Stu Presents, Genre Deconstruction In Film: A Crash Course!

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Great write up on Die Hard, Stu. I’ve seen it a million times and I’m still Impressed with how well McClane usually does the practical, logical thing in the moment to get out of his situation and yet is still stuck where he is without the movie ever feeling forced or contrived to put him where they story needs him to be.
Thank you Des! And yeah, it has to be noted that none of the truly crazy stuff John does in the movie feels like it was put in because the filmmakers thought it would "look cool", but because he genuinely had no other option in that scenario; he had to try to climb his way down the ventilation shaft because that was the only way he could escape at that time & place, he had to throw the C4 down the elevator shaft because that was the only thing he could do to stop Gruber's men from blowing up the SWAT vehicle, he had to do the improvised bungee jump because that was the only way he could get out from between the biggest of rocks and hardest of places (the FBI chopper that was gunning for him and the roof that was set to blow). It's just another aspect that helps set it apart from a lot of other 80's actioners (and a lot of Action movies in general, period).



Got another two-parter for this one...

Batman Returns (Burton, '92)



Genre: Christmas movies

Historical Background: Becoming popular post-World War II, the Christmas film became a relatively small, though fairly reliable Hollywood staple in the following decades, reflecting the "peace on Earth, good will towards men" spirit of the holiday, and generally functioning in a family-friendly style, seeking to warm people's hearts during the final few months of the calendar year (while also using it as an excuse to squeez some money out of moviegoers' pockets at the same time). And, while most of the truly iconic Christmas-related media of the 60's came in the form of various TV specials during that decade, the 1970's and 80's saw a number of films across a number of genres use the holiday's setting as an ironic contrast to their more subversive content, whether they be Horror (Black Christmas), Comedy (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), and Action (with the aforementioned Die Hard), as these films put a new, darker spin on the Christmas film, with Tim Burton's Batman Returns serving as a continuation (and maybe even the climax?) of that trend upon its release in the early 90's.

How Batman Returns Deconstructs It: By both absolutely drenching itself in seasonal references and traditional Yuletide imagery, from the various Christmas trees, lights, and the omnipresent snow that covers Gotham City like a soft white blanket throughout, while at the same time finding ways to utterly turn those elements on their heads, and twist them into the darkest directions at every possible turn. I mean, the very first line in the film is literally "Merry Christmas", wished towards a husband & wife as they rush to chuck their disfigured monstrosity of an offspring (The Penguin) into a dark, dank sewer, an act that sets the tone perfectly for the ironic intersection of Christmas cheer and Burton-y darkness that the film will continue to operate at throughout, as gangs of killer clowns (not from outer space) pop out of giant presents to terrorize ordinary citizens, a man is blackmailed by being "gifted" a stocking that has a former co-worker's severed hand stuffed inside, and Gotham's equivalent of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree gets lit when a woman gets pushed off a skyscraper (and to her death) onto the button that turns it on, in full view of an already demoralized public.

Of course, even coming in the wake of films like Gremlins, many were still shocked by these juxtapositions of seasonal setting with the violent, even perverted content of Returns, the kind of content that pushed the limits of the PG-13 rating at the time. Still, it's not really a surprise considering the man who directed Returns, since, similar to Shane Black, Tim Burton had obviously made a career motif out of making non-"traditional" X-Mas movies, whether they be Edward Scissorhands just prior to Returns, or The Nightmare Before Christmas just after (although contrary to popular belief, he only produced that one; give Henry Selick his credit, people!). Anyway, Burton developed a bit of a fixation with the holiday during his career, having grown up in a region (Southern California) where there wasn't much "seasonal weather" to speak of at Christmastime (or any other time of the year, for that matter), which, in addition to the gothic auteur be granted creative control after facing significant interference while making '89 (hello, Prince soundtrack!) resulted in an even darker effort here. However, that being said, you can't give all the credit (or blame, depending on who you ask) for Returns' nightmare-ish take on the Christmas film to just Burton alone, as its screenwriter, Daniel Waters, had already proven particularly apt at genre deconstruction with his screenplay for Heathers just a few years earlier, which absolutely savaged the 80's "Brat Pack" film, so it's no surprise to note his attachment to BR as a result.

