Cultural Allusions in Batman Returns

[Silver Nemesis]

Feature now here
http://www.batman-online.com/features/2012/8/26/cultural-allusions-in-batman-returns

[johnnygobbs]

This blog is absolutely superb Silver Nemesis.  I might add some character references I've gleaned form various Making-Of materials shortly but I can't say they'll be up to the same standard as what you've provided here.

[Silver Nemesis]

Cheers Gobbs! Any contributions would be great. I know there are plenty of things I've overlooked. Hopefully people will keep adding to the list.

One thing I didn't mention were the photos on the wall in Shreck's office showing Max posing with several famous people. It's hard to tell, but I think I spotted Sammy Davis Jr, George Bush Sr and Elvis Presley. I couldn't tell who the other people were.

I also read somewhere that Michelle Pfeiffer based her deep Catwoman voice on Joan Crawford's, but I don't know if there was a specific Crawford-role she was referencing.

[The Dark Knight]

My jaw is on the floor. Look at these comparisons!

Absolutely fantastic job, Silver.

[johnnygobbs]

One thing I didn't mention were the photos on the wall in Shreck's office showing Max posing with several famous people. It's hard to tell, but I think I spotted Sammy Davis Jr, George Bush Sr and Elvis Presley. I couldn't tell who the other people were.

You're right about Elvis and Sammy Davis Jr, and I'm pretty sure you're right about Bush Sr.  I also spotted 'Mr Freeze' himself, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and I'm pretty sure another heavy-weight Republican, Richard Nixon can be seen posing with Max in one of the pics.  It does seem however, that Max is wearing exactly the same bow-tie and coat in all of those pics. 

[Paul (ral)]

Great post. It will be a great feature for the site.

[Silver Nemesis]

My jaw is on the floor. Look at these comparisons!

Absolutely fantastic job, Silver.

Thanks TDK  . We'll have to make a similar for thread for Batman 89. I thought we should start with Returns though, seeing as it's the 20th anniversary.

I also spotted 'Mr Freeze' himself, Arnold Schwarzeneggar

Aha! Could this be the earliest appearance of Victor Fries in the movie series? Maybe Fries was conducting research for Shreck Industries' pharmaceutical division when he had his accident...

[johnnygobbs]

I also spotted 'Mr Freeze' himself, Arnold Schwarzeneggar

Aha! Could this be the earliest appearance of Victor Fries in the movie series? Maybe Fries was conducting research for Shreck Industries' pharmaceutical division when he had his accident...

Yes!  It reminds me of B:TAS episode 'Heart of Ice' in which Max Shreck surrogate, Ferris Boyle causes Dr Fries to suffer his cryogenics accident.  One can imagine Shreck funding Fries' research, but cutting corners on lab health and safety to save costs thus leading to Fries becoming 'Mr Freeze'.  Perhaps if Shreck had lived longer, Freeze would have gone after him too, or maybe he ended up killing Chip as revenge on the Shreck family.  It's fun to speculate.

[Azrael]

Impressive work.

Maybe it's just me, I always thought Rotwag's haircut and Christopher Walken's wig had a certain similarity.






On the subject of Sergei Prokofiev, I never realized the influence. One of my all-time favourite scores is heavily inspired by Nevsky so I was pretty familiar with it, but I never got the BR similarity.

[Silver Nemesis]

Rotwang could well have influenced Max's look. I'm not sure I can think of another well-known character with that distinctive hairstyle. And we know the production team was looking to Metropolis for inspiration, so it's definitely worth adding to the list.