News Variety Reports Robert Pattinson is the new Batman

[JirinPanthosa]

In the 90s there were running gags about superheroes being uncomfortably close to each other. SNL had a cartoon “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”. Clooney may have jokingly acknowledged that, in any interview from the 90s it’d be clear he was referring to a running gag.

In the 90s there was an expectation for anything superhero to be throwaway and silly which Dark Knight erased.

 

[Christopher]

As I grew older and liked to think myself more "sophisticated" (e.g., teenage and early 20s years), I adopted exactly that sort of attitude where I looked down on the show.

Yeah. As a kid, I loved it as a straightforward adventure. In my teens, I realized it was silly and became scornful of it. As an adult, I realized it was silly on purpose and came to appreciate it as one of the most innovative sitcoms of the '60s.

It was actually my father, I think, who helped bring me back around, since he'd begun watching reruns of the show on cable and was impressed by the pop-culture in-jokes (particularly to song lyrics) and subversive humor.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In the 90s there were running gags about superheroes being uncomfortably close to each other. SNL had a cartoon “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”. Clooney may have jokingly acknowledged that, in any interview from the 90s it’d be clear he was referring to a running gag.

In the 90s there was an expectation for anything superhero to be throwaway and silly which Dark Knight erased.

Those gags were based on the idea that Batman and Robin were gay. Which was part of the fallout from Frederick Wertham's book "Seduction of the Innocence" and the Congressional Hearing about comics and juvenile delinquency

 

[Awesome Possum]

Does it matter if Batman was gay? He's not in any version depicted in any movie, show or comic as far as I'm aware, but who cares as long as he's beating up bad guys while dressed as a bat.

 

[fireproof78]

I haven’t noticed it with younger audiences. It’s more affectionate teasing.

Define younger. Most younger people i know (that's limited) haven't even heard if it.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Define younger. Most younger people i know (that's limited) haven't even heard if it.

Millennials mostly, younger generations haven't had a chance to be exposed to it unless they get the home video release.

 

[fireproof78]

Millennials mostly, younger generations haven't had a chance to be exposed to it unless they get the home video release.

Well, my daughters have but I have a VHS player too .

 

[Awesome Possum]

Well, my daughters have but I have a VHS player too .

I saw it on FX as a kid, I think it's on a few MeTV stations now too. I liked it, it was funny.

 

[fireproof78]

I saw it on FX as a kid, I think it's on a few MeTV stations now too. I liked it, it was funny.

I grew up with it. Best Batman, in my opinion, but younger people I know are not familiar. That might be changing though with all the nostalgia going on.

 

[The Lensman]

He played the role in 5 movies over 5 years and now it's not-quite seven years later, of course the role will still have a huge impact on people's perceptions of him.

Meh. I'll give him a chance. Keaton, Ledger and Affleck worked out fine.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

I think the hatred for the '66 version had its height during the period in the 70s and 80s when the Batman comics were dark and serious, but the mainstream image was still primarily that of the Adam West version, with a lot of it bleeding into the 90s because the memory of that time was still fresh, and then flaming a bit again with B&R. It's not just the "The Brave & the Bold", but also the fact that the public image got readjusted thanks to the Chris Nolan movies that fans got more accepting of '66.

Another part of it might be people just pushing back against the hatred. Kevin Smith talks on occasion about how he used to be of the "Fuck-the-Adam-West-show" mindset, until a time when comic artist Matt Wagner showed him some page of a new comic he was doing, including a nod to the show. Smith then complained about that, at which point Wagner put him straight about "this is the Batman we were introduced to". Smith credits Wagner in making him come around to open his mindset to accept that this is Batman, too, and it's glorious.

Smith not only often talks about the '66 version (mostly with Ralph Garman, probably the biggest Adam West fan), worked with West, and even co-wrote some Batman '66 comics (with the aforementioned Garman).

 

[Christopher]

I think the hatred for the '66 version had its height during the period in the 70s and 80s when the Batman comics were dark and serious, but the mainstream image was still primarily that of the Adam West version, with a lot of it bleeding into the 90s because the memory of that time was still fresh, and then flaming a bit again with B&R.

It's even more direct than that. The reason Batman comics started to get serious again from 1969 onward was in direct reaction against how dominant the sitcom had become in the public eye, and that need to prove comics could be serious pretty much drove the entire tonal shift. So rather than the reaction against Batman '66 being because of the tonal shift in comics, the tonal shift was because of the reaction against B66. And that remained true into the era of The Dark Knight Returns and Year One and all that followed.

