Published and Presented at the
CRITICAL THEMES IN MEDIA STUDIES
spring 2000 conference
A s we approach the global village paradigm Marshall McLuhan predicted nearly fifty years ago, our world searches for tribal stories. Technological advances caused the adjunct return to a primitive structure of living. This shift demands the return of mythology as a way teaching (McLuhan 3-5). The word 'myth,' from the Greek, means a form of speech (Warner 27). "Myth are stories with a purpose" (Warner 28). They embody lessons about life, both examples to emulate and to avoid. Though the heroes are fictional, these stories "are possessed of power, and such tenacity that despite their acceptance or rejection by the dominant culture, they are still found in people's lives" (Larsen 226).
"Comic books have power--including over the child who still lives within each of us--because they are not part of the "serious" grown-up world."- Gloria Steinem, Wonder Woman, 1995
No where in twentieth-century media was myth more pervasive than in the form of comic books. Since the 1930's when the comic industry boomed, the stories and elements featured have born more than a passing resemblance to fairy tales, Greek gods, fables, and tribal tales. Filled with archetypal protagonists and villains both supernatural and heroically human, comics continue to offer cautionary stories about surviving the urban jungle of modern cities. Whether serving as an analogy for the issues we face, or dreaming of an utopian future, comics always represent and reflect the psyche of the decade in which they were written.
"A bat! That's it! It's an omen....I shall become a bat!"- Bruce Wayne, Detective Comics #33, 1939
Since the publishing of Detective Comics' twenty-seventh issue in 1939, Bob Kane's and Bill Finger's creation of Batman has become the comic character with the most media representation. He has been a pop culture staple for sixty years, yet his powerful influence is acknowledged by mainstream gatekeepers. Batman was named the "Number One Most Important Figure in Comics" by the January 1, 2000 issue of the Washington, D.C. Times. DC Comics' "Urban Renewal" of Gotham City was recently featured in the Hackensack, New Jersey Record as well as the Baltimore Sun (Porter 1). DC Comics is number one in their industry, largely due to the publishing each month of a dozen Batman family titles. The appeal of this anti-hero is as widespread as the protagonist himself is complicated.
A regular kid who witnessed his parents' murders by a common thug, Bruce Wayne grew up to become the Batman; a mysterious figure who fights criminals anonymously using intellect, surprise, and the totem of the bat to frighten his prey.
The dual character of Batman/Bruce Wayne has become a figment of our collective conscious. Unique from supernatural superheroes, Bruce Wayne represents the level of perfection we can all attain if we focus and study. Bruce chose a life of crime fighting as a solution to his tragic childhood, and uses this positive act as both penance and therapy. Through sheer tenacity, Bruce trained himself to fight the urban terrorism that destroyed his family by studying science, martial arts, psychology, and becoming a master detective.
Like Zorro and Sherlock Holmes, the two characters Batman was based on (Kane 37, 44, 46), Batman relies on his intellect rather than his strength to outwit criminals and bring them to justice. Unlike the warriors of mythologies past, the Batman figure represents a delicate balance of morality: a vigilante outside the law who upholds its rulings, a crime fighter who will not kill, an outlaw who returns his prey to the law enforcers he evades.
"I've received many letters from comic book fans who didn't appreciate Batman being parodied in the TV series (1960s) and thought that he should be taken seriously....My own opinion is that it was a marvelous spoof, and great for what it was, but it certainly wasn't the definitive Batman."- Bob Kane, Batman and Me, 1989
The mythos of Batman pervades a multitude of media forms beyond comics. It all began with a World War II radio show starring Batman and Superman. Now there have been three live action serials, one syndicated comic strip, three separate movie franchises producing eight movies, seven cartoon television series (including Superfriends, Batman Beyond and its spin-off Zeta, Batman and Robin, The New Batman and Superman Adventures ), five regular monthly comic titles, countless one time comics, graphic novels, crossovers, and at least ten current monthly titles featuring spin off characters of the Batman family. In addition, there are web sites, video and computer games, action figures, breakfast cereal, soundtracks, novels, theme parks, Halloween costumes, and on and on (Van Hise). The caped crusader satisfies the fantasies of the American psyche. According to Bob Kane, "he has become an integral part of our culture, an American folk hero who is as immortal as Paul Bunyan or George Washington" (Kane vii).
