When I was a much younger human, I managed to stuff in even more movie watching than I do now with my only “reel” obstacle being the MPAA. Now, while there are many excellent films rated PG-13 and under, the lingering problem for me was the unrealistic, sanitized version of society that pervaded most, if not all, of these films. For once I wanted to see the good guy not be able to save the day, and when I first saw the previews for Tim Burton’s Batman it appeared that Jack Nicholson’s wildly unpredictable Joker coupled with Burton’s bleak city landscape was going to be the antidote to all of the squeaky clean family films that were poisoning my soul. (Conversely, now that I am older, I like to go back to a happier, more sanitized time as frequently as possible.). I can’t effectively express the joy that I felt at the prospect of true terror and mayhem in a movie that I was able to watch - to quote The Stooges, “Gimme danger, little stranger and I’ll feel your disease.”
Adding to the sanitized madness of my younger years was the number of incessantly repeated commercials on network TV. I swear that with each repeated viewing of a commercial I would slip a bit more into insanity, and because of this fact, the Joker’s Smilex commercial had me rolling in the aisles in the movie theatre as if I had been dosed with Smilex myself. I adore how the Smilex commercial flew in the face of all the wholesome family-focused spots that featured so much over the top mugging and smirking. The Smilex commercial figuratively gives the middle finger to consumer culture, and even though he is a psychopathic murderer, the Joker give the masses a chance to vicariously enjoy the opportunity to say “fuck you” to civilized society. An unmovable force, the Joker refuses to do anything that society dictates that he should do, and even goes a step further by making a joke about society that will literally kill you – it’s as if the Joker takes the old adage kill them with kindness to its inevitable murderous conclusion. (It’s funny to note that stand-up comedians will refer to a successful joke as one that “kills.”). Are we to take the Joker’s line at face value when he says that he is freeing people of their “miserable lives”? Is this an insight into his pathos that he considers killing others an act of kindness, a mercy killing if you will? So many times, a person’s words cannot be trusted but their actions can be. Acknowledging that fact makes the writing in Batman brilliant.
In Batman I journeyed into a world that looked so dirty and nasty that I felt like I could actually smell it. (I grew up in the suburbs and now that I have lived in Los Angeles for 11 years I am always happy to see clean, crime free, well-lit and well maintained streets.) Before Batman I was a massive fan of Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger, but knew relatively little about Jack Nicholson. After Batman, Jack Nicholson shot to the top of the pack as my favorite actor and I tirelessly worked to see as many unedited movies of his as I could. The Joker’s humor is front and center in Batman and the Joker’s antics are undoubtedly my favorite parts of the film. Couched in the unimpeachable realm of family friendly entertainment, Tim Burton’s Batman is a scathing send up of consumer culture and society in general. Featuring top shelf performances, an intelligent script, and incredible production design reminiscent of Blade Runner in a living comic book form, Tim Burton’s Batman propelled the world of comic book films light years forward in terms of quality and will always stand as the benchmark by which all other comic book films will be judged. In short, before Tim Burton’s Batman we were all using Brand X but now with Smilex we get a grin again and again.
Episode 22: Batman (Released February 25, 2022)
