AUGUST 1, 2008 - VOL. 1, ISSUE 19

In 1989 America's youth was poised to make the change from Regan's bigger is better America into the Bohemian self-inflicted poverty of the early nineties. The nineteen-eighties filled movie theaters with images of men in colorful jackets, driving expensive cars (often their parents), and picking up big haired gum twirling bimbos. Of course mainstream media hasn't changed much but the early nineteen-nineties offered a breathe of the underground.

One film came out in that year which held the drawing power to bring all elements of American culture together. Batman starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Kim Basinger was like a vortex pulling people from all demographics into its heart. The older folks that remembered Batman as a childhood hero, teenagers looking for some big action with big hair, and the next generation that wanted to see the grungy side of life all got to eat their cake. Batman was an amazing success because it made itself available to all these audiences and crossed the river between the waning push for luxurious living and the surge in bohemian punk that was about to burst like a zit.

The film doesn't forget Batman's past. Of course he's traded in the Bat-copter for the Batwing, but the absurdity and comic book logic is unmistakably there. There is no "Shark Repellent" spray but both Batman and the Joker seem to have an infinite cache of tools that happen to materialize at the most opportune moment. Just like in the original Batman series, and in the comics, we are willing to suspend our disbelief for these elements. Possibly more fun than a can of shark repellent is the four-foot long revolver that Joker pulls from his pant leg in order to blast the Batwing out of the air. We don't spend long wondering how he has been walking with that thing in his pants because if we did we would be prudes. The long time fans can take pleasure from the little inside references. Harvey Dent is just coming to power as District Attorney; of course a fan would know that Harvey Dent will eventually become Two-Face, the Janus of super villains.

Batman keeps the connection to the past while grounding itself in the present. I call the artistic period of the eighties, "Bitches and Riches". The main difference between the big haired women of Tim Burton's Batman and those of Dirty Dancing (which hit screens two years before Batman) is that the girls in Gotham are all wearing heavy doses of Noir. This is of course appropriate since Batman is a detective and is the biggest name on DC (Detective Comics). None-the-less this film has plenty of blonde bimbos and one slightly clever blonde (also one grossly disfigured blonde). The sexism is dialed up to cartoonish levels at points, Vicki Vale screams in fright at least thirty times in a ten-minute period. The effect is obviously to play up Batman's masculinity. I have no intent to defend the acceptance and propelling of stereotypes (especially when the target audience is so young), but to Tim Burton's credit he did exactly what he needed to draw the "Bitches and Riches" crowd.

There is no shortage of money in Gotham either. Kim Basinger's character, Vicki Vale, is a talented photojournalist living in an apartment that appears to summarize the entire art deco movement. At first it may seem improbable that a photojournalist would ever be able to afford an apartment larger than the average shoebox, but when you consider the crime rate and obvious squalor of Gotham you have to assume that property values are in the toilet. Compound the property value with the obvious chasm between upper and lower classes and Ms. Vale is free to live in Luxury. Of course I'm joking. Even if you're a big enough nerd to notice that discrepancy you're still suspending your belief. In a world where a man can fall in a vat of acid and come out smiling, a photojournalist can be wealthy. Accept it. Plus Ms. Vale lives in luxury because Burton knew that his audience wanted to see rich people. We are in a similar place right now. The aughts have flooded our televisions with rich people getting in trouble. If you need proof that the movie appeals to the "Bitches and Riches" crowd, let me summarize it: "Songs Performed by Prince". Done.

But Burton was keen to another audience element that was largely ignored during the decade. This element was allowed to grow under the carpet like mildew for years. The mildew spread as oblivious crowds, choked in hairspray, walked on top of it. Burton is juggling audiences and he keeps the earlier eighties crowd pleased while presenting something tasty for the grunge element. The subterraneans were catered to, even in a mainstream film, by Burton. Bruce Wayne is a great metaphor for the mentality shift of the period. He is old money but he doesn't care about the money. He gives his riches away because money means nothing to him. He is depressed, he doesn't trust the government to punish criminals so he acts as a vigilante, and his mind is on protecting the salt not the caviar.

Artistically Burton's decision to heighten the expressionist view on the gothic architecture and set pieces was very relatable to the next generation of Americans. Certain pans of Gotham look as if the could have been replicated from Metropolis. Everything has a garish, sharp, leaning feeling. Pointed shadows fall over the city. This let the underground shine in the mainstream for a spell. I can't say that Burton favored one audience over the other but he artistically satisfies both.

There is an audience I haven't spent much time on. Kids. The young ones. I was young when Batman came out and had to wait for Batman Returns (1992) to catch the caped crusader in a theater. But when I re-watched Batman on VHS I was blown back by a segment before the movie. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck come on to make sure that you have all the gear and snacks needed to watch the movie, including your official Warner Brother's ball cap. They tell you exactly how to order it since, "You can't watch a Warner Brother's movie without a Warner Brother's ball cap!"

I guess I never realized how young the target audience for Batman was. The movie is pretty scary. There is a very dark presence over the whole film. Swearing, suggestive jokes, several murders, and the stark contrast of red blood on the Joker's pale face push on the adult mood. Despite all of this, it is clearly targeted to the Daffy Duck crowd. Christopher Nolan's new film The Dark Knight appears to capture the same attitude. Push the limits of PG-13.

Batman is, after all, for kids. Still, the smartest directors have the brains to open it up to a whole range of audiences. Burton and Nolan do it well. We don't need to talk about the "others" in between that decided to hypnotize kids with extreme neon and glow-in-the-dark instead of a story that all audiences can appreciate. The Batmobile that Michael Keaton drove only had two lights; they were yellow fog lamps (for the record: Not Neon). Burton played his audiences well and in doing so created a commercial success that was simultaneously of worth artistically. There were not a lot of these in the eighties, most had to pick a side. Burton's success comes from his awareness of the shift in culture at the time and his ability to play to both audiences. Batman is a timeless hero that can easily relate to anyone. Of course history shows that you can always get closer to Batman if you're blonde, big-breasted, and helpless.