So basically: Batman began camp Went way too camp in the 60's Became darker in the 80's Got too dark in returns Was slightly campier in forever Went campier than ever in Batman & Robin Went darker again in The Nolan trilogy Got way too dark in BVS Got slightly campier in justice league *_it's a loop that never ends_*
He got slightly campier in justice league because Snyder was replaced my Whedon, who directed Avengers. Not really because people complained about him. A lot of people said the only good part in BvS was Batman, so idk why they would change him lmao. Just dumb studio decisions that don’t actually reflect our time. Now due to backlash from the fan base (because the majority of people love dark Batman), we are getting the Snyder cut which will have a darker version. Similar to BvS.
@@koolbeans3572 I never understood this big public push for the Snyder Cut - everyone presumably trashed BvS, and then suddenly they're calling for Snyder? Doesn't make sense to me For my own part, I liked BvS, so I was happy with this development - I liked Batflek a lot, and I hope to see more of him - I didn't see JL changing him per se - just expanding on him and showing him in a new context For me, the best characters were Batman and especially Wonder Woman - the fight with Doomsday is one of the best action sequences I've ever seen on film - it was like watching an exhilarating musical number
My elder beloved brother Michael took me to see this 1943 Batman when it was reissued in the theaters in the 1960's. I was a Batman fan then as a child and now as a man, or should I say man child lol.
In 2016, we finally got a sequel to batman the movie with Batman: return of the caped crusaders which, while though animated, brought back Adam west, Burt ward and Julie Newmar and kept that same tone and look which made the show so fun and the movie was just as fun while also adding new elements to it.
New subscriber. Just watched around 8 or 9 of these. Massive research involved in making this and the putting together of it shows a director's eye, I think.
I'd also mention that Batman in BvS is about America's failure to deal with its feeling of powerlessness after 9-11, and how just like Batman betrays his great founding ideals and justice for vengeance and a sense of security, America betrayed the constitution and bill of rights in order to gain vengeance and a sense of security. This is perfectly illustrated in the metroplis battle showing him selflessly saving people, and then later when he brands the human trafficker, without trying to help the victims. By the end though, he realizes his wrongs and is inspired by seeing Superman be the self-sacrificing hero that Batman should have been, and gives the great speech at the graveyard. Also, the whole doomsday battle is him dealing with his powerlessness, by using his strengths and working with others to beat something far more powerful than himself. Not to mention how his arc can also be seen as a critique of existentialism. But this comment is long enough.
Great job. For 1944, talk about The Uninvited and how ghost films change the way horror films were made. Or try, Double Indemnity and how film noir sparked the next decades.
Great video and series. I would say that the Unbreakable movie with Bruce Willis was Very important in the change to Superhero movies, really set the tone for a new kind of realism that Batman Begins picked up and ran with.
Wonderful video. You actually even made me think of DKR, a movie I'm usually very meh about, from an angle I hadn't before. My favorite Batman movie? Gotta go with the two Burton films. I loved them as a child, I love them today.
I liked Batman more in Detective comics of the 1970’s. By comparison,the Batman comics capes crusader was weak. While he was “dark” in Detective comics, the subject matter was more grounded in crime reality and was, to me, overall more interesting than all these other over the top incarnations. Dark Knight trilogy comes in second.
Even though the '89 film has been a favourite of mine all the way back from childhood, Batman & Robin made me lose interest in the character so completely, that I skipped Batman Begins at the time, and only reluctantly watched The Dark Knight after it had been so universally praised. From what I've read online it seems I wasn't even close to the only one.
Charlie, I absolutely love your series! I have to say, as a history teacher, I use the Batman films to show how movies show more about the period of time in which they are made rather than the time they're representing on the screen. But you've done it this time - I'm just going to show your video rather than teach. Great job :)
i Haven't seen any Batman films since 2018 , and what did i watch yesterday? ............Batman 89 , and what is this today? _Holy Coincidences Batman!!_ and the entire internet is going nuts for Endgame right now and here's Charlie and me chilling with long-dead almost forgotten 40s Batman serials , feelsgood. i wanna say this is your most ambitious video so far... but heck , they're all always blowing my expectations out of the water , but nonetheless you had a tall task here , to summarize Batman's history and influence on film ! altho in one aspect the most overdone thing ever , but in this aspect and context of your series , a very unique flavored tackling of the subject if i do say so myself. American Serials and Comic Book adaptations came a long way to create Modern Cinema, and your videos really help drive home the prospect of how such a phenomenon came to be. All with attuned voice delivery , kinetic visual editing , engaging writing , and a impeccable sense of..............choice? i dunno , so far you've done what it feels like all the "right" choices of how to do a HistoryofFilm thing without losing pace or variety. This video clearly took a long duration of time to create but there's a long road ahead , and so i once again Wish you the Greatest of Luck and Strength on your upcoming projects, whilst i Thank you for Uploading such an amazingly crafted video for the world and future to see. Godspeed Charlie !
