Batman Returns in the News

[drax1]

Not recent news, I'm afraid. 

But the coverage of Batman Returns in 1992 throws up some funny stuff aside from the regular reviews etc.

Of course there was also the "Penguin = Jewish stereotype" outrage, the McDonalds boycott, and general complaints about the film not being kid-friendly. It's amazing the cultural splash the film had at the time.

Thought I'd post a few of the more amusing oddities about satanism, 'family values', street signs, zoos and fashion.

Hope you enjoy.

PENGUIN T-SHIRT FLAP UPSETS DEVITO
Omaha World Herald. Omaha, Neb.: Nov 17, 1992. pg. 32

The Penguin's feathers have been ruffled.

Actor Danny DeVito, who played the evil character in the movie "Batman Returns," is "very upset," his publicist says. That's because he read accounts last week of a Colorado City, Ariz., teen-ager whose principal ordered him to leave school and not return until he chose not to wear a T-shirt with the Penguin's likeness. The educator said the likeness represented devil worship.

So DeVito plans to send even more Penguin merchandise to 14-year-old James Bateman.

"Danny was very upset to know that his character was being connected to devil worship," said Stan Rosenfield of Los Angeles. "He asked me to find out his (James') address. We'll send some more stuff to the kid."

James said he didn't want to be greedy but that other Penguin T-shirts, posters and a Super Nintendo game would do just fine.

DeVito doesn't want to pick a fight with the Colorado City School District, although he was asking questions about the isolated, mostly polygamist town on the Utah-Arizona state line, Rosenfield said.

"Maybe that was it," Rosenfield said jokingly after being told that many men have more than one wife in Colorado City. "The character of the Penguin is a bachelor. Maybe they are just upset about that."

Lawrence Steed, principal of Colorado City schools, did not return calls to his home over the weekend concerning DeVito's plans.

Trudie Bateman, James' mother, said that when she confronted Steed, the principal said the shirt was a sign of devil worship.

She had inaccurately said previously that her son was expelled.


BATMAN'S BAD EXAMPLE
The Washington Post : Aug 1, 1992

Thanks to Charles Krauthammer for his op-ed commentary of July 24, "Cultural Crimes Against Children," in which he cited the promotion of "Batman Returns" as an example of how corporate America shamelessly contributes to the threats against family values.

I had my own experience with "Batman Returns." With another family, I took my 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son to a movie theater on a Sunday afternoon to see an animated children's film. The lights dimmed, the camera started rolling, and I was stunned to see a preview for the new Batman film. Every second of the two-minute clip bristled with intensity and malevolence, including a scene in which Catwoman seduces Batman.

Now, there are only two reactions children could have had, and mine had both: The 5-year-old was terrified and wanted to leave the theater immediately; the 8-year-old was mesmerized.

Afterward, I went to the manager to complain and to ask how the theater could justify promoting to children a film that all the critics had gone out of their way to say was extremely inappropriate for kids. His response: All the previews are individually rated, and the preview we had seen had been rated "G," (which tells you something about how manipulated the rating system is). When I asked how he would feel about young children of his own sitting through that preview, he ducked the issue by saying he had no children.

These days the task of sheltering children against the tidal-wave force of consumerism, violence, sex and pressure to grow up way too fast, which is promoted constantly in the media and commercial culture, is a challenge parents confront daily - in the cereal aisles of supermarkets, at fast-food restaurants, at toy stores and at home when the TV is on.

Anyone who saw the earlier "Batman" knows there were lots of children who saw it. It was heartbreaking evidence that the pressure to make those judgment calls about whether a film is appropriate for a child is overwhelming for many parents, or it is just ignored. As Mr. Krauthammer says, he's just one individual father.

If corporate America won't take responsibility for its profit-making, then somehow we have to come together to take action on behalf of the next generation. That's what promoting family values is about.

SUSAN P. SCHREIBER Takoma Park


FANS ZAPPING `BATMAN` STREET SIGNS
The Associated Press. Sun Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale: Jul 6, 1992. pg. 3.A

DUGGER, Ind. -- Where is Batman when you need him?

Officials, tired of replacing Batman Street signs, are considering changing the name to thwart thieves who have invaded this tiny metropolis.

As they did in 1989 when the first Batman movie came out, thieves have made off with Batman Street signs since the release of the sequel, Batman Returns.

"Every time they put one up on this corner, it`s gone," said Betty Heaton, who has lived on Batman Street since 1944.