The DC universe has become so developed that other characters have emerged from the shadow of the Batman's cape to claim their own pop cultural status. The most successful female is the enigma of Catwoman.
"She's not the type of criminal you're used to chasing. Confusing, isn't it....half the bat is man, just as half the cat is woman."- Catwoman, Her Sister's Keeper, 1991
Created in 1940 as a love interest for Batman, Selina Kyle originally debuted alongside the Joker in Batman issue #1 as the Cat. "She was a kind of female Batman, except that she was a villainess and Batman was a hero" (Kane 107). Inspired by screen temptress Jean Harlow, Selina was a glamorous, ball gown-wearing cat burglar. A former heiress suffering from amnesia, she was a sympathetic criminal who "was never a murderer or entirely evil like the Joker....she was put into the strip for both the boys and the girls, as a female counterpart to Batman" (Kane 107, 108). Designed for females to relate to and males to lust after, the Catwoman filled a void in Gotham City and quickly became a recurring character.
Like Batman, the Catwoman operated outside the law within her own code of morality. She predated the creation of Alfred, the Penguin, and even famous heroines like Wonder Woman, Miss Fury, and Black Cat (Robbins). Catwoman broke the glass ceiling of the comic industry and raised the bar for future female characters. From their first battle in Batman #1, the caped crusader has uniquely allowed her to escape (Boichel 9). Selina Kyle became a foil to Batman, a reflection of his own dark desires and need for healing, as well a Jungian anima to his animus. Catwoman resembled "the shady ladies of Will Eisner's comic strip The Spirit , who harbor soft spots in their hearts for the hero and are never really bad" (Robbins 34).
Though not featured in the war-era Columbia Studios serials of 1943 and 1949, Catwoman returned with a vengeance in the 1966 television series Batman. Sporting a black catsuit and a cat o' nine tails, the "nefarious temptress" appeared in 15 episodes during its three seasons. She was played by three different actresses, including the African-American Eartha Kitt. Even in this campy series, Catwoman's dangerous femininity was used to tease males as she flaunted her keen intellect. Portrayed as would be paramours separated by the law, the image of Catwoman and Batman as two sides of the same coin was cemented on this children's television show. Original actress Julie Newmar expressed discontent with this version of Catwoman to the producers. "Julie felt that Catwoman should be pure evil, teasing Batman rather than actually falling in love with him...she established the character for every actress that followed....including Michelle Pfeiffer" (West 133).
In the Silver Age of comics (the 1970's), writers continued this role of foil/lover to the next degree by reforming Catwoman. In one Elseworlds (DC Comics' fictional alternate reality) tale, the pair even married and bore a daughter Helena, the future crime fighter the Huntress. With no where left to grow, it looked like the Batman mythos was winding down. Then the comic world was rocked in 1985 by the publishing of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. An adult graphic novel that featured gritty violence, moody panels and informed character analysis, Miller's vision became an instant cult classic. He was credited for rejuvenating the sales of a sagging comic industry and refueling a new era of myths starring complex and realistic characters. Miller saw the value of Catwoman and featured her as a main character in his seminal revision of Batman's origins in 1987's Batman: Year One.
Envisioning Selina Kyle as a dominatrix prostitute, her new origin became a teenage runaway and victim of incest. Inspired by the fear Batman's cowl invokes, Selina creates the antithesis alter ego of Catwoman. An embittered feminist fighting to survive the chaotic streets of Gotham, this version of Selina portrays a more dangerous reality for eighties women than most time capsules would dare address. Again, the wounded souls of Batman and Catwoman are attracted and ultimately severed by their similarities.
