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The Case for Remaking Catwoman
Jun. 9th, 2015 03:18 pmIf you haven't seen the movie Catwoman, congratulations, you are a wise person. You did not pay to see this in the theater. You did not rent this. When it came on television, with nothing else on, you had the good sense to turn the TV off.
I was not so wise. For my foolishness, I watched a character of great potential squandered. The story-line was lacking. The characterization was sparse. And, the understanding of feminism amounted to a means of showing off female secondary sex characteristics.
But, like I said, character of great potential. So, first, let's understand the various ways that potential has been explored.
The first that I was aware of, from reruns of the Adam West Batman series, was Eartha Kit's portrayal. The thing that came out the most with Kit's portrayal was that Catwoman luxuriated in being Catwoman. When she replaced any "per" syllable with a "purr" and a rolling "r", that was all for her. This Catwoman is aware of the male gaze as something she can toy with.
The most recent at the time the movie came out was the Batman: TAS series portrayal, which began with Catwoman as the noble thief. This Catwoman identified with big cats and her thievery was about their plight, preserving habitats, combating poaching, reducing the market for their various parts, etc. Greed or even simple survival wasn't the limit for her, she stole because she cared about something else.
The portrayal the movie most tries to ape, and both incompetently copies and fails to even begin to understand, is the Batman Returns version. In this version, Selena Kyle is the victim of an attempted murder and then you can interpret this in two possible ways... or both.
Option number one; due to emotional trauma, brain damage, or both, the breaks are taken off of Selena Kyle's personality. She's not legally insane and she still has impulse control, but the anxieties are taken away. Already possessing an affinity for cats (and maybe having pre-existing acrobatics skills), she chooses the guise of Catwoman to have some uninhibited fun of the kind she likes.
Option number two; she does die, but cats bring her back to life, giving her confidence that she didn't have before. They may or may not have given her the agility and grace that she uses for her acrobatics.
The movie attempts to achieve all three. Considering that I've advocated for taking multiple options at once in my cases before, I can't criticize. What I can criticize is the laziness with which each is attempted.
Luxuriating in being Catwoman is achieved through a scene in which Catwoman interrupts a jewelry store robbery in order to rob it herself and, when being confronted by a police officer while as Catwoman, saying "ooh" a lot.
The noble thief is achieved through saving the lives of two kids on a broken ferris wheel and not actually committing murder when the option avails itself. That counts as not being completely evil, not as being noble.
And, it constantly puts the breaks back on. The character isn't newly confident so much as flipflopping between having the breaks off and being the same anxiety-ridden character, only with some catlike behaviors added in.
The Dark Knight Rises and Gotham chose to focus on Catwoman as survivor who uses her skills as a thief and manipulator to survive. And, I like this interpretation.
So, let's fix that by using all four. First, give Catwoman her history. And, Gotham's showing us a good one.
What we have is a young woman, in poverty, surviving as best she can and, in the process, developing skills of dexterity, athleticism, and social engineering. Her tragedy is simple, she is a young woman in poverty who has a dirth of socially acceptable identities. Playing the game that most of us play, to get along in law-abiding society, isn't a game she can win, so she chooses to play a different one.
The factor that brings her out, makes her even plan to take on the Catwoman persona is, like with Bruce Wayne, an injustice that she can do something about. In her case, the injustice is economic.
In the corrupt city of Gotham, wealth can put you above the law, and not even require a bribe to do it. It's basic privilege. Being a wealthy, upstanding member of high society means that you're assumed to be not really dangerous. And, that kind just wouldn't do well in prison. So, as a matter of courtesy to the "deserving", people get lighter sentences, fines, even nullified convictions.
Batman brings criminals to justice. Catwoman brings the high down low. And, she spreads the wealth, both a means of nobly seeing to the others in her same position and a means of encouraging allies.
Assuming Batman is in this movie, he should be an obstacle rather than an enemy. Catwoman's real enemy, in Gotham, should be Daggert. Daggert, in TAS, was an unscrupulous business man. He wasn't a villain, himself, but he did the kind of evils that caused super villains to happen.
In Catwoman's interactions with Batman and other servitors of a lawful-good sense of Justice should employ the same fix that we apply to the cat-suit. That is, this movie should be all over the het female gaze, not the het male gaze. Catwoman is a woman and this is her story, so her gaze is the one we should get to know.
That means that the big question isn't why Batman is attracted to Catwoman, but what attracts Catwoman to Batman. The answer should be that he appeals to all the parts of her personality. The part that luxuriates in her power and freedom sees Batman as a challenge. The part that has nobility of purpose and the part that has the breaks taken off both see Batman as an equal. The lingering views on his various attractive bits and pieces are icing on the cake.
Assuming this all happens in the continuity of the cases I've already made for Batman, Batman's motivation would be that it's important that he be viewed as a force for law and order and justice, especially being that he will take up sides against the police. That one law-breaker is sympathetic and even for good reason will pain him and Bruce Wayne will try to deal with the injustice that caused the problem. But, he can't make that exception.
But, the law is not at current (in the setting) and neither can it ever fully be complete justice. The system can never be perfect, it can only improve... and it doesn't always do that. So, Catwoman, in her own way, is a necessity. She does what the jester should do, which is challenge the system itself.
