The Politics of Matt Reeve's The Batman
Added 2022-03-05 14:01:02 +0000 UTCThe new The Batman movie seems at constant tension with itself, and I need to talk about it.
Comments
Finally watched the video. You made fantastic points. You clarified a lot of things that were just vague thoughts in my mind. You also pointed out a few things I missed. However, with those points I started to think that rather the franchise moving slowly in the right direction, they were playing both sides. They were feeding the lefties a bit here and the right wigs a little there and many things that could be interpreted either way. Your edit in parts were great. I think the first impression and then what you think more on a little later are both important things we need to consider in all art. You are able to make sense of, and explain things way better than I can. Which is why you do what you do and I don't. π
Skarry, Earth Human
2022-03-14 23:39:17 +0000 UTCJust finished seeing the film & first thing I did was watch your review. I agree with you that I wish we had been left with explicit ambiguity about whether Thomas Wayne had called in a murder or not. What we got was still a bit of uncertainty (was Alfred lying? was not entirely in the know?) and it works, but I would much have preferred what had been teased not been taken away. I would agree that what Bella Real represents is somewhat nebulous BUT I will happily take a consistent moderately center-left Batman film rather than the rightwing reactionary Batman that Nolan gives us, but that's me.
Conrad
2022-03-14 05:49:16 +0000 UTCAll the spoilers!
Jessie Earl
2022-03-09 07:56:52 +0000 UTCI love spoilers. Watching now.
Emily Kugler
2022-03-08 20:09:55 +0000 UTCI rented an entire theater for my birthday to watch The Batman with my friend, my two boys, and my wife. It was only $150 to rent the whole screen at 4pm on a Saturday. They must be desperate. SLIGHT SPOILERS! I haven't watched your video yet but I will. I wanted to put my original thoughts out first. Batman is a Vigilante and pretty much a facist. At least they are going after a corrupt system this time. He also doesn't exist in our world which allows me to enjoy Batman without it affecting my, personal views, (I also enjoy horror movies) I'm a bleeding heart acab in this world. I do love me some comic book fun though. This movie in particular was a cool approach. It felt like a journey rather than a collection of plot points. As long as we recognize what is negative, positive, and inbetween, we can enjoy the media and have discussions about how it applies to our world. That's all. If I have anything to add or a changed pov, I may update after I watch your video. Love ya!
Skarry, Earth Human
2022-03-08 03:27:07 +0000 UTCI've stopped watching your video at minute six before you get into spoilers because I do want to the movie spoiler free, but I am now more intrigued about seeing this film than I was before. For all that I think "The Dark Knight" is one of the finest films of the past 45 years--like the "Wrath of Khan" it is not merely good in its genre but it transcends its genre to become great cinema in general--I genuinely loathe "The Dark Knight Rises." While I think there are narrative, character issues, & pacing issues with Nolan's third Batman film, my biggest grips are thematic--I think it is impossible to read the film as anything other than deeply rightwing reactionary. One of the interesting things about Nolan though is that we don't know his personal politics. Snyder HAS revealed his personal politics and for all that he loves Ayn Rand he's not actually politically rightwing. I think Snyder's love Rand is the way that ColdCrash Picture's appreciates Rand--he appreciates certain non-economic aspects of her work. Of course directors can produce films with themes that don't align with their own politics. People can misunderstand the intended themes a director intends & directors can misinterpret the intended themes of a work they are adapting or directly change the themes of the work they are adapting. From various interviews I have seen, Snyder clearly misunderstood Alan Moore's "Watchmen" (which is why his film a adaption feels so thematically dissonant with the comic) whereas from interviews it is super clear that Paul Verhoeven fully understood novel "Starship Troopers" & chose to deliberately satire the fascist source material. With Snyder, now that I know more about his politics I have been able to re-watch "Man of Steel" & "Batman vs Superman" and understand that they don't have to be read as entirely rightwing. They are still mediocre movies--unlike the Snyder Cut which is a good movie--but thematically they no longer rub me the wrong way quite as much. However, with "The Dark Knight Rises" it really would not matter to my reading of the film if I learned that Christopher Nolan was himself a not merely supporter of the Labour Party but a huge Jeremy Corbyn fan. Nolan is a highly sophisticated director & I think the rightwing themes of "The Dark Knight Rises" are fully embedded in the film. (If Nolan is a centrist or leftwing at all supposed I'd be personally impressed that he could produce a film so thoroughly reactionary as "The Dark Knight Rises" but I'd still hate the film.) Anyways, I am now super excited to watch both the new Batman film & then watch your analysis of it here after I do so.
Conrad
2022-03-06 17:19:05 +0000 UTCMy bad! Fixed
Jessie Earl
2022-03-05 17:37:47 +0000 UTCFixed!
Jessie Earl
2022-03-05 17:37:41 +0000 UTCPrivate?
Hannah Pate
2022-03-05 17:35:32 +0000 UTCWe canβt access it.
Libre Spirits Collective
2022-03-05 16:53:10 +0000 UTC
