The character of Batman (originally a comic book character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger) has seen an enormous transformation from animated series to movies and each one has a huge difference to its predecessor.
The first Batman appearance in film was in the 1943 serial film entitled “Batman” which contained 15 chapters. This serial film was also the first appearance of “The Bat’s Cave” (later changed to “The Batcave” for the comics) and the Grandfather Clock entrance to the cave. One of the first transformations is the description of Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s (The Batman) butler. In the original comics before the serial Alfred is portrayed as an overweight, clean-shaven man while in the serial, he is portrayed by William Austin as an older gentleman with a slim figure and a thin moustache. The Alfred in the comics was later changed to match that introduced in the serial.
In 1966 Batman made his first big screen appearance in colour in “Batman: The Movie”. A new concept was introduced in this movie, which was that of introducing more than one villain in each movie. Whereas in the previous movies the writers introduced an original evil character for each movie, in this new movie, the writers decided to work with characters already introduced to the readers of the comic books and write a plot where four characters could feature rather than just one, these four characters were: The Joker, The Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman.
In 1989, the Batman character was given to director Tim Burton and actor Michael Keaton to makeover as their own. As is Burton’s style this new movie was darker when compared to the others before. It also included, what today is arguably the second best portrayal of the Joker by none other than Jack Nicholson. Three years later, a sequel was released, again directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton in the lead role. Again, in this movie, two villains roles are written instead of the usual one, again the two characters portrayed are Penguin played by Danny DeVito and Catwoman by Michelle Pfeiffer (perhaps the most notable portrayal of Catwomanto date.) Again, rather than just focusing on the villains’ ‘evil plots’ for the duration of the movie, in this film Burton introduces the creation of both villains and their transformation from two seemingly normal law-abiding citizens to two of the strongest adversaries that Batman faces.
In 1995, Joel Schumacher replaced Tim Burton as director as Warner Brothers decided that the Batman series needed to take a new direction, Michael Keaton didn’t like the direction that his character was taking and backed out of the film to be replaced by Val Kilmer. Chris O’Donell was the new Robin, giving ‘The Boy Wonder a new physical look – as opposed to the early portrayals of Robin as a very slim, clean cut, sleek very young (9-12 year old) boy (also known as the Teddy Boy look) he is now portrayed as a muscular, older (he now appears to be at least 19) rebellious young man with very little hair (as was the style at the time) and ear piercings. In 1997, an interesting addition in this adaptation was the introduction of Batgirl, who, prior to this movie, had never made it into the movies.
And now we come to the most recent Batman series: the so called “Christopher Nolan Series”.
In Batman Begins, the director finally depicts the ‘birth’ of the vigilante as well as includes one of the biggest villains ever introduced in the comics (but never in the movies): Ra’s Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) who plays a key role in the creation of the Batman. In the movie, Nolan also includes another notable evil character in the comics who also never made it to the big screen: Scarecrow. Through the introduction of Bruce Wayne’s history (which had never really been given importance in the movies) the character finally has a certain depth to it which makes him more relatable – the personal anguish and grief which the character goes through makes him seem more realistic (as was Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s original intention in creating a superhero whose only powers were intelligence, experience, and physical strength which is gained through a healthy lifestyle and training, making him the ideal role model for the young readers of the comics). The movies now take on an even darker approach than those directed by Tim Burton, however where Burton’s movies looked more cartoonish because of that darkness, here, they make it more real because Nolan decides to portray the impoverished part of Gotham as well as corruption in the Police force and legal system of the city showing Batman as a fighter of ‘real’ crimes.
The sequel to ‘Batman Begins’ is perhaps most known for Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the ‘Joker’ which some call the most realistic portrayal of the character. No doubt playing a character which had been played time and time again by different actors, each of them bringing a different kind of insanity to the character was no easy feat for Ledger, however it is very obvious to whoever has seen ‘The Dark Knight’ will agree that he did the creators proud in his portrayal of the character. ‘The Dark Knight’ is also known for the return of Harvey ‘Two-Face’ Dent to the movies. One who has seen both ‘Batman Forever’ (1995) and ‘The Dark Knight’ can see that the difference between Tommy Lee Jones’ Two Face and Aaron Eckhart’s is vast – including the back story and creation of the evil inside Harvey Dent. One other very important facet of this movie is the fall of the Batman – finally showing to the audience that at the end of the day the Batman is Bruce Wayne who is nothing more than a man who is still susceptible to pain and grief just like any other man.
The latest Batman film starts off with Bruce Wayne as a recluse after taking the blame for Harvey Dent’s death, while hosting a party at his house (one which he does not attend himself) he meets Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman. Here, one can see the enormous difference between Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman and that portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. In this movie Catwoman is portrayed more as a Robin Hood-esque character, whereas in 1992 Michelle Pfeiffer played a wronged woman who was almost killed by her boss and her only motivation as Catwoman is the protection of women everywhere and her revenge on men especially her boss. Another very, very important transformation is that of Bane. In 1995 he was portrayed as nothing more than Poison Ivy’s ‘henchman’ while in the comics he was supposed to be Batman’s intellectual equal while being stronger than him, this was done very well in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ most especially when it seems like Bane has defeated Batman for good and in one instance the actions of the film all lead the audience to conclude that Batman is dead.
The final instalment of the Batman movies is perhaps the biggest transformation from the archetypical superhero movie because of the fact that it actually makes the audience really believe that Bruce Wayne is actually dead (with his Last Will and Testament being read). The movies previous to the Nolan series all seem to follow the usual format of superhero movies with the hero defeating the villains over and over again and the villain finally getting one over the hero by kidnapping his love interest or his crime-fighting partner and asking him to choose between saving them or the people of the city and somehow, miraculously the hero manages to do both “and they live happily ever after”.
Christopher Nolan really takes this concept and turns it around giving the audience what they really want and what they are not expecting at the same time. I think this is the number one reason why Christopher Nolan’s depiction of the Batman stories is the most popular one (apart from also being the most recent and realistic)
References:
Wikipedia. Batman in Film, last modified:12th August 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_in_film(page accessed 16/11/12)
No comments:
Post a Comment