always be batman

ALWAYS BE BATMANANASTASIA SALTER

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDATEXTS & TECHNOLOGY / DIGITAL MEDIA

@ANASALTER

“”

It is in the mundane world that the media operate most significantly. They filter and frame everyday realities, through their singular and multiple representations, providing touchstones, references, for the conduct of everyday life, for the production and maintenance of common sense. And it is here, in what passes for common sense, that we have to ground the study of the media.

ROGER SILVERSTONE, WHY STUDY THE MEDIA? (1999)

“”

Superman is the way America sees itself,

but Batman is the way the world sees America.

ATTRIBUTED TO MICHAEL CAINE, AUGUST 2008

WE CAN SEE AMERICA THROUGH BATMAN

WE CAN SEE AMERICAN HISTORY

THROUGH THE HISTORY OF

BATMAN

1938

1939

1942

1943

BATMAN (SERIAL)ORIGINALLY RELEASED: 1943

RE-RELEASED 1966 AS “AN EVENING WITH BATMAN AND ROBIN”

“”

I am Dr. Daka, humble servant of his majesty Hirohito, Heavenly Ruler and Prince of the Rising Sun. By divine destiny my country shall destroy the democratic forces of evil and the United States to make way for the new order…an order that will bring about the liberation of the enslaved people of America.

BATMAN (1943)

1954

“”

The CCA outright destroyed horror comics…it also heavily regulated crime, criminals, and even the justice system itself. Authority figures could not be depicted as anything but virtuous. Empathy could not be so much as hinted at any criminal…their crimes “sordid,” and never going unpunished. From a storytelling standpoint, this put the writers of Batman in a tight spot.

DAN BLACK, THE BATMAN OF THE 1950S: CENSORSHIP AND NEW DIMENSIONS, 2014

1957

1966

“”

For some fans, ABC’s Batman borders on the profane. Its frivolous aesthetic constitutes a blot on the character’s past. Others…celebrate it as a camp classic. Either way, it’s impossible to deny the constitutive role played by censorship. Had the anti-comics campaign been more effective, comics would have disappeared entirely…and had the industry not capitulated to self-censorship…we might never have seen a campy Batman who exaggerated everything he was trying to deny.

SHAWNA KIDMAN, “HOLY CAMP BATMAN!” THE LEGACY OF CENSORSHIP IN COMICS, 2010

1972

“”

The post Vietnam syndrome confronts us with the unconsummated grief of soldiers – “impacted grief” – in which an encapsulated, never-ending past deprives the present of meaning.

CHAIM F. SHATAN, “POST-VIETNAM SYNDROME” THE NEW YORK TIMES (MAY 6, 1972)

“Same job, same employer means equal pay for men AND women,” Batgirl reminds Batman as the bomb ticks. “It’s no joke; it’s the federal equal pay law.” 

1986

“”

I regard it as a symbolic resurgence of the common man’s will to resist…a rebirth of the American fighting spirit.

LANA LANG ON THE REAPPEARANCE OF BATMAN IN THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (MILLER 1986)

1989

2001

2008

“”

In his essentially personal struggle, nevertheless aimed at change in society as a whole, Batman seems to embody fundamental contradictions so massive and complex that…one can be neither for him nor against him in the usual sense.

CHRISTOPHER PIZZINO, ARRESTING DEVELOPMENT: COMICS AT THE BOUNDARIES OF LITERATURE

2010

“”

I pushed Batman as far as he can go and after a while, he stops being Batman. My guy carries a couple of guns and is up against an existential threat. He’s not just up against a goofy villain. Ignoring an enemy that’s committed to our annihilation is kind of silly. It just seems that chasing the Riddler around seems silly compared to what’s going on out there. I’ve taken Batman as far as he can go.

FRANK MILLER ON THE DECISION TO CHANGE “HOLY TERROR” (LA TIMES 2010)

NIGHTRUNNERBILAL ASSELAH

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #22DAVID HINE AND KYLE HIGGINS

2012

The man in custody for allegedly killing 12 people at the screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado told authorities after the shooting that he "was The Joker," NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly said today.

2015

“”

Of course you want Batman to beat this officer up, and be like, ‘how could you?’ But the point of the issue is that wouldn’t solve the problem. Batman throwing the officer off a roof, or throwing the officer in jail, it wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter at all. And that’s the thing I think is ultimately infuriating.

SCOTT SNYDER IN AN INTERVIEW WITH NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (SEPTEMBER 17, 2015)

2016

2017

“”

Alfred Pennyworth: Sir... I've seen you go through similar phases in 2016 and 2012 and 2008 and 2005 and 1997 and 1995 and 1992 and 1989 and that weird one in 1966.

Bruce Wayne: I have aged phenomenally.

LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017)

You can’t be a hero if you only

care about yourself.

“”

The Lego Batman Movie is an out-loud critique of the brooding, angry, hyper-masculine, loner Batman of modern film, from his cut abs to his sadness mansion.

REVIEW BY SUSANA POLO, POLYGON (FEBRUARY 4, 2017)

THANK YOU!