It's not just the "The Brave & the Bold", but also the fact that the public image got readjusted thanks to the Chris Nolan movies that fans got more accepting of '66.

Not just the Nolan movies, but the X-Men movies, the Spider-Man movies, and especially the MCU. The trend to make comics serious was largely a self-conscious, defensive reaction against the disreputable reputation of comics. But now, comics dominate the media landscape, so now that they're finally respectable, there's no need to prove themselves anymore, and thus fans and creators are becoming freer to lighten up again and have fun with it all. Which you can also see with the success of more humor-oriented comics like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel, and with the popularity of the Deadpool movies.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

You can see a marked shift in the tone in Batman covers when Carmine Infantino started doing the “new look” Batman in 1964. I’m not familiar enough to know if the stories changed at that point.

Check this out and the change from 328 onward.
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/detective-comics/7#i328

 

[Jax]

Pattison would of seemed like an excellent Nightwing or Jason Todd "Robin" in a movie showing his death.

 

[cooleddie74]

The 1966-68 Batman series and its associated big screen film are a lot of fun and they were an integral part of my childhood. I eagerly awaited the daily Batman reruns on my local TV channel which broadcast them and loved most of the set designs and villains.

Even as a kid I understood what campy was and embraced it. If somebody can watch Roddy McDowall as The Bookworm and not enjoy themselves all I can say is: their loss.

 

[Maurice]

[...[And I'm offended by his portrayal because of my support for the LGBT community, so, no, I don't "have a problem with gay people".

Some of your posts make me skeptical of this assertion, but giving you the benefit of the doubt, I suggest you choose your words a LOT more carefully in future and pick ones not so loaded, e.g. people have used "abomination" to condemn gays for ages. One can read what you wrote as condemning "flamingly gay" people rather than a performance you apparently found offensive on some level. Mind you, I've never heard one LGBT person condemn Clooney or O'Donnell's performance as at all offensive or stereotypical. If anything, they call it dull.

 

[JD]

When I was a kid and FX aired the '66 show in syndication, it was a must-watch for me whenever I visited my grandparents (at the time we only had local tv at home but they had satellite). As I grew older and liked to think myself more "sophisticated" (e.g., teenage and early 20s years), I adopted exactly that sort of attitude where I looked down on the show.

These days I'd be inclined towards giving it another shot, years and years later and actually maturing (or so I hope...). Too bad it's not on any subscription streaming services; I don't really want to buy the Blu-ray set or the individual seasons digitally.

Do you get MeTV? They show it every Saturday morning.

 

[kirk55555]

Don't you always just watch Kids TV? How would you know what his acting is like? Are you really going to try and convince us you watched Cosmopolis, Good Time, The Lost City of Z or say High Life?

According to their box office totals compared to their budgets, I'm not sure anyone actually watched those three movies (seriously, all four bombed financially according to reported box office and budget numbers) Also, I don't need to watch shitty arthouse films (that's actually an oxymoron, but whatever), I already know Pattinson is shit. I don't need to watch movies made specifically for art snobs to know that. Plus, I hate him as an actor enough without having to see him in shit that would probably piss me off more then Twilight (I HATE pretentious arthouse shit more then pretty much any other type of movie, even YA romance crap).

Also, if all I watch is kids TV, then the people who made Doom Patrol are going to have some angry parents calling them if that is what kids are watching Not to mention how those same parents will respond to other well known kids shows I'm currently going through, like Lucifer, Good Omens, etc. The point is, you have no idea what you're talking about.

I hope this is in reference to your statement that you ate 90% right about your own tastes and not anything broader than that, because if not, your posting history indicates that math is not your strong suit.

I'm talking about predicting my own tastes. I'm about the same as anyone else at predicting things in general, but I have a good grasp of my own tastes and opinions.

Shocking. So much unbridled hate from the two usual suspects.

Hey, don't compare me to him when it comes to hate. I don't give a shit about Batman's sexuality (or the sexuality of the actors, or anything else). I mean, I'd say Batman is a solidly heterosexual character, but I don't particularly care (and Clooney was definitely not playing him any different then anyone else would when it comes to stuff like that).

No; I'm concerned about kirk5555 viewing George Clooney's blatantly homosexual potrayal of Batman as being "decent".

I mean, holy shit. I hope that you're just phrasing what you're trying to say really badly.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

 

[cooleddie74]

In a superhero world where protagonists often wear tights so constrictive that you can count individual seminiferous tubules it's hard to take anybody seriously who complains about a superhero being a "flaming" homosexual. And when they do it in The TrekBBS it goes from sigh-inducing to "more pitiful than a tapeworm living inside Keith Richards."