From: rtravsky@news.uwyo.edu (Rich Travsky)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Feminist Perspective of Batman Returns
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:43:41 GMT
Organization: Banzai Institute

A good post, lots to digest, so just a coupla qwik comments. Real
easy to over indulge here.    (Many deletions to save space...)

In article <poznikof.711847807@sfu.ca>, poznikof@fraser.sfu.ca
   (Kenneth Shane Poznikoff) writes:

> On the other hand, there were some very confusing messages sent out by 
> the movie.  
>
It was a confused movie period.  But I had fun for all that.

> For example, the cat woman:
> Yeah sure she is sexy but she also stands for women's liberation.  
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Most assuredly this is probably the primary association one is to make,
but I also saw her as Everyperson (is that PC enough?), rebelling against
the de-humanizing environment.

> Then when Cat Woman and Batman are fighting he ends up knocking her
> down and she says "How could you,  I'm a woman".  That is so pathetic.
> This sends out a very negative message about the women's movement.  If, 
> for a moment, we take the view that she represents a positive image of 
> woman (ie strong and powerful, knowing what she wants) this scene 
> completely negates all of her strong attributes.  She has reverted to 
> a meek stereotypical woman.  It trivializes the feminist movement.
>
Bzzzt! Wrong! That's not how I saw the scene (or anyone else in my area
that I talked with). CW plays BM for a sap, playing on HIS stereotypes.
Once he's close enough, he gets kicked for his efforts.

> And when the Penguin says that line about "pussy".  (I think it was
I couldn't believe they had the guts to put this line in. Truly amazing.

> I have no idea what to make of the (obvious) parallel of the Penguin
> being dropped in a basket to float down the creek and the story of
> Moses.
>
Penguin is the Anti-Moses? (sorry, couldn't resist) 
 
> I feel that the film had nothing positive to say about women, yet
I don't want to jump too far into this one. The one thing I'll
add for certain is that CW shows is that you can't repress someone
forever. Their spirit will rise (in some form).

> Still, the image of (Cat)woman (strong, independent), juxtaposed
> with her psychotic (feeble-minded) nature seems to be a reflection of
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Feeble-minded? I did not see anything feeble-minded at all about her.

> some male's view of the women in the feminist movement.  Someone
> pointed out to me that except for her psychotic nature, the Catwoman
> may actually represent a strong/powerful female character, without
> having to adorn the female with masculine qualities.   Let me explain.
Evil tends to me more fascinating than good. This is a notion that goes 
back to Milton's Paradise Lost (if not further). Darth Vader is more
interesting than (the bland) Luke Skywalker, for example. If CW were
not a touch psychotic, the character would have been really dull...Her
psychotic nature lends motivation and energy.

> scenes in a different light, I see very negative, reactionary 
> notions, for example, the psychotic nature of (Cat)woman.
>
BM is also supposed to borderline psychotic, something the first BM movie
tried to portray, with mixed degrees of success. But this is another 
topic...

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