Batman Returns: 30 Years Later (VIDEO SCRIPT)

As of June 16, 2022, Tim Burton’s second Batman film Batman Returns will be 30 years old (pauses) Because what is time, REALLY?

And despite Warner Brothers executives listening to smear campaigns regarding the film’s overall tone and “family-friendly”ness that caused them to jump ship from Burton to Schumacher for the next two installments, Batman Returns -- I personally think it’s safe to say -- is pretty much the most universally beloved of the Burton Batman flicks

This is definitely true on my end as well.

/I find myself watching Batman Returns the most between the two, quoting and reciting lines from Batman Returns the most between the two, and just overall enjoying the aesthetic and character depictions the most between the two/

Ah, man. I think Batman Returns might be my favorite of Burton’s Bat-flicks

Which, if you’ve seen my video celebrating the 30 year anniversary of Burton’s first one, shouldn’t be of any surprise to you.

/While I appreciate everything that film did to make me a Batman fan -- and a Prince fan in retrospect -- there was something about Batman Returns that little La’Ron just...loved./

No, the alliteration there wasn’t intended, but I’m not entirely mad at it’s existence.

Now considering I was 3 going on 4 when I first saw Batman Returns, and that I still feel the same way about the film now that I’m 33 going on 34, I figured it was worth a bit of reflection

/What all played a part in how much I enjoyed the film as a child? What all has evolved considering the type of Batman fan I currently am? Am I over the fact that the plot of the film literally came from a two-parter of the OG Adam West series?/

No, seriously; the plot of Penguin running for mayor of Gotham City was legit pulled from the show, and I was just as surprised to find that out as you were

But after doing said reflecting, I’m actually quite surprised at how much of Batman Returns is not only the bedrock of how I interpret Batman media, but superhero media as well.

So much so, that I wanna actually share to you Readers the overall role Batman Returns played in my overall geekdom as a child and how it still finds itself relevant in my life 30 years later. Let’s Begin.

_________

Hey, Readers. La’Ron here. Offering you analysis and perspective on your favorite bits of geek and pop culture media

And there are multiple ways you can show some love if you end up picking up what I’m putting down here.

If you want to help financially support the channel, you can join my Patreon.

/There are multiple tiers that range from $1 to $20 that give you access to things such as copies of my video scripts, early video releases, and discount codes to my merchandise store./

Right now there’s currently a goal set where if we reach $1000 a month on the Patreon, I’ll give a wine-drunk review-slash-critique of the Venom sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage; a movie that I promised myself that I would never expose myself to after doing so with the original.

And if you want to know why, I highly suggest you check out the wine-drunk review-slash-critique I did on the original in order to give you a taste of what you’ll be expecting.

Though in all honesty, according to how much peeps have been talking about it, I might need to add a remake of my first wine-drunk Venom video to the Carnage goal

And make sure I have enough wine. I’m gonna need at least 3 bottles

“But La’Ron, how much for you to talk about Morbius?” 2 GRAND. TWO GRAND A MONTH, AND IT’S MORBIN’ TIME.

Also make sure you subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications. That way you’ll get a heads up on whenever I post a new video

That’s the syllabus. Now onto the lesson.

How Much Do I Love Batman Returns?

If you’ve seen my video celebrating the 30th anniversary of 1989 Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, then you already know that I’ve had a great love for Batman Returns pretty much the moment it was released

I was 3 years old, about to turn 4 a bit over a month later when the movie was initially released in theaters, and my wait between watching the first Batman to seeing Returns was, I believe, a bit less than a year.

But when I found out another one was coming out, I was ready!

I watched every trailer. I watched every Behind-The-Scenes HBO special promoting it back when HBO used to do those.

When I tell you I was excited to see this new movie a month before I was about to turn 4 years old, it was not an exaggeration

And as far as little La’Ron -- and even adult La’Ron -- had proven, it was NOT a disappointment.

