DeVito's Penguin

[The Dark Knight]

I probably would have done it a little different, but I love what we received. It is very dark and mysterious. A very interesting take on the character.

Here?s an appreciation of DeVito?s Penguin.

The Penguin was re-imagined not as an articulate fellow of crime, but a physically deformed sociopath with a bloodthirsty bitterness against Gotham City. While DeVito?s Penguin retained a quantity of trademarks, such as a range of trick umbrellas and the use of a monocle, he was given a huge visual alteration.

Where the comic version had varied between a full head of hair and varying degrees of thinning, this Penguin was bald at the top, with his remaining length of hair long and stringy. His hands were now flippers, with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. An unidentified thick, dark green bile-like liquid sometimes trickled from his nose and mouth.

Instead of a tuxedo, he wore a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit, with a jabot as opposed to a bow tie. Other instances show him in black boots, a dickey, and something akin to a child's blanket sleeper, or the old long john-style underwear of the 1800s. However, Burton's design kept the top hat seen in the comics.

In the film, the Penguin is born disfigured and his rich parents throw their infant son into Gotham's sewers. The child survives, floating down Gotham's sewers and under the city zoo, where he is taken in by a group of penguins and later joins a circus freak show. At one point, when Batman is reading newspaper articles while researching Penguin, he speculates that the Penguin was responsible for the disappearance of children during his time in the circus freak show.

Like all operatic monsters, his death is quite tragic and I actually felt a little sorry for him. The Penguin is my favourite Burton villian.

Discuss what you love about this portrayal.

[Paul (ral)]

There seems to be a lot in common with The Penguin and The Joker with physical deformatey defining much of his motivation.

The Penguin takes it a step further, where the deformatey leads to his rejection as a child - intensifying his internal deformation.

Many state the Penguin as being far-fetched and too far removed from the source material.  I have never found the source material to all that compeling and favour the approach taken by Burton. 

The Penguin's physical deformaties are not that far removed from reality - natural handicaps are rare yet do happen.

His behavioural patterns are also not far fetched - being kept and fed with the Penguins as a child in a freak show echoes a similiar tragic case that happened here in Ireland where a boy was kept in a chicken hut for many years and fed chicken feed (that resulted in him adopting the behavioural patterns of a chicken and also stunted his growth causing physical deformation of his limbs). That was many years ago, but i think it validates the penguins character all the more.

There is also a reflection on society in the Penguin, where someone's looks determine their success in life - just look at the talentless hacks on TV, movies and the music charts these days!  Would Oswald have achieved success as a mayoral candiate without Shreck in his corner tugging the niave publics heartstrings (one of the more cynical elements that remained from Water's initial draft)?

As good as the Penguin was represented though, I feel a little restraint should have been applied, especially in the following: 

• I see the reason for the bile (rotten from the inside, probably slowing dying due to his deformatey) but it was a bit much for most people.
• Seeing his as a child grabbing the cat implies he was evil from the start, but I have always felt that we should symphatise with him a little, that his life made him vengeful (nature vs nurture)
• I would have liked to have heard more of the Penguin's death theme applied elsewhere in the film, again to show the tragic side of the character

[The Dark Knight]

Brilliant post. Lots of time, effort and thought went into that!

[Sandman]

I've always loved DeVito's penguin. I was never that big on The Penguin i always thought he was kinda boring and not needed but this verison i have always liked and always will. And DeVito did such a great job even though he was the villain you still felt sorry for him i will always see it as being as great as JN's Joker and MP's Catwomen.

[Paul (ral)]

Without doubt, DeVito was fully immersed in the role.  I don't see Danny in the movie at all.

[The Dark Knight]

Yeah, I don't see Danny at all. It is all Penguin. He was totally immersed in the role. I also love his hideout. Really mysterious.

[Paul (ral)]

The hideout.

I can see where it suits the Penguins character, but as a public attraction I can see why it is abandoned - it just looks creepy.  Bo Welch's art design was a little out there at times.


It's strange that it hasn't benefited from a urban regeneration program - then it is Gotham 

[thecolorsblend]

When I was a kid and the movie first came out, I remember being kind of ambivalent about the Penguin.  I didn't see the point behind changing him but, hey, it's a new Batman movie.  As I got older, I hated the changes.  They just pissed me off.

But a couple of years ago, I came back to BR (after a fairly heavy comics binge) and I realized there really was no way Burton could've adapted the character directly from the comics and had enough of a character to carry the threat for an entire movie.  The character he created was derived very heavily from the comics but with that extra oomph to make him a genuine threat while simultaneously making him a pitiable figure.  I mean, yeah, Cobblepot was one nasty SOB but you can't help feeling sorry for him in certain scenes.  You can also picture that whatever his problems might've been, things would've been a lot different if his parents had actually loved him.

Overall, my perception of him has changed a lot of the years.  Nowadays, he's easily one of the best parts of the whole movie for me.  I love the character and DeVito's portrayal of him.

[Paul (ral)]

You can also picture that whatever his problems might've been, things would've been a lot different if his parents had actually loved him.

That is one of my problems with the movie though. As I said before: Seeing him as a child grabbing the cat implies he was evil from the start, but I have always felt that we should symphatise with him a little, that his life made him vengeful (nature vs nurture).

[thecolorsblend]

True, in a sense.  However, the Penguin was clearly working on the "1st born son" angle early on in the movie, however he suspended it when his attempts to take over as the mayor became so successful.  He was willing to put his aside his thirst for vengeance if the people of Gotham were willing to love him.  He only acted on his scheme after he'd been rejected by the people.

That says a lot about him.