WITH "Batman Returns" on its way to grossing $100 million faster than any film in history, and Bat merchandise engulfing the nation, this is clearly the season of the Caped Crusader. To be sure, we went through much the same thing in the summer of '89, when the first Batman movie became the sixth-largest grossing film in history.
In an odd way, this reincarnation of Batman has become the pop culture symbol of the Bush years -- a figure for the '90s in much the same way Rambo symbolized the '80s or James Bond the '60s. But who, exactly, is Batman? Why does he have this grip on us, and what does his popularity tell us about America?
He began as a comic book hero in 1939 and he has always reflected his times. As the story goes, when Bruce Wayne was 10 years old, he saw his parents murdered by a gunman outside a movie theater in New York, changed in later versions to "Gotham City."
Traumatized by the incident, Wayne vowed to dedicate his life to fighting crime. He trained himself in martial arts (he eschews guns), developed some sophisticated machinery, picked up a teen-age partner (Robin), and donned the costume of a bat so as to frighten his adversaries. Emerging only at night, this odd loner was called Batman.
In the staid '50s, Batman's creators cleaned up his image somewhat, as the Caped Crusader grew more suburban and clean-cut, and began appearing during the day. When TV began mocking the conventions of the '50s, it was this relatively straight Batman who provided the model for the campy, satirical superhero of the hit TV series of the '60s.
In the '70s and '80s, as comic books moved more into the realm of science fiction, Batman's persona began to return to its roots as the hero became darker, gloomier and the problems he fought became more terrifying. Those themes have carried over into the current movies, with Gotham City now depicted as a futuristic, urban hell. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton has described his '90s Batman, now working without a partner, as "depressed and tired." "I saw him as a man in pain," he once said.
That's a key part of Batman's appeal today. Unlike other comic book and pop culture heroes, he's human to the point of being dysfunctional. On one level, that allows Batman to tap into the therapeutic zeitgeist, currently the rage.