If this does happen within the continuity of my cases, the sigils of Batman and The Joker already being in play, it's only inevitable that Catwoman will have her own acolytes. The Bat represents the eye that watches for corruption. The Clown represents those who just want the pleasure of watching you fear. The Cat represents those who will not be controlled.
I was not so wise. For my foolishness, I watched a character of great potential squandered. The story-line was lacking. The characterization was sparse. And, the understanding of feminism amounted to a means of showing off female secondary sex characteristics.
But, like I said, character of great potential. So, first, let's understand the various ways that potential has been explored.
The first that I was aware of, from reruns of the Adam West Batman series, was Eartha Kit's portrayal. The thing that came out the most with Kit's portrayal was that Catwoman luxuriated in being Catwoman. When she replaced any "per" syllable with a "purr" and a rolling "r", that was all for her. This Catwoman is aware of the male gaze as something she can toy with.
The most recent at the time the movie came out was the Batman: TAS series portrayal, which began with Catwoman as the noble thief. This Catwoman identified with big cats and her thievery was about their plight, preserving habitats, combating poaching, reducing the market for their various parts, etc. Greed or even simple survival wasn't the limit for her, she stole because she cared about something else.
The portrayal the movie most tries to ape, and both incompetently copies and fails to even begin to understand, is the Batman Returns version. In this version, Selena Kyle is the victim of an attempted murder and then you can interpret this in two possible ways... or both.
Option number one; due to emotional trauma, brain damage, or both, the breaks are taken off of Selena Kyle's personality. She's not legally insane and she still has impulse control, but the anxieties are taken away. Already possessing an affinity for cats (and maybe having pre-existing acrobatics skills), she chooses the guise of Catwoman to have some uninhibited fun of the kind she likes.
Option number two; she does die, but cats bring her back to life, giving her confidence that she didn't have before. They may or may not have given her the agility and grace that she uses for her acrobatics.
The movie attempts to achieve all three. Considering that I've advocated for taking multiple options at once in my cases before, I can't criticize. What I can criticize is the laziness with which each is attempted.
Luxuriating in being Catwoman is achieved through a scene in which Catwoman interrupts a jewelry store robbery in order to rob it herself and, when being confronted by a police officer while as Catwoman, saying "ooh" a lot.
The noble thief is achieved through saving the lives of two kids on a broken ferris wheel and not actually committing murder when the option avails itself. That counts as not being completely evil, not as being noble.
And, it constantly puts the breaks back on. The character isn't newly confident so much as flipflopping between having the breaks off and being the same anxiety-ridden character, only with some catlike behaviors added in.
The Dark Knight Rises and Gotham chose to focus on Catwoman as survivor who uses her skills as a thief and manipulator to survive. And, I like this interpretation.
So, let's fix that by using all four. First, give Catwoman her history. And, Gotham's showing us a good one.
What we have is a young woman, in poverty, surviving as best she can and, in the process, developing skills of dexterity, athleticism, and social engineering. Her tragedy is simple, she is a young woman in poverty who has a dirth of socially acceptable identities. Playing the game that most of us play, to get along in law-abiding society, isn't a game she can win, so she chooses to play a different one.
The factor that brings her out, makes her even plan to take on the Catwoman persona is, like with Bruce Wayne, an injustice that she can do something about. In her case, the injustice is economic.
In the corrupt city of Gotham, wealth can put you above the law, and not even require a bribe to do it. It's basic privilege. Being a wealthy, upstanding member of high society means that you're assumed to be not really dangerous. And, that kind just wouldn't do well in prison. So, as a matter of courtesy to the "deserving", people get lighter sentences, fines, even nullified convictions.
Batman brings criminals to justice. Catwoman brings the high down low. And, she spreads the wealth, both a means of nobly seeing to the others in her same position and a means of encouraging allies.
Assuming Batman is in this movie, he should be an obstacle rather than an enemy. Catwoman's real enemy, in Gotham, should be Daggert. Daggert, in TAS, was an unscrupulous business man. He wasn't a villain, himself, but he did the kind of evils that caused super villains to happen.
In Catwoman's interactions with Batman and other servitors of a lawful-good sense of Justice should employ the same fix that we apply to the cat-suit. That is, this movie should be all over the het female gaze, not the het male gaze. Catwoman is a woman and this is her story, so her gaze is the one we should get to know.
That means that the big question isn't why Batman is attracted to Catwoman, but what attracts Catwoman to Batman. The answer should be that he appeals to all the parts of her personality. The part that luxuriates in her power and freedom sees Batman as a challenge. The part that has nobility of purpose and the part that has the breaks taken off both see Batman as an equal. The lingering views on his various attractive bits and pieces are icing on the cake.
Assuming this all happens in the continuity of the cases I've already made for Batman, Batman's motivation would be that it's important that he be viewed as a force for law and order and justice, especially being that he will take up sides against the police. That one law-breaker is sympathetic and even for good reason will pain him and Bruce Wayne will try to deal with the injustice that caused the problem. But, he can't make that exception.
But, the law is not at current (in the setting) and neither can it ever fully be complete justice. The system can never be perfect, it can only improve... and it doesn't always do that. So, Catwoman, in her own way, is a necessity. She does what the jester should do, which is challenge the system itself.
If this does happen within the continuity of my cases, the sigils of Batman and The Joker already being in play, it's only inevitable that Catwoman will have her own acolytes. The Bat represents the eye that watches for corruption. The Clown represents those who just want the pleasure of watching you fear. The Cat represents those who will not be controlled.