At one corner, the villains even made off with the whole bat pole.

But Heaton is strongly against renaming the street.

"It had never been bothered before, and Batman`s been popular for years," she said. "They should just wait until all the publicity dies down before they put up the new ones."

Residents say the street was named long before the Batman character appeared in DC`s Detective Comics in May 1939. It probably was named for Samuel Batman, a justice of the peace in 1837.

Mary Alexander said the name has prompted smiles from people passing through town.

"Everybody asks if Robin lives next door," she said. Robin Alexander does live on the street.




Batman' boosts popularity of penguins at zoo/ Crowds loves 'em, but staff bears scars from job
Gazette Telegraph. Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Jul 6, 1992. pg. D.5

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has two dozen rockhopper penguins. They look adorable and cuddly enough to hug, but don't try it.

"Not only will they bite you but they will hit you with their flippers," says zookeeper Ron Klempner. "When they bite, they pinch and twist the flesh. And when they flap they go for your joints. If they hit you, you're black and blue."

Klempner should know. Twice a year he and other Cheyenne Mountain zoo keepers catch the penguins to clip their nails and trim their bills. The the penguins don't take it kindly. They can be as mean as the fictional Penguin in the hit summer movie "Batman Returns."

The movie has created a rebirth in penguin interest, Klempner says. Penguins are now the coolest of the cool in the animal kingdom. Children and adults alike are flocking to the penguin display in the zoo's Aquatic's Building.

And the gift shop is selling penguin stuffed animals and penguin pins like never before.

"This movie has done great things for us," Klempner says.




WAS CATSUIT SCRATCHED TOO SOON?
TRENDIES HAD DISMISSED THE DESIGN. THEN ALONG CAME; MICHELLE PFEIFFER'S YUMMY CATWOMAN IN ''BATMAN RETURNS.''
Roy H Campbell. Philadelphia Inquirer .: Aug 23, 1992.

The style soothsayers, those cutting-edge folks who live and die by fashion decrees, who know what's in before it gets here and know what's out long before it's history, recently declared the catsuit passe, last year's news, no longer the cat's meow.

Though the trendies were the first to adopt the stretchy, body-conscious design just when Donna Karan re-introduced it a few seasons ago, making it the high- fashion uniform of the young and the body beautiful, they were also the first to drop it. Style soothsayers, you see, like nothing better than to hit and run.

Can't you picture a pack of these so-called trendsetters, dining at some oh-so-trendy restaurant, giggling at someone wearing a catsuit and making catty remarks.

So smug.

So knowing.

So snotty.

Then, suddenly this summer, came Batman Returns, with Michelle Pfeiffer as the hottest Catwoman yet. Pfeiffer's Catwoman is a lethal package of feline energy bound in the hottest of hot catsuits, a shiny black latex number so tight that it looks as if it's baked on. And no matter what Sean Young thinks, Pfeiffer is purr-fect in the role.

As she leaps through the air, flips, kicks and claws her way through Gotham City - along the way capturing Batman's heart - Pfeiffer's Catwoman is an exotic, dangerous vixen, a potent mixture of sensuality and danger, a femme fatale who can even put a masked hero through the paces.

And she looks s-o-o-o-o yummy in that catsuit. The style may be feminine, but this is a woman literally dressed-for-the-kill, a woman in a bullet bra who could whip any man. She brings to mind Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers, a 1960s spy television show. Peel, too, wore a catsuit as she battled the villains of this world. And for a brief time at the height of the hippie era, Rigg helped make catsuits hot.

The catsuit style cooled until about 1989 when Donna Karan reincarnated it as the unitard. The sleek suits sold like hotcakes. And, because fashion constantly feeds on itself, catsuits - whether basic black or gold lame - were suddenly the sizzling element in every designer collection. Then, they could be found at stores from the least expensive to the most exclusive.

It took two years for the catsuit heat-wave to abate.

Now, with thanks apparently the order of the day for Catwoman, stores are once again having a run on catsuits.

Clothing manufacturers are telling fashion trade newspapers that fall orders for catsuits are up 30 percent.

Nightclub managers say that, starting in midsummer, more and more women danced the night away in catsuits.

And even the trendy now grudgingly admit that the catsuit must, like its namesake, possess nine lives.

But can one take such pronouncements as the Catwoman influence seriously?

Who was it that said, "Don't believe the hype?"

Was it really Batman Returns that revived catsuits?

