“How The Knight Became Dark: How Media and Societal Changes Can Affect a Long Running Franchise” traverses the history of the Batman franchise from the first television serial in the 1940’s, all the way to the most recent filmic entry in the Batman franchise: Matt Reeves’ The Batman[1]. In the subsequent 80 years, a plethora of Batman media and films have been released, all with their own styles, aesthetics and tones.
Posters for (from left to right) Batman[2], Batman[3], Batman Forever[4], The Dark Knight[5], The Batman[6].
This video essay demonstrates this history of Batman films, the history of changes in the cinematic medium, and the historical eras of comic books, to understand how nearly 100 years of constant change can be seen and felt in The Batman.
The Batman franchise is perfectly suited to exploring the nature of how 80 years can affect a franchise: be this through societal changes or through cinematic changes. Reflection theory suggests “that cinema, being a “popular art,” tends to embody some state of mind common to the millions of people living in a society”[7]. Using this idea as an approach, seismic shifts in the zeitgeist can feasibly be observed through tonal or story changes within a franchise. For this purpose, the Batman franchise is a unique example, being a franchise that had been going strong for almost a century. It has crossed ears of cinema, the Hays code era and the post 9/11 response for example, and it has also developed and crossed multiple eras of comic books, the overly safe silver and transgressive modern age for example. These changes will be explored by exposing and analysing where their influences can be found in 2022’s The Batman.
Before analysing The Batman however, it is logical to first explain the history of the Batman franchise and how, historically, it has interacted with seismic shifts and changes to the zeitgeist. To explain this history, every major film and shift must be explored chronologically, to concisely and simply explain 80 years of history in under 11 minutes. (“Major film” here refers to lie action. While the video essay will feature clips from animated films, this is both to show comic books in a more visually engaging way, using their film counterparts, and because pretending that they don’t exist would be disingenuous to the history of Batman films). The eras of Batman films will be explored by their director, splitting the eras neatly, almost by decade. This aligns with the shifts that have affected the franchise, mainly the Hays code limiting the 1960’s film (and its removal between Batman and Batman); the negative reaction to the darker Burton films ( which used the post Hays code freedom to explore “deconstructive and dystopian re-envisionings of iconic characters and the worlds that they live in”[8]); the shift towards dark realism post 9/11 (which was felt across all of cinema as “the omnipresent post traumatic response”[9] at the time was that it all “looked like a movie”).
Only after unveiling this history of change can The Batman be analysed. With an understanding of 80 years of cinematic and societal oscillations, sequences from and the overall tone of The Batman are rendered meaningful through their relationship to these changes. After working chronologically through the history of change, going back through each influential event can elucidate the notions of reflection theory: can the various zeitguiseds be felt in The Batman, or is it truly a standalone work?
When it was originally released The Batman was positioned as a standalone work. Obviously with the advent of The Penguin[10] series on HBO this is no longer accurate, but it is interesting to consider how standalone it truly was. The word standalone indicates that it is not influenced by other films or properties and is a singular work. However, this video essay attempts to disprove that notion, challenging the nature of how anything can really be singular or standalone. It posits that in reality, Reeves’ The Batman has been shaped by 80 years of changes and that each of these can be observed within itself. It is not a product of isolation but a product of constant change.
The Video Essay may be seen on Vimeo here:
Bibliography:
Bordwell, David, “Observations on Film Art: Zip, Zero, Zeitgeist”, DavidBordwell.net (2014), https://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2014/08/24/zip-zero-zeitgeist/ accessed 3rd February 2025
Briefel, Aviva; Miller, Sam. Introduction, in “Horror After 9/11: World of Fear, Cinema of Terror” (University of Texas Press, Austin, 2011)
Filmography:
Batman (Leslie H. Martinson, USA, Greenlawn Productions, 1966)
Batman (Tim Burton, USA, Warner Bros, 1989)
Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, USA, PolyGram Pictures, 1995)
The Batman (Matt Reeves, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2022)
The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, USA, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008)
The Penguin (USA, HBO, tx.30.09.2024 – 11.11.2024)
[1] The Batman (Matt Reeves, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2022)
[2] Batman (Leslie H. Martinson, USA, Greenlawn Productions, 1966)
[3] Batman (Tim Burton, USA, Warner Bros, 1989)
[4] Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher, USA, PolyGram Pictures, 1995)
[5] The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, USA, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008)
[6] The Batman (Matt Reeves, USA, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2022)
[7] Bordwell, 2014
[8] Quoted in Shadows of the Bat (USA, Warner Bros. DVD, 2005)
[9] Briefel, Aviva; Miller, Sam. Introduction, in “Horror After 9/11: World of Fear, Cinema of Terror” (University of Texas Press, Austin, 2011)
[10] The Penguin (USA, HBO, tx.30.09.2024 – 11.11.2024)