The new fervor in the comic industry inspired the development of the long mired Batman movie, finally completed in 1989 by Warner Brothers and followed by a franchise of three sequels. 1992 saw the release of Batman Returns , which combined Frank Miller and Bob Kane conceptions to portray Selina Kyle as an S and M clad villainess with the newly created origin of spurned secretary turned supernatural trickster. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer (who cites Julie Newmar as her inspiration) was "attracted to this character because of the idea of a woman making a power move in her life and appearing strong" (Shapiro 43). Sporting blonde hair for the first time (perhaps in homage to Jean Harlow), Selina spat feminist one liners ("Life's a bitch, now so am I") and skipped through the dark streets of Gotham. The film reveled in her outsider status as a woman shirking gender boundaries, and remarkably ended with her rejection of domesticity. Again, Bruce and Selina fall in love by day as their ids battle each other on the rooftops at night. But this time, Selina leaves Bruce pining for her as she rejects his marriage proposal and slinks off into the night.
The initial success of the movie franchise created more Batmedia, and at last Catwoman was awarded her own eponymous monthly title. Currently seven years old at issue 81, Catwoman is an amalgam of all the past variations. As insouciant as the 1966 television show, sexy as the 1980's dominatrix, and fun-loving as the original runaway heiress back story, Selina skips through the pages of her comic book title alone, occasionally battling evil and righting wrongs, but most often planning immoral jewel capers for fun and profit.
Because she is now a member of the "Batman Family" (the monthly Dark Knight spin-off titles), Selina has frequent guest shots in other comics, cross-overs, miniseries, and publications of original graphic novels and trade paperbacks (larger one-shot stories, often not taking place in the current DC time continuity). These opportunities allow for many more writers and artists to expand the Catwoman character. For instance, a recent Elseworlds two-parter titled Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham detailed an alternate reality where Catwoman and Batman had switched roles. The Fall of 1999 Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman also featured a new interpretation. This Catwoman was the Afican-American queen of an endangered tribe, forever separated from Bruce because of their loyalty to protecting their respective cities.
The Emmy award winning Batman: the Animated Series began airing on the Fox network in 1992. Filled with art deco style, gritty drawings, and pulp noir characters, the cartoon is considered the "definitive Batman." (Print Magazine). The show debuted with a two- part episode starring Catwoman as a sympathetic (and again blonde) thief stealing to finance the protection of endangered animals. The character was retooled for the sequel series New Batman/Superman Adventures as a less virtuous incarnation. In the 1997 version, Selina Kyle is a wealthy socialite by day who cases her rich chums to steal from at night. Like Robin Hood, she only takes what others can afford to give and uses the stolen merchandise for the good of society. Then again, sometimes she keeps the pretty baubles for herself. Though still a children's show, this amoral, murky characterization of Selina Kyle is closer to that of the comic book. Writers/artists Paul Dini and Chip Kidd developed her new playful and predatory attitude (including a new attraction to the grown Robin and a return to black hair), as well as a more feline silhouette (Dini 132). The inclusion of selfishness, mind games and double-crosses in her arsenal make her a villainess once more.
"That's a little inconsistent, you say, with my bad girl image? The kindness doesn't mesh with the cruelty. How can I be naughty and nice? You just can't figure me out? I'm a cat."- Catwoman, Issue 77
No matter what origin is used to explain her criminal motives, there are characteristics present in each Catwoman incarnation. Roberta Pearson and William Uricchio's in-depth analysis of the fluctuating Batman mystique explores the ability of our folk heroes to shift identities. Together they explore on Jim Collins definition of "superheroes as an assemblage of intertextual representations rather than a set definition" (Collins 180). Pearson and Uricchio conclude that as long as the four traits of Batman myth remain consistent, multiple writers may expand the character how they choose (Pearson, Uricchio 186). They refer to this floating signifier phenomena as character elasticity. Likewise, I posit that Catwoman must have nine traits to be recognizable to her fans:
As long as these traits remain present, the dozens of writers contributing to Selina's stories over the last sixty years have expanded her mythology like a rubber band. Character elasticity is unique and essential component of aggregate narratives. Because the many Batmedia have different authors, "they appeal to disparate but often overlapping audiences by presenting different incarnations of the superhero simultaneously" (Collins 180). Thus fans will accept multiple visions of Catwoman. This point is crucial, because fans are the ultimate character authority, the judge and jury that has killed many a comic myth.
