New feature - German Expressionism

[Paul (ral)]

Thanks to Silver Nemesis for writing a feature for the site that looks at the possible influences of German Expressionism on Burton's Batman films.

You can read it here

[The Dark Knight]

Just gave this a quick skim read and will give it a re-read later, but I can tell it's very well done.

I'm a big fan of expressionism.

The comparison images are spot on.

[johnnygobbs]

An absolutely superbly written piece by Silver Nemesis.  It reads like the basis for an extremely promising dissertation, and like The Dark Knight states, those are some great comparison pics.

By the way, does anyone have access to the original piece written by Daniel Cooper and Rebecca Roiphe 'Batman and the Jewish Question'?  I've read the various responses but I can't seem to find the original article itself.

[Silver Nemesis]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. And thanks to Ral for posting the article.

I haven?t actually been able to find a complete copy of ?Batman and the Jewish Question? myself. But I have found some extracts that were quoted in other articles.

From what I can piece together the main arguments against the film were these:

-   The Penguin?s appearance. While most see his protracted nose as a beak, Roiphe and Cooper saw it as an intentional caricature of the Jewish profile. Apparently they also claimed that the Penguin?s umbrella was a metaphor for Moses? staff.
-   Max Shreck. They didn?t like his use of Yiddish words and thought his name sounded Jewish (the fact that it was a reference to the German actor Max Schreck seemingly went over their heads). They also took issue with Catwoman?s line ?a die for a die?, seeing it as a corruption of the Hebrew phrase ?an eye for an eye?.
-   The Wagnerian references. Here?s an extract taken from the original article where they discuss this:

[Film] composer Danny Elfman?s use of leitmotifs, altered chords and chromatic progressions make indisputable the influence of Richard Wagner?The Penguin sails the sewers in a giant rubber duck, a parody of the Schwan der Shelde from Wagner?s Lohengrin Though Wagner was, of course, an anti-semite, the music?dark, passionate and mysterious?is not in itself anti-semitic. But in the context of this movie, with its Jew-Monster, Hitler?s appropriation of Wagner?s operas and the composer?s own politics re-emerge.

http://www.thejudeosphere.com/?cat=24

-   The Biblical allegory. Cobblepott?s plan to murder the firstborn sons is clearly a reference to the Book of Exodus. In his letter to the NY Times, Strick pointed out that he was the one who introduced these Biblical references into the script; and Strick himself is Jewish. You can read his full letter here:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/20/opinion/l-anti-semitism-in-batman-returns-be-serious-who-s-really-divisive-122392.html   

There was probably more to the argument than just these points, but I can?t find the original article to check against.

I did however found this letter in the NY Times web archive written by a graduate of Columbia University. This guy agrees with Roiphe and Cooper and voices a few observations of his own about the movie?s perceived anti-Semitism.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/20/opinion/l-anti-semitism-in-batman-returns-be-serious-gratuitous-bigotry-120792.html?scp=1&sq=batman%20returns%20the%20jewish%20question&st=cse

The Anti-Defamation League also wrote in to voice their opinion. They basically said the article was an absurd and misguided over-analysis that distracted from real cases of anti-Semitism.

We must not squander the precious currency of concern, as well as our limited resources, on nonsense like the authors' convoluted misperceptions of biblical imagery or Wagnerian chords in the film score. One hopes the students will learn to recognize the difference.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/20/opinion/l-anti-semitism-in-batman-returns-be-serious-119392.html?scp=3&sq=batman%20returns%20the%20jewish%20question&st=cse

Notice how this letter is signed by the chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, as opposed to simply the Anti-Defamation League. A subtle reminder of the organisation?s Jewish affiliation.

An interesting overview of the whole ?controversy? was printed in the Times and can be viewed over at the Tim Burton Collective:
http://www.timburtoncollective.com/articles/br8.html

[johnnygobbs]

Yes, it's a pity that the original argument isn't readily accessible.

Max Shreck. They didn?t like his use of Yiddish words and thought his name sounded Jewish (the fact that it was a reference to the German actor Max Schreck seemingly went over their heads). They also took issue with Catwoman?s line ?a die for a die?, seeing it as a corruption of the Hebrew phrase ?an eye for an eye?.

I never understood this particular complaint.  It's true that Max uses a few Yiddish expressions, like 'schmoe' but that's a very common term anyway.  Shreck is generally a German name as much as it is a Jewish one and means 'fear' in both languages.  Max always struck me as a WASP to be honest, albeit one who probably came from a working class background.  His son Chip has a particularly 'Aryan' look about him and it's clear that Gotham City, of which Max is one of its primary 'movers and shakers' is based on 1930s Fascist architecture, particularly with its giant human structures in various displays of triumph.

[gordonblu]

Kind of off the subject, but did you notice in the article from the Tim Burton Collective that they called California-born Burton British!

[Paul (ral)]

Kind of off the subject, but did you notice in the article from the Tim Burton Collective that they called California-born Burton British!

I never even caught that!

[Paul (ral)]

http://www.batman-online.com/features/2010/6/9/german-expressionism-and-tim-burtons-batman

Article now at its new home!