Oh, Batman. For the World's Greatest Detective, you've sure swallowed a load of shit.Comic Book Resources has another interview up with Christian Bale where the actor talks about how the movies he makes with Chris Nolan are true to Batman "creator" Bob Kane's vision.
“I feel like we’ve kind of gone back to its roots, when I’ve spoken with friends of Bob Kane, relatives, they’ve said, ‘No, he meant this to be a very dark character.’ He always viewed what Adam West did so well [positively], but he was spoofing Batman, he wasn’t really playing Batman [in the 1960s television series].”
Never mind that the OG Batman Bale speaks of was more the work of Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson than Bob Kane, or that Batman was a solo act for less than a year before the Boy Wonder showed up to lighten the mood. Never mind further that the Adam West Batman was as true to its comic book contemporary as Bale's is to what passes for comic books these days. Never mind even CBR's puzzling parenthetical inserts. Assuming that The Dark Knight carries on the tone and themes of Batman Begins, the Batman who stars in Nolan's film has less to do with the Kane Batman and everything to do with the Denny O'Neill and Frank Robbins Batman from the 1970s and the Frank Miller Batman from the 1980s. Even moreso, they have to do with 70s crime flicks, but that's another discussion.
So that's why I'm rooting for Harvey Dent.
mp3: "Steal Yr Face" by Royal Trux
mp3: "Slip Into the Sea" by Picture Atlantic
3 comments:
I totally agree. Throw in Neal Adams there for covers and some pencils for that period (Neal Adams draws my favorite Batman). I've never understood when people call Batman:TV a spoof. To me, it was more like the comic than anything (we should remember that Bats has gone through some periods of cheeziness) I think in these new movies, there is a bit of Batman Animated in there. At least in some regards. Not in storytelling though there was some pretty heavy stuff in that show but it keeps that kind of tone if you catch my drift. Great post. I'm going to have to go read that article though I've learned never to listen to actors talk about comic book characters (I guess Nick Cage would have some expertise but look at what he did with Ghost Rider)
I think we should just learn (as a society) never to listen to actors full stop. There are exceptions, like Gary Oldman and Michael Caine have given some insightful interviews lately. But I think a lot of what makes Bale a really interesting actor is also what makes me cringe when I read interviews with him.
Furthermore, I'm totally against this bashing of previous Bat-incarnations every time someone delivers a good Batman story. The last Schumacher film was a gaudy mess, sure, but George Clooney brought something worthwhile to Batman. Clooney's take might not be right for Nolan's moody films, but if someone wanted to do a cinematic take on Grant Morrison's Batman--the one who has a sci-fi closet (see: http://bp1.blogger.com/_S9-4uUert1c/RlCr04sMd6I/AAAAAAAAAAM/IoyvYqwR80s/s320/dalek2.jpg or JLA: Classified #1)--then Clooney might be yr man.
If you hate Batman so much, then just fuckin' ignore him by refusing to type and/write about him, you whiny little dickhead.
Post a Comment