There are several extraordinary elements to the Catwoman myth that defy the sexist stereotypes found in most of modern media. Unlike token females who must be represented as perfect, Selina is not virtuous, gentle, or whitewashed by a lack of human frailties. Selina Kyle is always portrayed as a very complicated woman, full of conflicting emotions and desires, and not afraid to change her mind. She admits when she is wrong but does not accept patriarchal punishments Rather, she operates under a self-regulated morality kept in delicate check by her own will. Though operating outside the laws of gender and society, she is never punished for her transgressions. Indeed, she is almost impossible for the law to catch, and always escapes. This is unheard of in fiction, where even feminist authors like Kate Chopin and Margaret Atwood unilaterally kill the female heroine who can not be reprocessed back into society. Instead Selina is championed as a female trickster, an insouciant who laughs at society's rules and wins (Landay 206). This unpunished insolence might not be so astonishing if the behavior was confined to the underground world of comics. But this phenomenon continues in every Batmedia form. The last image of Batman Returns is of Catwoman eclipsing the Batsignal in triumph, free to roam Gotham once more. Catwoman is the first highly visible female character in modern media to escape the wrath of patriarchy.
"You (women) are all the same, waiting for some Batman to save you. I am Catwoman. Hear me roar."- Batman Returns, 1992
"The problem is that the super-heroes who perform magical feats--indeed, even mortal heroes who are merely competent--are almost always men....For little girls, the only alternative is suppressing a crucial part of ourselves by transplanting our consciouness into male characters."- Gloria Steinem, Wonder Woman, 1995
Catwoman's continued existence is even more puzzling in that her dangerous influence on young girls is well established. Even the campy 1966 television show introduced impressionable children to contradictions surrounding gender. In Lynn Spiegel and Henry Jenkin's interviews with Baby Boomers raised on the "harmless" show, many cite Batman as a seminal influence on the development of their psyche. Grown men and women remember Catwoman's authority over her henchmen and resistance to Batman as their first glimpse of "the possibility of feminine power" (Spiegel, Jenkins 138). One woman "recalled discussing with her playmates the pleasure they took in Catwoman's antisocial antics" (Spiegel, Jenkins 138). While many boys experienced their first erotic memories due to Catwoman, girls were particularly impressed with how much fun this bad girl was having in contrast to Batman. They were left with the impression that resisting sex-role stereotyping was a possibility for them. (Spiegel, Jenkins 139).
Apparently 1990's boys think it is a possibility for them as well. In the summer of 1999, the television show The Hollywood Squares asked a trivia question based on a recen Internet poll. "8-12 year old boys were surveyed as to who they would like to be and 60% of them said Catwoman" (Delirium 1). The possibility of a majority of this public wanting to be any woman in this society indicates the potential influence of fictional role models, even the much maligned female comic book character.
Fans of different generations of the Catwoman archetype make their own attractions to the character. Obviously she fills a void in comics of complex female characters; women that both male and female readers can relate to and admire. The largest difference between our modern mythology and the fairy tales and Greek myths of yore is the silent exclusion of half of our population. Originally comics were bought by almost as many females as males (Parsons 69), so economics does not explain the lack of female representation in the DC universe. Unlike societies that told tales of Hera, Diana, the Amazons, Boadicea, Judith, Matilda, Cleopatra, Inana, Jinga, Queen Elizabeth, Morgan, Joan of Ark, and many other strong women, as a culture Americans lacked the archetype of the Warrior Queen (Fraser 7-13). The invention of Catwoman begat a new generation of powerful characters like Wonder Woman, Xena, and Agent Scully that may not have been heard without Selina's birth in 1940. With more stories circulated in our culture about the powers and capabilities of women, perhaps we will experience political leaders of the fairer sex. Historically this is an unusual discrepancy due in part to America's lack of a hereditary monarchy (Fraser 9). The burden of representation falls on singular archetypes like Catwoman to prove women's capabilities in the man's world of modern cities.
