I'm a big fan of the movies by
Tim Burton. Not too long ago I saw the "
Batman Returns" movie. I have seen it before of course, but in my idea it's the best Batman movie and one of those I can see over and over again. In all my joyous love for the Batman movies, I have made a random poll (in the menu here, refresh if you dont see it) for you to vote on. Who is your favorite Batman
bad foe? You can also tell me in the comments of course. More personal. Mine is Penguin from Batman Returns. It is because he is all the things the others are, as well as having that sad human stroke, that makes him look handicapped in his animalistic personality.
Tim Burton makes creative movies with their own special environmental
world. "Batman Returns" represent almost all of those things I want out of a movie. First of all it's got imaginary characters with their own special arty skills and faults. It all takes place in a world as fancy as a supermarket at Christmas; light and color effects, cool sounds and useless flamboyant nick-nacks. This Tim Burton flick story actually also takes place at Christmas. My favorite time of the year.
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "Thanks to Batman, the time has come to punish all God's chillun... first, second, third and fourth-born, why be biased? Male and female... hell, the sexes are equal with their erogenous zones blown sky-high..." |
The story is build upon that old well used theme featuring the superhero (Batman) out to save the world from it's own stupidity and that mean terrible guy (
Penguin) that is out to get the world in the palm of his monstrous hands. In the movies, this bad guy often trags with him a sad childhood. He wants the world because no one ever loved him of course and as a result of the absence of affection and small meanings in life, materialism becomes the formula for respect and respect becomes the thing that makes him accepted and worthy a place among the humans.
Not everyone can enjoy science fiction movies or comic books, they say it's because it's too unbelieveable. They cant imagine themselves how it would be like or look beyond the effects. If the story
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "If I can't be king, I'll destroy the kingdom! If I can't have Gotham's respect, I'll get the next best thing, its fear! Make that the first best thing!" |
or characters is really true to and close to our human nature; which these comic book type of films often are. In the unrealistic sircus personalities we get to see people we have actually seen in reality, in the news or in daily life. Without the glitter and makeup they are
politicians, bosses, teachers and that anonymous man on the street. I guess you need some imagination to see it. I personally feel that these type of movies gives us a better view of how we are, what we want to be and the way we look at things.
There are many examples. Lets take Batman and Superman. They are in many ways the same man. They are good guys. Their sensitivity is linked with their job and they dont come off as very passionate or romantic. It makes them somewhat cold and robot alike. While the bad
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "Ya gotta admit... I've played this stinking city like a harp from hell!" |
guys are sick and dangerous, the good guys are just mentally ill and ridiculously lonely. The bad guy are often more human in it's expressions, he shows more emotion, humour and creativity and the good one doesn't even know how to pull off a joke on his own behalf. If there is a difference between the bad guy in the world of scifi fantasy and the one in reality, it must maybe be that some of the imaginary ones, knows how to make fun of themselves.
| BATMAN (the good guy): "I protect the people of Gotham City.
From themselves. That means I must love. And despise. I must be the Light.
And the Dark." |
If we took Batman or Superman to a psychologist, what would he say to them?
They would most likely be advised to retire at an early age, because of stress and high blood pressure. Relax. Laugh. Get a hobby. Fall in love. Spend time with friends. Eat dinner at home. Notice the little things. Discover childishness and learn to say no. In the end then, people would appreciate them more, they would hurt less and maybe life would be slightly fun at times. It's not Batman's shyness or Superman's ice castle that is the problem, it's
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "Life is scary. You're a man who wants to be a bat, I'm a freaky bird who wants to be a man." |
not their empathy for the world or their seriousness; It's the fact that they think it's their responsibility to mend everything. But have one man ever saved the world? The superhero could take lesson from the position of a psychologist; -"You can really only help people to help themselves".
One of my favorite bad guys. Danny DeVito as the Penguin in "Batman Returns" is the most scary, revolting, sad character ever, to me. The way he spits black spittle out of his rotten black mouth, smacks his shiny plastic glove fingers together and gnaws on the raw fish;
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "I'd never been to a Christmas party before. It didn't have to be like this. Then again maybe it did." |
makes me shiver. This becomes even more nauseating, when it's combined with the cold watery world of the sewer that he lives in. He's got the good lines, funny sections and the melancholic parts. The fact that the story plays out at Christmas rounds up the sadness of his lost childhood. You are supposed to feel sorry for the bad guy in movies, in reality we are not so often encouraged to have feelings for the vermins and the people who challenge our happiness. Often they are just there, other times we think of them as monsters with no humane expressions whatsoever.
| PENGUIN (the bad guy): "You know, we could talk all night about why we do what we do, why we dress the way we do, who had the best childhood trauma, who got the worst genes, who's the real monster and what's truly human..." |
Some of the greatest parts in this movie is at the end. One of them is when Penguin (the bad guy) draws up one of his
umbrella weapons to attack Batman, accidently end up picking the defenceless one with baby rattles on it, and says something like -
"Of all the terrible ones, I had to pick the funny one". Then he wobbles off with the baby rattle umbrella like some enormous child. The other great part is when he dies and his small penguins friends drags him into the sewer to let him sink, as a form of a sad respectful burial ceremony.
Now tell me what you think.
