can reason with her, she picks a fight with him, kicking him in the face. She feigns an injury--on the basis of "being a woman"--and sucker punches him, then dangles him over a ledge. His response: throw acid at her arm. Yikes! That's a little out there, even for this dark knight. So Gotham City, and its inhabitants, are really existing in a kind of madhouse version of reality, where everyone is just a bit unhinged--chalk it up to urban neurosis, I guess. Either way, combine this with a vivid and dreamlike look and Batman Returns survives not as a "blockbuster" or quintessential superhero flick, but as something that lingers in the mind of its audience long after...something very different. Because maybe it's something like a dream each of us has once had, and our dreams are where we get to be our true selves...where we get to let our masks drop.
Recommended for: Fans of a gothic and evocative superhero story that owes more to vintage silent films than the blockbusters that fill our cinemas today. Batman Returns apparently caught some audiences off-guard when it released in 1992, who were expecting more "family friendly" (read: neutered and tepid) entertainment to sedate their children. Imagine the surprise when kids saw black ichor oozing from The Penguin's pointy-teethed maw as he is on the verge of death, or Catwoman offering to give herself "a bath" in Oswald's hideout, then preceding to lick herself. No wonder it's become such a beloved cult classic!