"With his first issue (writer) John (Ostrander) played exactly to my personal Catwoman expectations, throwing the inner goodness of both Selina and Bruce into conflict with their outer personas."- Catwoman Issue 77, letters column
Since the beginning of the comic boom in the late 1930's, the majority of readers have been male. During World War II, comics outsold popular magazines on army bases, with 41% male and 28% female categorized as regular readers. By the 1990's, the estimated statistics of comic shop patrons show a severe decrease in female fans to a paltry 7%. The majority of buyers of DC Comics are boys age 8-12, with a small but vocal niche of lifetime fans purchasing the mature graphic novels and content rated material like Legends of the Dark Knight (Parsons 68-81). The other media forms like Batman movies, television shows, and constant references are inescapable in the space of the public sphere. Batman is the stuff of pop culture(Enzensberger 2).
The actual public of female readers is subaltern and still learning to speak. Fragmented within the stratified framework of society, their participatory power depends on alliance with like-minded male fans. What drives fans to seek connectiveness with others has been the topic of many theorists. "Cultural studies says we bring unique interpretations to texts and argues for the acknowledgment of marginalized voices....developing understandings of multiple, situated grand narratives is feasible, and is the postmodern foundation of this recipe" (Aden 76). Media theorist Roger C. Aden believes fans read popular stories as experienced journeys. Though imaginary, romantic and modern fan encounters with consuming popular culture are a means of making sense of the world by arriving at a promised land. By sharing these symbolic pilgrimages with like-minded travelers, we experience "a spiritual sense of communion with others and offer a transcendent perspective of the cultural terrain" (79). As "miners of meaning" (80), comic readers respond to our consumer-oriented culture by becoming agents of their own mythology.
The new medium of comics share many similarities to the oral traditions of our past, with the addition of stunning visuals. Like the intricate skill it takes to read a movie, readers must learn to read the complicated panels of a comic book. Once initiated, the medium becomes an amalgam of the fast cuts of movies, the comic strip, and the text of literature. The small public who already possess these reading skills have an extraordinary frame of reference for understanding the Internet. This mobilizes them for active use of the web as a tool against the comic book industry.
Henry Jenkins' essay "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching," analyzes fans who steal corporate owned images and use them in their own fan fiction. Similar to the lesbian and gay groups who actively read subtext into mainstream media, these marginalized fans of strong female protagonists appropriate mainstream media figures to fulfill needs not met through current storytelling. "Fans must confront media representations on an unequal terrain" (Jenkins, Get a Life, 33). Like the Robin Hood style figure of Catwoman, these fans rob ideas from the rich corporations and redistribute them for use among the disenfranchised masses. Poachers argue that copyright owners can not legally enforce audiences' mental play, and that their private communications about said material is likewise none of corporations' business (Jenkins, Get a Life, 32).
Fans wield power by banding together. Union creates a vocal and viable public to DC comics. As corporate owners, DC must court and placate the fans with the most buying dollars to stay in business. If fans clamor for more female representation and buy more books with heroines, DC will meet the demand. The company has already added the superheroine title Birds of Prey (featuring Black Canary and Oracle, the former Batgirl). More significantly, in the Fall of 2000 is the premiere of the monthly series of another villainess from Batman: The Animated Series Harleyquin. Meanwhile, the Catwoman fan club, numerous web sites, chat rooms, and newsletters like "Cat Claw" keep fans in contact and encourage the creation of their own media. Media critic Hans Magnus Enzensberger extols the power of common citizens producing their own media as a counter strike to the hegemony of corporate-owned images. "The new media are egalitarian in structure. Anyone can take part in them" (Enzensberger 8). Through the publishing of web pages filled with original drawings and stories starring Catwoman/Selina Kyle, her audience claims ownership of a folk hero and remakes her in their own image. Enzensberger would celebrate these fans' use of new media as the mobilizing force that will cripple "the cultural monopoly of the bourgeois intelligentsia" and level the class playing field (Enzensberger 8). When the masses become agents of media, we will be liberated from the elite ruler's propaganda.