Anyway, Returns also deconstructs the Christmas film by being set during a season that's defined by togetherness, even though the film itself is very much driven by the loneliness of its main characters, whether it be The Penguin's vendetta against the "respectable" bourgeoisie of Gotham City, as a symbolic revenge against his own, upper-class parents for casting him out of their mansion all those Christmases ago, or the way that Bruce really can't function as a normal human being outside of his batty persona, or the doomed, star-crossed romance he tries (and fails) to cultivate with Selina Kyle, a fellow lonely, tortured soul who, like Bruce, deals with a life-shattering trauma by creating a costumed alter ego, a similarity that is both the reason why the two are so drawn to each other outside of those personas, but also why it ultimately isn't meant to be for them, due to the diametrically-opposed goals they have they're actually inhabiting those alter egos.



Sorry, but I haven't seen Batman Returns, so I don't have anything to offer here. Next time you write an entry on a movie I have seen though, I definitely will provide some thoughts.



The trick is not minding
Wasn’t a fan on Batman Returns. Keaton seemed bored at times, and they couldn’t recapture the the same spirit of the first one. Only the look. And that wasn’t enough.



Sorry, but I haven't seen Batman Returns, so I don't have anything to offer here. Next time you write an entry on a movie I have seen though, I definitely will provide some thoughts.
That's cool; for what it's worth, while it has some flaws, it's still my favorite of the original Warner Brother Batmans, so it's still well worth a watch for that, IMO.
Wasn’t a fan on Batman Returns. Keaton seemed bored at times, and they couldn’t recapture the the same spirit of the first one. Only the look. And that wasn’t enough.
While Bruce/Batman got less screentime in Returns, I actually felt that his character was given more depth than in the original, due to the way his relationship with Selina sees both of them struggling to reconcile their dual identities (as you can see below), and I found it to be stylistically more impressive than '89 as well, seeing as how Burton was no longer hampered by studio mandates, and he got to make the film the way he wanted:




The trick is not minding
While Bruce/Batman got less screentime in Returns, I actually felt that his character was given more depth than in the original, due to the way his relationship with Selina sees both of them struggling to reconcile their dual identities (as you can see below), and I found it to be stylistically more impressive than '89 as well, seeing as how Burton was no longer hampered by studio mandates, and he got to make the film the way he wanted:

Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a terrible f or anything. Just felt like a step below the first one.
I also recognize I’m mostly in the minority from what I’ve been able to tell



Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a terrible f or anything. Just felt like a step below the first one.
I also recognize I’m mostly in the minority from what I’ve been able to tell
Eh, not really if you go by each film's IMDB scores, since '89 has a 7.5, while Returns is just a 7.0, so that would put me in the minority on this one, ha (although I don't mind being there one bit, if it means I can advocate for BR being a good movie, y'know?).



The trick is not minding
Eh, not really if you go by each film's IMDB scores, since '89 has a 7.5, while Returns is just a 7.0, so that would put me in the minority on this one, ha (although I don't mind being there one bit, if it means I can advocate for BR being a good movie, y'know?).
That’s odd. I’ve been under the impression most people preferred the sequel. Guess I was wrong.



That’s odd. I’ve been under the impression most people preferred the sequel. Guess I was wrong.
Yup (although they are tied at 3.6 right now on Letterboxd, if you prefer that site like I do). But at any rate, even though you're not a fan, thanks to you & Yoda for throwing my entry a like = )



The trick is not minding
Yup (although they are tied at 3.6 right now on Letterboxd, if you prefer that site like I do). But at any rate, even though you're not a fan, thanks to you & Yoda for throwing my entry a like = )
Yeah, I hadn’t seen it the first time you put it up. I usually try to keep an eye on these kinds of threads because I know how much though goes into them.
So I’ll try to throw a like here, a comment here.



Victim of The Night
I did not initially like Returns when I saw it in the theater but I have revisited my position and feel that it is flawed (Max Schreck) but also delicious.



Yeah, I hadn’t seen it the first time you put it up. I usually try to keep an eye on these kinds of threads because I know how much though goes into them.
So I’ll try to throw a like here, a comment here.
Thanks; I really appreciate that, Wylde.
I did not initially like Returns when I saw it in the theater but I have revisited my position and feel that it is flawed (Max Schreck) but also delicious.
I've liked it more upon my rewatches, as it's the kind of film that you sort of have to get "used to" first before you can fully appreciate it, due to how dark, twisted, and Burton-y it all is, which can take you aback the first time. That being said though, I feel the bigger flaw with its characters is the Penguin, as, while I appreciate that, like every other main character in the film, he's a reflection of Bruce in some way (as the social freak/orphan), he's still too over-the-top and one-dimensionally revolting to work, plus, there are too many characters in the film as is. I can totally imagine an alternate universe version of BR, one that just has Catwoman & Max as antagonists, that's much more streamlined than the film as it is. Fortunately, Selina was an incredible character in both the way she was written and performed, so she makes up for some of the Penguin's shortcomings.



