The Ashcan

Merry & Messed Up: “Batman Returns”

Posted on 09. Dec, 2009 by Jef in Film, Merry & Messed Up, Pop Culture

In a Batman's world, these two never had a chance

Hey again, it’s me! (*Shakes a cane at you*) Some people say I’m a Scrooge. I’d have a better idea what that meant if I didn’t avoid watching holiday specials every year. Instead, every weekday up to the 23rd, I’ll be running down a list of Christmas alternatives to enjoy. What do you think about that? Nobody asked you, that’s what.

The second day of Christmas: “Batman Returns”

In truth, director Tim Burton could hold a lot of these slots — he’s responsible for The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and a lot of weird films that take place in snowy set pieces. I’m going with his often neglected Batman Returns, however, which for my money is not the best Batman flick out there but certainly is the most fun. It must have been difficult to devise a follow-up to Jack Nicholson’s fantastic Joker performance in Burton’s previous Batman, so the oddball director did what anyone would do in his position — he jacked up the stakes.

For a lot of critics at the time, having Danny DeVito as Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in the same movie was overkill, drowning out Michael Keaton as Batman. But Burton juggles his bat-bits and baubles admirably and the result is a world gone delightfully mad as Keaton’s Bruce Wayne sits dumbly in the center, unable to keep up. Wayne just wants a slice of domesticity for a change, a nice Christmas spent at home watching television with his new ice blonde, Selina Kyle. And Kyle is a perfect match for Wayne, kooky and frayed around the edges where he’s all straight-laced and humourless. Unfortunately, Kyle is also Catwoman, wrapped in fetish bait, and her alter-ego’s kinky flirtation with the Batman sets a parallel dalliance that the two nutcases can’t handle once the truth comes out. “Do we have to start fighting now?” she pouts while they dance at a decadent ball, stroking the wound she inflicted by penetrating him with her claws. Meow.

While Batman tries to save a good girl gone bat — it’s that same old male ‘Do as I say not as I do’ bull, isn’t it? — deformed orphan Oswald Cobblepot (oh a fantastic name) runs for mayor on a wave of sympathy. DeVito plays Cobblepot/Penguin as both comedy and tragedy, ugly and fat to Pfeiffer’s sexy sleekness, and it’s his inversion of the Batman origin that gives the film its heart. His parents weren’t tragically ripped from his life like Wayne’s were; no, his parents threw him away. He doesn’t have the luxury of mourning, only the burden of a life built on self-loathing. Batman Returns, you see, is about privilege — it’s about male power, it’s about access and rich people and father-to-son nepotism. Bruce Wayne here is the good guy, yes, but only because he’s been afforded the circumstances to be so.

The film’s Christmas setting conspires with Penguin — the bourgie parties where Gotham’s upper class gathers to drink  in their mistletoe pleasures become his perfect target, functional and symbolic all at the same time. But it can never work. Even in Burton’s twisted worlds, Christmas is a time for giving, not for taking away. Penguin’s efforts to be more than he is by bringing others down to his pitiful level are ill-fated, and only his pets are there to mourn his downfall. On her end, Catwoman’s struggle against her internalized patriarchy leaves her wounded and worn. While at the beginning she’s tossed by powerful men from a Gotham tower, she now conquers the city’s phallic skyline, transformed — but she’s forever alone. Be careful what you wish for this Christmas, says Batman Returns; unless you carry the appropriate genes, the world has a way of putting you in your place.

Others in the series:
Black Christmas

Merry & Messed Up: Because Christmas is a time for Seasonal Affective Disorder

Tags: Batman, Batman Returns, christmas movies, I like saying the words Oswald Cobblepot, Tim Burton