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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Racist Batman
Today is Batman DVD day. Sure, you could get the two-disc deluxe edition of Batman Begins. You could get the two-disc deluxe edition of Tim Burton's Batman featuring Jack Nicholson's Joker, one of my favorite versions of the character. You could even rent the two-disc deluxe edition of Batman & Robin to hear Joel Schumacher's own commentary track of the damned.
The only DVD released on Batman DVD day that I'm really interested in is that of the 1943 serial The Batman. I've heard and read a lot about it and must say that it sounds like such a bizarre take on the character that my interested is quite piqued.
This serial was created right in the middle of World War II and reflects the mood of the time. Batman and Robin are not vigilantes but deputized FBI agents. Their villain is the Japanese Dr. Tito Daka who teams up with 5th Columnist Americans to create some kind of machine that zombifies normal citizens. Having the Irish-American J. Carrol Naish playing a scheming Japanese villain would be bad enough but all the reports I've read tell me that this serial didn't skimp on demonizing this particular member of the Axis. One bit of narration praised the Roosevelt administration program of interment camps. According to one Amazon.com reviewer when the serial was released on VHS the racist dialogue was edited out, meaning that every line but one was changed in the final chapter (I have no clue whether the serials contained in the DVD set are edited but I hope they aren't. It doesn't help anybody to whitewash the past).
Superheroes, certainly those of the Golden Age variety, are these big iconic characters that are often used by their creators to contemplate certain neuroses. The idea that two characters everyone is familiar with, at least by name, are shown perpetuating the dark side of American patriotism in live action sounds like an interesting study in American pop culture.
If you've seen the serial in whatever form please share in the comments section below. I myself am going to see if I can rent this, which I'll then report my findings to you.
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