Saturday, June 28, 2014

The corruption themes of Batman '89

What Batman Begins is often credit for, but Batman '89 is not is the theme of corruption.
In Batman Begins, there are Invasion of the Body Snatcher themes playing on communist and terrorist fears such as the infiltration of the police by the League of Shadows, Falcone's men running the city, and Wiliam Earle's manipulation of Wayne and takeover of Wayne Enterprises.
In batman 89, there are Anti Nazi themes hidden through the use of homages to Vertigo such as that of Vicki Vale's blonde hair, green dress and climactic finale after constant teases of acrophobia stunts by batman.
An obvious Nazi reference is Axis chemicals killing everyone in horrific ways. The fashion industry becomes a key element in this film as it becomes a motif of the Joker.
The joker and Carl Grissom fight over a blonde leading to the chaos in Gotham city led by the Joker.
Heck batman even has yellow in his symbol this time around.
Also present are the comparisons of the Joker to an artist like Hitler.
They fight in a war against crime. The Joker is a whiteface character.
The city is run by white male gangsters against an incompetent commissioner with Lt Eckhardt on his salary, an obvious example of corruption overlooked in the film and an African a,Erica's district attorney. Again a lot with what goals with this film are the details and visuals opposed to the exposition wry dialogue?
Finally, at the end of the film, we are given the theme of "who made who?" or the chicken vs the egg. Is it the criminal that made the superhero or the corrupt hero that made the villain and will it be a battle that is ever won?

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