Unfortunately, corporations are already well aware that new media is the battleground of the future. As web publishing becomes cheaper and more accessible to the masses, corporations have stepped up their legal battle against such activities. In April 1999, DC Comics issued a cease and desist letter to dozens of prominent DC based web sites including unauthorized Batman and Catwoman pages. The letters have been circulated by the irate comic book community through postings, e-mail, and newsletters on the net like "Heroes: The Fanfic Groups' Fan Mag." The threatened legal action has been met with much outrage, as fans feel they have the right to think about these characters and share their imaginings with like-minded people. The DC crackdown is also seen as a betrayal of fan trust, as many sites have operated for years under the "very generous fair use conditions which DC has shown in the past, particularly in allowing the existence of fan fiction" (Fanzing). Most fan sites are mindful of their copyright infringement, and give proper credit to owner DC Comics. A typical disclaimer is "Fanzing is strictly non-profit and is not intended to commercially challeng DC Comics in any way" (Fanzing). With this intermediary solution suddenly rejected by DC, fans are besides themselves at the prospect of losing their voice in the public sphere of the net.
Batman: "So it is to be a war between us?"
Catwoman: "It's always a war between the sexes."- Catwoman, Her Sister's Keeper, 1991
Media crossovers are now ubiquitous, with comic characters featured in movies, web sites, television shows, books, etc. Though women may not posses buying power in the industry, their lives are certainly affected by these widespread comic memes. In Douglas Roushkoff's Media Virus: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture, the author posits that many anarchists use children's television to carry secret media messages to the masses. There are hidden themes that underly the Batman franchise. Dozens of stories feature big business monoliths as the enemy, with greed and hubris as the driving force behind their evil deeds. Since their earliest publications, many Batman stories warned of the dangers of science. While Batman uses technology as the caped crusader, a Luddite sensibility permeates as a vital meme. Many of the criminals Batman battles have turned to crime because of tragedies caused by science (Man-Bat, Clay-Face, Two-Face, Killer Croc, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, etc.).
Another existing virus is the belief in Freudian and Jungian psychology that informs all the characters. The villains as well as our hero all dress in costumes that embody their various psychosis. Selina Kyle, whose independence and aloofness are her hallmark, chose the cat as her totem animal. Planning her alter ego, costume, accesorized technology (cat o' nine tails, the cat mobile), and capers around this theme cements her association with the traits of a feline. Creator Bob Kane purposefully chose the cat as her symbol to embody the antithesis of Bruce's bat totem and establish her as his female counterpart (Kane 108). Kane chose wisely, as the Herder Symbol Dictionary lists both the bat and the cat as ambivalent symbolic nocturnals with fluctuating meaning and morality in cultures. They are both despised and loved, both feared as bad luck and sought after as harbors of good fortune (18, 32). In a world where black and white heroes no longer represent our struggles in the modern world, only the realistic duality of these antiheroes will satisfy.
Joseph Campbell was fond of quoting the wisdom of an anonymous little boy: "a myth is something that is a lie on the outside and is truth on the inside" (Larsen 552). Though the fictional world of comics is maligned and patronized by society, it is the premier myth factory of the twentieth century. Comic writers, fans, and their media offspring will continue creating archetypal figures that represent humanity -- "their dreams and visions, their compulsions, their ecstasy and their madness" (Larsen 226). Like the gods of Olympus and the animals of Aesop's fables, characters like Catwoman will continue to reveal the workings of our souls. With the participation and demands of more fans, complicated and strong female characters will continue large roles in this mythical structure, and live on as legends.
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