Penguin's abandonment issues...

[Grissom]

...serious abandonment issues. Saw this great movie again last night and a few things have dawned on me. Not only did his parents abandon him but it happens to him three more times in the film.

- Catwoman refused to surrender to his advances

- Shreck abandons him when Batman plays his true schemes over the PA system and the crowd turns

- His own circus buddies scamper off when Batman races towards his lair at the climax.

Penguin's need for love and acceptance always backfires because of how sinister he is. I've seen this film so many times and it really just dawned on me last night.

Thanks Tim Burton 

[The Dark Knight]

- His own circus buddies scamper off when Batman races towards his lair at the climax.

Of all the 'current day' rejections, this one would've hurt the most. Even when I was a young kid watching thie movie, say, as a six years old, I knew this visually signified all hope was lost for the guy. He was truly alone and defeated. And when he's staring down the sewer, knowing Batman is approaching, it's almost to say there's no light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think the circus gang abandon Penguin because of his sinister nature. The game was simply up.

[Catwoman]

If I feel any sympathy for Penguin (see I didn't call him OSWALD this time, I'm being nice and sincere) it's with the issues of abandonment. Who doesn't find that painful? You can put on whatever facade you want and act like you don't care but it takes a heart of stone not to be affected by being abandoned. It would drive most people to madness to deal with it on the level he did (his own parents throwing him into a sewer, not leaving him at the steps of an orphanage or a hospital or an old lady's doorstep, literally throwing him into a sewer and leaving him for dead). That doesn't excuse anything he did and I still find him positively loathsome, but more than a shred pitiable because of that.

Make sense? lol

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

I'm not at all surprised that American kid's were crying by the end of this movie lol

However I don't think it was because Burton was taking great glee at booting audiences directly in their balls with the "ultimate summer depression blockbuster". I think it was because kids genuinely understood what he was doing with the story-line in generating sympathy for The Penguin. They were fully invested in the emotions. Of course rather dumb adults, assuming once again that kid's are always stupid, saw their reaction differently.

[Catwoman]

I'm not at all surprised that American kid's were crying by the end of this movie lol

And the British kids weren't?

[JokerMeThis]

Yeah, it had to hurt the most for Penguin when even his fellow circus freaks abandoned him. Penguin is possibly associated with Jesus in this movie because he's 33 years old, tempted by "the devil" (Max Shreck), embraced by the people and then later rejected by them. Jesus was abandoned by his apostles when he was arrested although the apostle John, the youngest but ironically the bravest, showed up for his crucifixion and stood by him at the cross and comforted him and Jesus' mother. No one stood by Penguin though. 

It's interesting to think that children who may have cried when they saw this movie saw how abandoned Penguin was and felt sorry for him and that adults might have just thought the movie scared them because many adults often assume children are stupid. I've never thought of that before.

[The Dark Knight]

Yeah, it had to hurt the most for Penguin when even his fellow circus freaks abandoned him. Penguin is possibly associated with Jesus in this movie because he's 33 years old, tempted by "the devil" (Max Shreck), embraced by the people and then later rejected by them. Jesus was abandoned by his apostles when he was arrested although the apostle John, the youngest but ironically the bravest, showed up for his crucifixion and stood by him at the cross and comforted him and Jesus' mother. No one stood by Penguin though. 

Brilliant observation.

[Catwoman]

Yeah, it had to hurt the most for Penguin when even his fellow circus freaks abandoned him. Penguin is possibly associated with Jesus in this movie because he's 33 years old, tempted by "the devil" (Max Shreck), embraced by the people and then later rejected by them. Jesus was abandoned by his apostles when he was arrested although the apostle John, the youngest but ironically the bravest, showed up for his crucifixion and stood by him at the cross and comforted him and Jesus' mother. No one stood by Penguin though. 

It's interesting to think that children who may have cried when they saw this movie saw how abandoned Penguin was and felt sorry for him and that adults might have just thought the movie scared them because many adults often assume children are stupid. I've never thought of that before.

I have always hated the Jesus/Penguin comparisons because I didn't like such a mean grotesque villain being compared to the Son of God lol. But your explanation makes sense and the difference (that at least one disciple stood by Jesus while Oswald was totally abandoned) makes me not feel so bad about it. Maybe Oswald was a sort of antichrist character but in Tim's twisted vision?

[Catwoman]

If I feel any sympathy for Penguin (see I didn't call him OSWALD this time, I'm being nice and sincere) it's with the issues of abandonment. Who doesn't find that painful? You can put on whatever facade you want and act like you don't care but it takes a heart of stone not to be affected by being abandoned. It would drive most people to madness to deal with it on the level he did (his own parents throwing him into a sewer, not leaving him at the steps of an orphanage or a hospital or an old lady's doorstep, literally throwing him into a sewer and leaving him for dead). That doesn't excuse anything he did and I still find him positively loathsome, but more than a shred pitiable because of that.

Make sense? lol

Wow I wrote that? lol.

[JokerMeThis]

I'm Catholic and I meant no disrespect to Jesus. I've always seen Penguin as a kind of Anti-Christ figure. I also see him as an anti-Moses because he was abandoned by his mother in a basket in the river and also because of his plan to kill the first born sons of Gotham.