Batman Returns, Part Two

This also contributes to the undercurrent of seasonal affective disorder running throughout Returns, an undercurrent that's made explicit when Bruce asks Selina if she has the "holiday blues" (a question she responds to with a jittery, unconvincing shake of her head), with the festive decorations, happy Christmas tunes, and cheerful masses of people masking the individuals within those crowds who are feeling anything but jolly. This is seen when the characters are on their own, like when Bruce is shown sitting all alone in his study, doing nothing but brooding, having basically shut down as a human being until the Batsignal shines through the window, and temporarily gives him a reason to come to life, or when Selina returns to her pathetic pink apartment, which holds nothing but a single pet cat (one that doesn't even live there full-time, apparently), a non-existent husband she verbally longs for, and answering machine messages from her mother nagging her to come home for Christmas instead of languishing in Gotham as a "lowly secretary", an off-screen boyfriend who breaks up with her via phone, and a preemptive reminder from herself that she has to trudge all the way back through the snow because she forgot something back at the office, during the last season where anyone wants to work overtime.

It's a movie that begins with Bruce on his own, his dual identity having driven Vickie Vale away at some point after '89, and ends with two main characters dead, one of them falling victim to his own lust for revenge, with the other being killed by someone else's desire for vengeance, one that she embraced after cruely rejecting the aforementioned Bruce, leaving him in the same exact place he was at the start; all alone, with his dream of living "happily ever after" with the love of his life having been abruptly snatched from him after it briefly (but oh so tantilizingly) held such futile hope for him. In this way, Returns goes noticeably farther than something like DIe Hard in subverting our traditional expections of a Christmas movie, as, for all its carnage, at least McTiernan's film still has a happy ending once it's over.

Besides that, the religious connotations of the Penguin's sub-plot must also be noted, with his Moses-style origin story, unveiling to public prominence a conspicuous "thirty three years later" (just like, let's say, a certain Biblical figure), and his final scheme of indiscriminately slaughtering all of the first born sons of Gotham drawing a further connection to the nominally Christian holiday the film features, the one that's become increasingly hijacked by a grotesque capitalism that cynically exploits the season for maximum profit, the kind that the film intently focuses on instead of just brushing by. This leads into the other big villain of the film, the Trump-ish real estate mogul Max Schreck, a man who's literally described as a robber baron at one point, as a man who represents that force of greed, as he seeks to literally steal power from Gotham with his fradulent "power plant", to cause utter chaos in the streets to further his own political goals, and is repeatedly shown to be willing to murder (or at least attempt to, as witnessed in one rather noteworthy example) anyone who could possibly get in his way, even if that person is his own late wife, as implied in a particularly chilling line at one point.

He's the avatar of the kind of capitalism that seeks to profit as much as possible off of a holiday that was inititally created to celebrate the birth of a man who would go on to rail against such greed at multiple times in his life, like Catwoman when she destroys a department store in a sort of "overturning the money changing tables" moment. It's the same system that would later lead to stores promoting the disgustingly chaotic, occasionally even deadly Black Friday shopping sprees of the 21st century, with a riot just outside of Schreck's titular department store in this film sort of accidentally foreshadowing such frenzies, with the broad grin of the Cheshire Cat-like mascot on the windows serving to mask the greed of the man behind it in a manner Micky Mouse himself would be proud of.

As a result, it's not hard to imagine these anti-capitalist overtones, the film's aggressively anti-mainstream sensibilities, and overall glum take on the holiday resulting in the film making less money at the box office than its predecessor. Turns out, if you make a Christmas movie that ends up making people feel bad, they won't want to see it that much; who know? But regardless of its reduced success, and the somewhat divisive response in inspired, but more compelling effort than its predecessor, one that's refreshing in its admission that Christmastime isn't always a happy time for everyone, especially not if you're a grown man dressed up like a bat.



