Penguin's abandonment issues...

[JokerMeThis]

I wonder, is the Fat Clown an anti-Judas Iscariot? He kind of betrayed Penguin but, unlike Judas, his betrayal was for a noble reason. If Penguin is an Anti-Christ type figure though instead of turning the other cheek and forgiving the Fat Clown he murdered him. Jesus of course said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" while Judas killed himself.

[Catwoman]

I wonder, is the Fat Clown an anti-Judas Iscariot? He kind of betrayed Penguin but, unlike Judas, his betrayal was for a noble reason. If Penguin is an Anti-Christ type figure though instead of turning the other cheek and forgiving the Fat Clown he murdered him. Jesus of course said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" while Judas killed himself.

I hadn't thought of that! I got the Moses thing, when we watched Prince of Egypt in school I was like "Ugh" when she puts the basket in the water and it floats away and gets thrashed around because it reminded me of the Cobblepots. The difference was (here's another twisted analogy!) she did it to save his life from the Pharaoh's order to kill the babies while the Cobblepots dumped Oswald to get rid of him with no regard for what happened next. Moses went from being a Jewish slave to being a Prince of Egypt while Oswald went from an infant life of lavish luxury to a sewer dwelling circus freak.

It's almost like in the movie at least with Penguin you're looking at the Bible in a broken mirror and I'm just now realizing this lol.

[Edd Grayson]

I feel sorry for the Penguin despite his villainy.  Some of his scenes were powerful, especially when he says the 'My name is not Oswald!' line. And that final shot of his body with the music playing always gets to me.

I can definitely see the Anti-Moses angle, great observations here!

[The Laughing Fish]

The fact that you can still pity the Penguin despite all the horrible things he does in this movie goes to show what a well written character he is. I thought the Penguin was a repulsive monster, and yet even I can't deny how heart-wrenching it was to watch him visit his parents' graves at the cemetery, or how his pet penguins carry his dead body into the water like pallbearers in the end. And since everybody else has disowned him, the Penguin's farewell is witnessed by Batman - the other 'orphan' and a fellow 'freak'.

Batman Returns may not be perfect, and it definitely has its share of flaws. But it's a movie that shines when it doesn't shy away from the villains' humanity and poignancy. In my opinion, Tim Burton is the only director in the franchise who has captured this perfectly. Schumacher and Nolan have tried (the latter rather lazily), but nowhere near successful as this.

[Catwoman]

But then, isn't Tim's craft all about capturing the human side of freakshows? So it is perfect for him. Joel just lacked substance and I'm not even going there with Nolan cause I'm trying to avoid even think about him, his movies, or most specifically his sheep, but anyway lol.

[The Dark Knight]

The fact that you can still pity the Penguin despite all the horrible things he does in this movie goes to show what a well written character he is.

Exactly. That's a hard feat but Burton achieves it for me. His death sequence is tragic, and the music Elfman composed for the sequence is pitch perfect. I can't imagine it working the same with another arrangement.

[Grissom]

Burton always identified with the outsider and it's not fully surprising that there is some sympathy towards the Penguin character. If things were different from his birth he would have still been a bit outcast but at least comfortable with himself and not bitter and sinister.

All he needed was was a little love. 

[The Laughing Fish]

Good point. Burton always dealt with "freakish, lonely and gothic" characters better than most directors. Batman as the lone crime-fighter, The Penguin as the deformed freak of nature, Catwoman as the unstable femme fatale who was pushed over the edge, and you can even argue that the Joker is another loner too because his madness isn't one that's common and can be shared with.

I guess Burton's grasp with the bizarre and gothic caricatures is a reason why Edward Scissorhands was considered to be his most successful movie among critics.

[Grissom]

Burton always had a grasp for drama as well. DeVito, Pfeiffer and Keaton's performance has an underlying dramatic element that is beautifully portrayed on screen. All of them actually have abandonment issues.