Holy cow! Tracking the truth calls for a catsuit hunt.

Where else to begin but the Cat Club, a new nightspot at 12th and Chestnut Streets in Center City.

It took only a moment to spot catsuits - all the female bartenders were swathed in the basic black variety. Some of the suits had bare backs, or sheer necklines or beaded fringe.

From there, it was onto the dance floor, where Ida Franklin, 21, of South Philadelphia, was kicking it out wrapped in a short black catsuit with a halter top.

"I love catsuits," she said. "And since this is the Cat Club, you can't get any hotter than to wear a catsuit."

Was she inspired by Catwoman?

"No."

Gennie Gordon, 24, of Germantown, was also wrapped in a black catsuit.

"I have four different colors," she said. "They're easy to wear and comfortable, and you can really dance in them."

What about Catwoman?

"Who?" she asked.

On to the Trocadero, Center City's underground club, where it was all-ages techno-music night.

Among the cutoff blue jeans, white knee-highs, knit hats, white jeans, clunky boots and little floral doll-baby dresses, there were a couple of catsuits, most notably a do-it-yourself catsuit worn by Ericka Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's catsuit was created by combining white biker shorts with a bodysuit.

But she was too busy dancing to talk about Pfeiffer's Catwoman or any other woman for that matter. Besides, the music was so loud that no voices could be heard above the din.

So, on to the Ritz, a South Philadelphia club that draws mobs.

Here, finally, some support for the catsuit-returns-because-of-Batman-Returns theory.

Gwendolyn Henry, 28, of South Philadelphia, was a lethal weapon in a jet black catsuit complete with a utility belt with an attached pager.

She always liked catsuits, she said, but since seeing Batman Returns she has become obsessed.

Now her closet holds 20 catsuits in all colors. A few feature plunging necklines or bare backs or sheer details.

But she has yet to find the catsuit of her desire.

"I wish I could find that catsuit that Catwoman wore in the movie. It was wonderful," Henry said with a sigh.

Credit: Roy H. Campbell, INQUIRER FASHION WRITER


And something I found particularly interesting...


PFEIFFER IS CAT'S MEOW; EXPECT HER IN 'BATMAN 3'
Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Fla.: Jul 21, 1992. pg. A.2

Batman Returns producer Denise Di Novi says, "The sexual chemistry between Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton has been very popular with audiences and Warner Bros. will want her back.

Bet on the Catwoman to ply her wiles in Batman 3 - and don't bet against the Penguin also returning for another round of villainous deeds.

Batman Returns producer Denise Di Novi says, "The sexual chemistry between Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton has been very popular with audiences and Warner Bros. will want her back. Danny DeVito as the Penguin has also been popular."

The Penguin was, of course, killed off in Batman Returns, but that needn't be a hurdle in the character's continued association with the story, as Di Novi sees it.

"People seem to feel the Batman villains are indestructible - 'Maybe the Penguin, or the Joker, are not totally dead,' they'll think."

[Catwoman]

those were interesting.

[Paul (ral)]

great post drax1 - i love going back in time with articles like that!

[johnnygobbs]

Thank you Drax.  Great stuff.  Following on from your intro, do you (or anyone else for that matter) have a copy of the New York Times article which accused Batman Returns of presenting an anti-Semitic stereotype in the form of The Penguin?  Thanks.

[Catwoman]

i didn't get why everyone was so pissed off. i mean i knew it was ultra violent and the penguin was really gross but it was just a movie with a bunch of people dressed up to me. then i got older and it all kind of started to make sense and now i wonder what my parents were thinking when they let me see it and then let me dress up as catwoman that oct for halloween.

[Tarzan1941]

Drax, that was indeed excellent!  I love it! 

[Grissom]

Great stuff! These are definitely for the archives.

[drax1]

Thank you Drax.  Great stuff.  Following on from your intro, do you (or anyone else for that matter) have a copy of the New York Times article which accused Batman Returns of presenting an anti-Semitic stereotype in the form of The Penguin?  Thanks.

Sorry, I can only find the letters that were published in response (including Wesley Strick's). Let me know if you want me to post them. This article has a good run-down, though.

http://www.timburtoncollective.com/articles/br8.html

[johnnygobbs]

Thanks for trying Drax.  I've seen the responses on-line as well but can't for the life of me find the original article even on the New York Times' website.

[Tarzan1941]

My local public library has got a lot of old newspapers on microfilm.  If you guys can give me a date, perhaps I can find it the next time I am there.