Batman Returns was the first movie I ever saw in a drive-in -- probably because my parents realized that I was too young to watch a movie in theaters and didn’t wanna have me disturb the other moviegoers -- and it was also the most impactful to me between the two Burton films.

After all, there’s a reason why, after my initial greeting, that me talking about Batman Returns was the first video on this channel after deciding to become an actual YouTuber over 6 years ago

Except don’t watch it, it’s terrible.

But yeah, that Christmas of 1992, it was Batman Returns EVERYTHING!

The original twin-sized Batman Returns bedding, the Batman Returns toys including the repurposed Penguin from the Adam West show because they thought the movie penguin looked too scary, the Batmobile that turned into the rocket with the press of the button on the center, I even got the Bat Boat he used to race to the Penguin’s hideout at the end of the third act.

And while I didn’t get the official video tape until later on, you best believe we recorded it when it premiered on HBO.

But outside of all that, Batman Returns stood out to me more in comparison to Batman 89 for multiple reasons.

/It’s art deco stood out to me in comparison to the first one and the color scheme consisted of blacks, blues, whites and grays; a combo that I always found a bit more attractive than 89’s use of browns. The fact that it told its story during Christmas also helped with the unique factor, and the fact that the Returns suit is my favorite suit of the Burton films. To little La’Ron, Batman Returns felt like a more grown up Batman story than the last one, and he GREATLY appreciated that/

But while all of that still applies to why adult La’Ron loves Batman Returns, there are other aspects that factor in as well. So let’s talk about the one that most of y’all kinda already figured is the one that left the most lasting impression on me...

The Bat And The Cat.

Batman Returns was the movie that taught me that Bruce and Selina are MEANT for each other.

While I definitely thought Vicki Vale was gonna show up again when I saw Returns in theaters, I wasn’t really that pressed to see that Bruce was single instead.

/Instead, like most who were introduced to the mythos of Batman through the Burton films, I was introduced to Selina Kyle -- aka Catwoman -- and I was incredibly thankful for it./

Yes, you heard that correctly; Batman Returns was the first time I was introduced to Catwoman.

For a lot of us millennials, we were introduced to Batman through either one half or a combination of the Burton films and the Bruce Timm animated series of the early 90’s before getting into the comics, which mind you came immediately after the release of Returns.

That means for a lot of us, the only version of Selina we knew was Michelle Pfeiffer -- origin story and all -- /before her movie visage was used to represent her in the animated series./

Now when it comes to Burtonverse Catwoman, you know that I’ve talked about her so much on this channel.

/I talked about how her subversion of the “Beautiful All Along” trope was done in a way that gave the character the anti-patriarchy vibes she has to this day in my video comparing her arc to Cheetah’s in Wonder Woman 1984. I’ve talked about how said anti-patriarchy and pro-feminism vibes evolved the character in both film and comic media to reflect more anarcho socialist vibes in my video about the copaganda present in Matt Reeves’s The Batman./

And that’s not even mentioning her being up there with Wonder Woman and Constantine when it comes to Bisexual representation, or just being a queer icon in general BECAUSE of the reclamation of her sexuality and femininity for herself in the midst of patriarchy first and foremost

So much has come from Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Catwoman that has shaped both the character and pop culture for the better, and it almost didn’t happen because of how Samm Hamm originally conceived the character back when the sequel to 89 was about her and Penguin looking for hidden treasure.

According to the writers of Heathers and Demolition Man Daniel Waters when he was tapped to revise Hamm’s script, /Selina was originally depicted as, and I quote, “back to the way comic books in general treat women, like fetishy sexual fantasy.”/

Thankfully, that original depiction of how he initially pictured Selina changed with age when he was tapped on the shoulder by DC Comics to write Batman 89 -- the comic mini-series based in the Burtonverse following the events of Batman Returns that ignores Forever and Batman & Robin -- and wrote the much anticipated return of Pfeiffer’s Catwoman

But while the shift helped bring a focus to the social aspects Catwoman is now known for, Pfeiffer portrayed her brilliantly as a woman who deals with just as much of a struggle with duality as Bruce.

