The Wee Democracy

batman

i said the other day that i saw hellboy. and while i thought it was good, it really could have been so much better. it made me think about other comic book movies, specifically, the first two batman movies. they rock. but, like hellboy, the first batman movie is really good...but could have been alot better. batman returns, on the other end, is a near perfect adaptation. it's dark, bleak, oddly comical, and contains alot of plot points from the comic's history.

think about it -- what other comic book movies have as pscyhologically complex villains as the penguin and catwoman? i dissected the scene where selina kyle goes ape shit in her apartment after being tossed out a window. she turns her pink apartment into a dissheveled motley black hole, tosses away her stuffed animals, smashes her dollhouse and mirrors with a frying pan. and turns herself into a fetishist's pinup girl. so basically she destroys:

pink apartment = traditional girly girl abode
stuffed animals = remnants of her girly/childish past, shredding them in a garbage disposal with a wooden spoon (symbols of a woman's place in the kitchen, along with....
frying pan - another symbol of female oppression, which is used to destroy....
mirrors - showing that she's no longer concerned with outward appearances and others' perception of her as a woman
catwoman costume - embracing her sexuality and using it as power, along with strength

and then the penguin -- well he's just a ball of repressed sexuality turning itself into bitter rage and vengeance. he's looking for the love, i guess, expressed in a physical manner, that was denied to him by the parents he never knew. in his final speech to the penguins before sending them off to destroy gotham, he says "the time has come to punish all god's children...why be biased? male and female! hell, the sexes are equal, with their errogenous zones, blown sky high!" does anyone else find it odd that he mention the errogenous zones of children? unless he's looking to cut down their sexual peak before it's prime, to make sure that they cannot experience the same love that he's been denied. oh, and he carries umbrellas...hello? phalli?

batman...ok, he drives around in a big black cock, and dresses in rubber. he struggles to deal with his attraction to selina, AND to catwoman, which to me, signifies an ambivalence toward his role in the bedroom? is he a top or a bottom? i dunno. but he DOES hang out in a cave (undergroud, yes, like the ninja turtles).

anyways, if you ask me, the film is all about embracing sexuality, albeit in not so healthy forms. either way, the movie rocks, and is the undisputed peak of the batman franchise. fine holiday fun!




feeling: a sore throat, dammit!
thinking of: teaching stuff i gotta do today
song of the day: scar tissue - red hot chili peppers
i'll make it to the moon if i have to crawl