I think that with the Nolan trilogy , Batman was no longer the scientist and inventor that I remember in the comics and early movies. Batman had Fox to build his equipment and arsenal.
there's no arguement it has to be BAT MAN BEGINS the best & most believable version put on film in live action, with the best origin story incorporating Bruce Wayne's Ninja training in the Far East. 2nd place I agree the phantasm cartoon is very...moody and impressive, borrowing on- METROPOLIS, CABINET OF DR C.......NOSFERATU etc for it's production design, and proving that you can only merge new with old in the cartoon format. I also like the cartoon tv series that this grew out of a unique style not seen in cartoon before or- (not since the 30s SUPERMAN animation series anyway)
Great essay that really talks about the cultural aspect of superhero movies. Superhero movies from Hollywood have always conveyed a lot of American propaganda, or at least American values. But this has become really heavy handed in some of the post 9/11 installments, like the first Iron Man movie, a movie that propagates the narrative of America against evil terrorism, asserting that the natural state of the world is American hegemony that allows her to intervene militarily everywhere. Nolan's Batman reflects the establishment narrative but it applies a strong social commentary to it. In the end it falls very short on criticizing power structures and instead justifies the use of violence, stripping criminals of their status as people that deserve to live. Just think of The Joker as "man that just wants to see the world burn", it is a total mischaracterization of crime: in the real world crime has socio-economic reasons, while terrorism often stems of resentment and blowback against American imperialism (just think of drone killings), or other ideological or religious reasons. Even worse are other vigilante movies like Super and Kick Ass, that assert the right of revenge and portray any small criminal as evil enough to be unworthy of living, the idea that life is the most precious good and that criminals deserve a fair trial and jail is totally absent in these vigilante movies. And I don't like it. I find Batman (and other vigilantes) to be often immoral. The best weapon against crime is often not (or not just) more policing but structural socio-economic changes. Despite all this Nolan's trilogy is just amazingly good, dark, entertaining, gritty and extremely well directed (and I hope for a 4th movie, the setup is there). In the end what I question is if it really is necessary to oversimplify the origins of crime and terrorism as if these phenomena just arose from nowhere, just from being bad or psychotic?
This is a great analysis, and I completely agree. I am of a similar mind about Batman, where I enjoy the character and I think the movies and comics are great, but there are real problems with what he represents in the real world. Great point about Iron Man too.
@@onehundredyearsofcinema Your channel deserves a 100 times more views and subscribers. I don't know anything about how to get more views, but I think there are tutorials, courses, books about that, idk, maybe you should concentrate on promoting the channel for a while? The content is so good!
You… do realize Batman has a no-kill rule, right? Or that he actually does donate to charities as Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, charity isn’t going to stop Scarecrow from putting fear toxin in the Gotham water supply.
Batman Strated as a Propaganda Device, Continue into a Campy Pulp Crusader, a Dark Gritty Expression of the Crime Underworld, Back as a Silly Cartoon, to a Symbol of a Post Terrorist in the Modern Society, Change again to a Comic Book Icon, and Now his a Noir Detective in a Political and Conspiracy World of Today. the Cycle goes on!
If they want to comment on society so gosh darn much, use the Green Arrow. The Darknight Detective should be dealing with more interesting things than Fatcat = Bad. Hollywood couldn't put out a decent message if it wanted to.
Referring to the Japanese as "Japs" and japanese face makeup... Oh boy, it was a different time I guess and during WW2. makes ya feel kinda bad watching it now though. Lol
This brilliant synopsis of Batman the franchise, ultimately proves what is wrong with cinema as it exists today. Cinema has devolved to replication at the expense of quality. We’ve replaced serious writers, directors and producers with child psychology, Warholism and used cars salesmanship. Such films have now become a lot less about the craft of cinema and more about how many units can we sell. After all, it is a business; there is no need for it to fail as such. However, one only need to look at how many “Fast and Furious” cookie cutter archetype franchises have emerged with serious marketing schemes rather than serious creativity as it’s threshold for production. I refuse to watch any more Marvel, Disney or over-serialized gimmicks that are now being pushed down our throats. I don’t care about how many hundreds of millions of dollars in sales we get at the box office; nor do I care about the advertising and marketing revenue that can be potentially generated from this crap! They can keep it! I’ll stay home and tune out if it does not approach some semblance of writing, directing and producing that is a quality product. 😖🤬🙄