/Not to mention that the take we see of Pfeiffer beheading the manikins with her whip was the first and ONLY take that was, and I feel like that’s very important information that you need for your everyday life./

There’s also seeing her internalize her feelings when it comes to enacting her revenge on Max Shreck, her emancipation of patriarchy as a result of it, embracing her femininity, and trying to find herself now in the midst of it all.

/She has such a great hand to play after having to mulligan for who knows how many years before her transformation, that as a result she is overwhelmed with choice. And while she doesn’t want to be pampered or coddled now that she’s finally behind the steering wheel of her own life -- something that even modern-day comics and certain film iterations have established about her since Batman Returns -- these feelings grow even MORE complicated when she begins to develop feelings for Bruce Wayne./

Now, 3 to 4 year old La’Ron didn’t know that the reason Vicki Vale wasn’t in the story was because there were failed contract negotiations with Kim Basinger. But 3 to 4 year old La’Ron was able to figure out from the dialogue that Bruce and Vicki were no longer together and appreciated the casual name drops to get the point across.

/Unlike SOME people who like to forget a character in a franchise continuity they write for exists/

And thanks to that, 3 to 4 year old La’Ron ALSO realized that Bruce and Selina were drawn to each other...

/And while he did understand - even at the most simplistic level - that their secret identities made it difficult for them to truly connect because they were at odds, it was clear that they brought something out of each other that other relationships didn’t./ (You have a dark side don’t you? No darker than yours, Bruce)

While Bruce respected and enjoyed Vicki in a way that fit the story of 89, he never really went out of his way to try and involve her in his life.

/And while that’s pretty much on par with Bruce’s personality considering how devoted he is to his life as Batman -- especially since it was Alfred that suggested he reach out to her if he truly believed she was that special -- Bruce felt COMPELLED to be around Selina; she was always on his mind./

/For perspective, Alfred had to talk Bruce into letting Vicki in after saving her from Joker./(Perhaps you should try telling her the truth)

/But Bruce was willing to go to a costume party hosted by a dude he despised just for the possibility of seeing Selina again./(Selina Kyle might be there)

/The care Bruce takes in containing his secret identity when it came to his past relationships was something he and Alfred argued about CONSTANTLY./(Who let Vicki Vale into the batcave?)

/Yet he was willing to expose said identity to Max Shreck just to try and talk Selina off a cliff he thought she was gonna jump off of./ (Selina. Please)

When I tell you that 4 year old me could tell from this movie alone that Bruce LOVED Selina. LOVES Selina, actually! Because his feelings for her are just as strong in the comics! And you can only imagine how giddy I was learning that once I started getting into them!

The comics, I mean; n-not into THEM. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruce and Selina ended up being that couple perusing bars looking for a third.

/Batman Returns was baby La’Ron’s gateway drug into Bruce and Selina supremacy that honestly only got better with age. And by “age,” I mean more stories and knowledge under my belt./

Ever since being introduced to them in the movie, I watched in real time Bruce learn to love and cherish Selina as she is without the constant need to “fix” her, and Selina being able to acknowledge and validate her love for Bruce without having to give up her independence and philosophies to do so.

/They learn from each other, they validate each other, and they heal each other. And Batman Returns is responsible for showing me that they had this connection to begin with./

But while this is DEFINITELY an important aspect of Batman Returns that I keep near and dear to my heart, there’s another about the film that I weirdly understood even at 3 and 4 years old that kinda carried over 30 years later. And that’s the development of ol’ Oswald Cobblepot himself...

The Penguin

I think it’s safe to say that the amount care that Burton and DeVito used to develop Penguin is pretty much responsible for my appreciation for what the biz calls Raimi villains

/Don’t get me wrong, he was no Doc Ock or Sandman; everything that Batman Returns did to showcase that this was a manipulative, conniving, and overly horny individual constantly on the verge of becoming a sexual predator was there./ (Just the pussy I’ve been looking for)

/But for some reason, 3 year old La’Ron going on 4 was able to see how Penguin was playing Gotham “like a harp from hell” just as accurately as Batman was able to, and found it fascinating./

When it came to superhero movie villains before Batman Returns, I just had Joker, Lex Luthor and General Zod. And out of all of those villains, Joker and Zod were the most direct with their villainy.