Victim of The Night
Thanks; I really appreciate that, Wylde.I've liked it more upon my rewatches, as it's the kind of film that you sort of have to get "used to" first before you can fully appreciate it, due to how dark, twisted, and Burton-y it all is, which can take you aback the first time. That being said though, I feel the bigger flaw with its characters is the Penguin, as, while I appreciate that, like every other main character in the film, he's a reflection of Bruce in some way (as the social freak/orphan), he's still too over-the-top and one-dimensionally revolting to work, plus, there are too many characters in the film as is. I can totally imagine an alternate universe version of BR, one that just has Catwoman & Max as antagonists, that's much more streamlined than the film as it is. Fortunately, Selina was an incredible character in both the way she was written and performed, so she makes up for some of the Penguin's shortcomings.
Interesting. I have always wanted a version that was just Catwoman and Penguin with Max either not in the film at all or only there at the beginning to launch Selina. But I can see your take too, actually. I like DeVito's penguin, and I thought they actually worked pretty hard to give him real motivation for the type of film it is, but I admit I did not like him at first.



Interesting. I have always wanted a version that was just Catwoman and Penguin with Max either not in the film at all or only there at the beginning to launch Selina. But I can see your take too, actually. I like DeVito's penguin, and I thought they actually worked pretty hard to give him real motivation for the type of film it is, but I admit I did not like him at first.
Well, while I would've preferred if Returns had characterized The Penguin less like DeVito's revolting version, and more like the aristocratic type we know from the comics/The Animated Series, my main reason for wanting him to have been left out of the film has more to do with the fact that I feel having two main Bat-baddies in one film is overkill, and causes a sort of "villain fatigue" that a lot of Superhero sequels have suffered from over time (like in Superman II, Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3, etc.). Of course, a lot of people were going to expect (even demand) to see one of the bigger characters from the comics show up, but I think it would've a little more sense to just have Catwoman represent that side of things, while Max, as an original, film-exclusive character, could've easily filled whatever void Penguin's removal created, by having him be the secret head of the circus gang, or having him want to run for mayor, etc. Still a good movie despite being a bit over-stuffed with characters, though.



Victim of The Night
Well, while I would've preferred if Returns had characterized The Penguin less like DeVito's revolting version, and more like the aristocratic type we know from the comics/The Animated Series, my main reason for wanting him to have been left out of the film has more to do with the fact that I feel having two main Bat-baddies in one film is overkill, and causes a sort of "villain fatigue" that a lot of Superhero sequels have suffered from over time (like in Superman II, Batman Forever, Spider-Man 3, etc.). Of course, a lot of people were going to expect (even demand) to see one of the bigger characters from the comics show up, but I think it would've a little more sense to just have Catwoman represent that side of things, while Max, as an original, film-exclusive character, could've easily filled whatever void Penguin's removal created, by having him be the secret head of the circus gang, or having him want to run for mayor, etc. Still a good movie despite being a bit over-stuffed with characters, though.
I suspect you're right.
Burton/DeVito's Penguin was definitely a "take" on the character and not one I cared for much initially, but I've come to enjoy the zany way they went even if it doesn't really feel like canon.
Certainly I think they didn't realize what they had in Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Again, a non-canonical version of the character but, wow.



I suspect you're right.
Burton/DeVito's Penguin was definitely a "take" on the character and not one I cared for much initially, but I've come to enjoy the zany way they went even if it doesn't really feel like canon.
Certainly I think they didn't realize what they had in Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Again, a non-canonical version of the character but, wow.
While I still don't care for the overall characterization of The Penguin in Returns, there's no denying that DeVito was perfect for the role, and gave it his all as an actor as well, so at least there's that. As for Pfeiffer's Catwoman, I think Warner Brothers did know what they had with her to a certain extent, considering that they gave her triple the salary for the role that they were going to give Annette Bening (before she got pregnant and had to drop out), and they only included the final shot with Catwoman because test audiences liked her so much that they wanted confirmation that she survived (which they filmed with a body double, at the cost of something like a quarter of million dollars for a few seconds of film), which naturally left the door open for her to return... I just don't think they choose to capitalize on her Catwoman afterward, for a number of reasons.

For one thing, Returns made less money than '89, which is why they didn't use Daniel Waters' original screenplay for the Catwoman spin-off, because they weren't interested in producing another dark, subversive scipt from him again (a script that he actually gave to the studio on the same day that Batman Forever came out in '95, and began taking the franchise in the complete opposite direction). Then Burton & Pfeiffer got busy with other projects/personal commitments, it languished in development hell for a decade, before the studio finally just dumped it onto that "Pitof" hack, and the rest is history. That being said though, I'm actually kind of glad that we never saw Pfeiffer as Catwoman again, because her version never got ruined by ending up in a lousy project (like the Catwoman movie, of course), and part of what makes her take on the character so special is that we only got to see her once, so that makes it feel more special, sort of like Ledger's Joker. I just wish she had at least gotten a Best Actress Oscar nom for her performance in it, though...