/Once Jack Napier took a dip in the Ace Chemicals plant, all he was about was poisoning Gotham with Smilex. Once Zod and his gang were freed from the Phantom Zone, it was immediately about world domination until he found out the son of Jor-El was alive on Earth. Even Luthor’s plan to jumpstart the big quake at the San Andreas fault line -- despite taking a bit of stealth and strategy to change the missiles coordinates -- was pretty much the plan from the start despite Superman eventually entering the picture./

Penguin however felt more layered to me.

/Yes, using Max Shreck’s connections to get the names of the first-born sons of Gotham so he could drown them was the plan from the beginning. But seeing him try to handle that, the fact that Batman caught on to him early on, and juggling finally having a taste of the life his parents denied him thanks to Max using him for his own means as his mayoral candidate, introduced me to the concept that villains are capable of being emotionally complex./

That complexity left such an impression on me as a kid, that out of ALL the characters in both of Burton’s Batman movies, Penguin was the one I ended up impersonating the most at 3 and 4 years old.

No, seriously; the one Thanksgiving dinner my parents decided to host the year it came out, 4 year old me decided to just pretend to be Penguin the entire time.

Eating, speaking, the mannerisms, the finger placements for the flippers, everything.

And I only remember this, because not only did my mom catch it on camera, but also decided to record my one-man performance of every one of Penguin’s scenes in Batman Returns including his death.

No, I’m not sharing that footage. Not because I’m embarrassed of 4 year old La’Ron’s displays of attention; I am a Leo after all.

But it’s mostly because I don’t have the means of converting VHS footage to digital. Also, I don’t own any of my home videos, so you’re just gonna have to take my word for it!

Then again, depending on how long you’ve been watching me, something tells me you don’t find this tidbit of info about me surprising at all.

/Once again; I’m not saying that Batman Returns’ Penguin is deserving of sympathy; Oswald Cobblepot was an entitled sexist asshole/ (You sent out all the signals!)

What I AM saying is that it’s thanks to how Penguin was handled in Batman Returns that I think he became the precursor for exploring the emotional dynamic of villains more intently if they have the depth to explore

And while I’m absolutely sure there would’ve been ways it could’ve happened otherwise, I’m kinda convinced that the way Sam Raimi tackles comic book supervillains in his movies is partially possible thanks to the complexities of Danny DeVito’s Penguin paving the way for the medium.

/And even if that ISN’T the case, it definitely left an impression on me and how I handle villains in my works./ (They wouldn’t put me on a pedestal, so I’m laying ‘em on a SLAB!)

Conclusion

While I can’t speak for everyone, Batman Returns played an incredibly important role in not just how I digest and interpret Batman media, but just media in general.

It taught me that there’s complexity in pretty much everything, and that highlighting it is just as important as the stories that are pretty straight-forward.

Whether it be in love and romance, deciding if it’s worth it or not to let someone in, or the development and motives of a villain. Batman Returns was, is, and forever will be my favorite live-action Batman film. If for nothing else, for showing me the importance of not just focusing on the masks that everyone wears, but also the importance of the face hiding behind them.

/And while little La’Ron may not have COMPLETELY understood that concept when he first saw Returns, it was clear that it was a prominent feeling in his spirit. Otherwise it wouldn’t have grown as big, full and thriving as it did 30 years later./

But I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section what you thought of Batman Returns

Or if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, an aspect about the film that carried on with you since the first time you watched it.

Whichever question you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.

/A HUGE shoutout to my Patrons both big and small for helping make this channel possible.

Make sure you check out the card at the end of the video to see if you want to join, or click the link to it or any of my affiliates in the description box below.

But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed./