How each Batman understood the character

let me ask you [Music] something what's the difference between this this this and this well we all know Batman and we know he fights criminals but how he fights can tell us a lot about his motivation and true nature you just need to watch one scene from Burton's Batman to get the spirit of his version even though it's Darkly lit it has a fun almost burlesque vibe to the point where his Batman seems to Revel in what he's doing while Nolan's version aims to be realistic and serious but in making it's so polished it ends

up feeling too artificial to the point that if you mute the scene you can see the choreography almost like they're rehearsing before filming and the sound design portrays the blows as soft stylized impacts you just need to compare it to how the punches sound in Snider's films while Nolan aimed for a measured portrayal with a hero delivering just the necessary blows idealized but believable Snider's punches sound so exaggerated that they don't seem like they came from a human his version is pure spectacle with an energetic soundtrack and dynamic Hammer work that make us feel like

we're watching something otherworldly if Nolan's Batman is measured and believable this one is the opposite with unreal strength and punches that seem motivated by rage he's a beast and the opposite of an inhuman Batman is one that's brought down to earth both in the way he fights reflecting an uncontrolled Batman and in the way it is filmed with long takes that make the action feel more real the hell are you supposed to be and we all know the answer to this question what the hell are you what are you I am Batman but how he

is introduced can tell us a lot about how each film understands his character it's all over the [Music] pavement Tim Burton's Batman emerges from above in a perfectly composed and pictorial shot playfully attacking two criminals and saying I'm Batman it's almost a performance for him and the setting is so artificial and Theatrical that it's impossible to take seriously meanwhile Nolan's Batman is introduced in fragments gadgets blurry shots body close-ups and only fully reveals himself when he accomplishes his feat of capturing a Mafia Boss and he also says his line I'm Batman but this time with

a golden light and epic music in the background idealizing the moment and if this Batman is presented as a figure to admire Snider's Batman is presented as one to fear that's why he's framed like a horror scene from the police's perspective as he is openly called the screams and the decayed setting create a heavy atmosphere with a nervous handheld camera that seems almost as if it dreads the bat and when he is finally revealed he looks like a supernatural Beast lurking in the corner of the ceiling escaping like a monster and this time he doesn't

say he's Batman with words but leaves his Mark by branding his logo into a criminal skin with a hot iron he branded him it's a totally different first impression and if you think about it it's almost like each version is a direct response to the previous one so following this logic an unreal and inhuman Batman should be followed by the opposite one who isn't introduced on the rooftops but in the most downto Earth situation possible like walking up in a subway station and after violently beating a guy he introduces himself but not as Batman I'm

Vengeance finally we all know he wears a mask to protect his identity and we kind of know what it looks like but the materials shap Apes textures and how the mask and suit come to life tell us a lot about who each Batman really is reflecting his inner self on the outside take Burton for example being the most exaggerated and expressionist with shiny material and Gothic horns showing a Batman concerned with Aesthetics while Nolan's is focused on practicality it could easily be a high-tech military helmet while Snider's Batman on the other hand is more robust

and blocky reflecting a seasoned Batman who's been in action for years even with its own wring Les almost like skin giving it an inhuman appearance which is intentional because Snider approaches his hero as if he were a demigod and it's a much harder material to identify unlike Reeves's version which is made from materials the audience can recognize like leather if Burton's visual design is all about long expressive lines and no one relies on harmonious and subtle circular shapes while Snyder opts for more Square forms then Reeves brings in diagonals and triangles that add a sense

of instability also it doesn't really highlight the wrinkles instead it emphasizes the shape of the skull which makes it look kind of creepy but what I love most about this mask and what shows that this Batman has less clearly defined boundaries and is more fragile than the others is that you can see the seams and that's what I want to focus on today the seams that weave Batman together but before we jump into the video if you're like me and love going for walks to to get inspired and clear your head I've got just the

thing for you the raycons everyday earbuds because lately they've become a key part of my daily routine especially since I spend so much time creating content for YouTube whether I'm editing or just need to clear my head with a walk or workout these earbuds are always by my side because I don't know if my ears are just sensitive or what but these are the first earbuds I can wear for hours without feeling uncomfortable which it's likely because of their ergonomic design that fits any ear shape so they never fall off no matter how much you

jump from one roof to another so what do you think does it come in black and in a bunch of other colors too also you can add the protective case like this yellow one I picked which I think looks pretty cool plus the noise cancellation is awesome and the 32-hour battery life with super fast charging is a lifesaver especially if you're forgetful like me and to be real it's hard to find all these features at such an affordable price so if you want to treat yourself and help out the channel click the link in the

description box or go to byy ron.com lanselot to get 20 to 40% off on this and other products with free shipping big thanks to raycon for sponsoring this video and thanks to you for listening now let's get back to it okay fine you either die a hero long enough to see yourself theill and in the same way a character either remains iconic or gets adapted so many times that they lose their appeal but with that man it's different almost like it's a collective debate where each movie is responding to the last one showing what Batman

means to whoever's telling the story nice out you've got Tim Burton's more expressionistic and extravagant approach almost Baroque I now do what other people only dream I make art until someone dies see then there's Nolan's interpretation where Batman is an ideal measured and believable hero from a neoclassical lens or Snider's version man which has a romantic perspective because the rationality of the previous take is overshadowed by emotion why did you say that and it's almost a religious interpretation of Batman not just because of the biblical references but because for Bruce Batman is his salvation in

the dream they took me to the light and he even has dreams where the figure of Batman literally elevates him closer to Divinity but with Matt Reeves his approach is about bringing Batman down to earth he's much more focused on Bruce and Batman's role in society we must rebuild people's faith in our institutions in our elected officials his quest isn't so much spiritual as it is an attempt to fix the system it's a realistic version not because it's believable but because it's grounded in real world issues and I didn't choose these terms randomly there periods

that followed one another in art history each one being a counter response to the previous period following the pendulum Theory so I want to start the Batman pendulum with the version that was my major introduction to the character whose essential values are perfectly reflected in his suit first off you could say that subtlety is key for his design his suit carries just enough to let you know he's Batman without drawing too much attention to the point that sometimes it feels like Nolan isn't celebrating that man but rather they're camouflaging him because all the traits that

make that man who he is are minimized the colors are jet black the ears are tiny and the logo is so subtle you have to look closely to see it since it doesn't contrast with his chest I mean if you took away the cape it would look more like a special obscure a problem with a graphite sir but I think a fundamental element of this suit and Nolan's Batman is the way the movie goes to Great Lengths to justify it will suit for advanced infantry Kevlar by weave it's probably the most complete origin story in

superhero history because it covers both the spiritual and material reasons for why the character does what he does and how he does it wi B pass the away that's frightened me this time my enemies shared my dread and this might sound familiar to you because it's typical of Nolan's films as he feels the need to make you understand how his worlds and logic work if you devote yourself to an ideal then you become something else entirely unlike his predecessor's established Batman Nolan's version is a step-by-step dissection of all the elements that make up the character

the trauma ideological conviction training and Fortune which Michael Keaton's version doesn't explain and especially his gadgets how he gets and makes his weapons vehicle or suit even the need for a suit is Justified as a man from Flesh and Blood I can be ignored I can be destroyed but it's a symbol it's a symbol I can be Incorruptible well Burton's Batman might just be a disturbed guy who maybe even sleeps like a bat and dresses like one because he genuinely feels it Nolan gives the character a rational backing the suit is the conclusion he reaches

after deciding he needs to create an icon and it's so well Justified that as an audience you totally buy into it which is exactly what Nolan wants and his Universe with its villains is a rized version of our own you can also see this in his suit everything in his design is measured with Harmony in forms curved lines and circular objects making everything look proportional and calculated with smooth textures rarely seen as torn because everything in Nolan's films tends to look like this not just the suit but also the way he directs the movie which

is primarily based on classic compositions with cinematography that lacks major contrasts in the image it's not like Snider's Dynamic cameras Burton's dramatic diagonal low angle shots or Reeves's compressed claustrophobic compositions everything is pretty restrained after all the visual language of the film matches its protagonist who in this case is the most mentally stable version of Bruce Wayne we've seen he's an idealized and Incorruptible hero that's why his design is so clean and harmonious a direct response to Tim Burton's Baroque Batman because while Nolan made the brightest Batman movie Burton made one so dark that his

conceptual artist had to switch from drawing in black on white to white on black Burton wasn't really interested in diving into Bruce Wayne's origin instead he wanted to explore the Duality between Joker and Batman where each marks the birth of the other fat man causes the Joker to fall into [Music] acid and the Joker kills Bruce's parents Bruce's origin isn't meant to be realistic but rather poetic reduced to an almost metaphysical coincidence Burton didn't care about showing a step-by-step process to make you believe this could be possible like Nolan did instead he created a universe

where a guy dressed as a bat would seem plausible that's why he emphasizes World building in the first minutes of the movie making Gotham a character in its own right the first shot of the movie is a wide establishing shot of the city setting the story in an unreal place and the second shot brings us into it we see a desaturated decaying City so oppressive that the buildings block out the sky with its industrial and Gothic architecture it makes you feel like you're inside a factory or a cemetery rather than a city at night combined

with cinematography inherited from German expressionism or the camera angles with sharp diagonals and twisted lines create dramatic and exaggerated perspectives it's an expressionist hypercharged reality you can call me Joker and that goes for Batman too back then it was the first serious attempt to bring the character to the big screen so the idea was to keep the comics identity but with the subtle difference of dressing Batman in all black instead of gray which aligns much more with Burton's vision of a nocturnal egomaniac the key is that all of Batman's traits are emphasized especially his logo

which is the most striking point of his suit it grabs your attention because the movie aims to introduce the character to the big screen and audiences that's why the suit looks so artificial and his muscles are so defined without any superficial armor to the point that the cow can be torn off with one hand more than an armor it looks like a costume and that's something I like about Burton's version because it knows not to take itself too seriously at times embracing the absurdity of its premise Nolan's Batman is the ideal hero who puts reason

above his impulses that's why his Showdown with the joker this city just showed you that it's full all people pray to believe in good is almost a philosophical debate and he even saves Joker from falling because his priority is to uphold his principles while the climax of Burton's Batman and his Joker is all about their Origins and emotions you killed my parents and Batman lets Joker [Music] fall and of course when I link them to artistic periods it's not an exact science but I love noticing how there are certain common connections take the Baroque for

instance it's all about emotions and passions born out of a time of Crisis and it's known for being an art style that's overthe toop and heavily ornate also known as The Art of contrasts and where the concept of horror vacui originated on the other hand neoclassicism was way more optimistic aiming to bring back classical values inspired by Ancient Greek art it focused on depicting old myths that embodied ideals and values unlike the esses of the Baroque everything in neoclassicism was measured and balanced because they believed in reason above all else because they knew that the

dream of Reason produces monsters in 1799 the Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya created an etching with that title depicting creatures bats and beasts flying over the head of a man who had fallen asleep in his chair if the pendulum swings from the Baroque Batman to the neoclassical it now swings again to the opposite extreme a romantic interpretation or as I like to call it a Nightmare Batman where passion outweighs reason because if Nolan's biggest challenge is a terrorist and Burton's is a deranged gangster Snider's Batman has the wildest premise because he has to face a

deity on Earth that's why when he Dawns his suit this tormented Bruce resembles a demigod and this is reflected in his Bat Suit too Nolan's version gives us just enough to know he's Batman almost hiding it but sniders reasserts the character looking closest to the comics but this time there's no interest in explaining how his suit works all elements are there to build the idea that this Batman is a beast beyond the average human with his suit highlighting his musculature like a Spartan creating an exaggerated physique for someone who jumps across rooftop and the textures

and musculature of his torso make it look almost like skin reinforced by the wrinkles on his mask all these aspects create the same feeling it's not just unrealistic it's inhuman even his voice is deliberately altered to sound monstrous dear play these differences from his predecessors apply in every way even in the shapes that form the character design this time he's a robust super warrior with exaggerated volumes and mainly Square shapes with straight lines and his design helmet and Logo which in this context give us the sense of a Batman stuck in time hard aged and

inflexible having gone through so much that his moral code has become corrupted but what also sets him apart is the world he's in it's not Nolan's realistic world or Burton's expressionist one it's a fantasy world with Amazons and aliens that look like Gods it's a universe where everything is magnified and refined like comic book panels but it's also more fantastic even taking us to the most irrational place we can access dreams of course this Darkness fantasy and irrationality contrast sharply with the previous version unlike Nolan Snider emphasizes the emotional and spiritual side of his characters

oh God focusing on the Mystique with imagery that seeks the sublime the Devils Don't Come From Hell beneath us no no they come from the sky in fact Lex Luther's painting is inspired by the fall of the Rebel Angels by Gustav dur one of the most influential romantic painters known for depicting a world of nightmares and biblical chaos now God is good as dead but while Snyder tried to elevate his Batman this debate continues with Reeves grounding him if Gotham was filled with Gods before Reeves focused on its orphans his realism is not Nolan's idealized

version but rather one that centers Batman in relation to real world issues once again you just need to look at the context in which Matt Reeves sets his story The Riddler isn't the Gotham TV series or Jim Carrey version he seems like someone from dark internet forums and is treated like a David Fincher movie antagonist with his design based on a real life criminal like the Zodiac Killer and the Penguin is a mobster straight out of Good Fellas not the Penguin man from Tim Burton's films these characters are seen through the lens of reality which

is why Bruce is viewed by his City just like they'd view the Ridler as a freak and this quest for realism also extends to his suit with an almost homemade feel like he put it together with Real World Resources making it much more grounded when we look at the previous versions We can't really tell what materials they're using but here you can identify the leather of the cowl the base fabric the metal for his armor and the rubber for his joints and even each of his gadgets and what they do it's a suit with a

much more hostile appearance with metallic and rough textures and that's why his logo isn't yellow or gray but a rusted weapon and the logo says a lot about each Batman in this case it's a symbol of aggression which aligns with the shapes in his design that feature diagonal lines creating instability and imbalance reflecting an unstable Batman and the fact that all the elements are much more visible not only shows that he's in a more realistic world but also blurs the line between Batman and Bruce essentially making them the same person this is why he speaks

with the same voice all the time and the shots capture them in the same way there is no difference in the visual language and how one or the other is approached BR and it is the film that brings us closest to the character I mean the movie constantly tries to pull us into his perspective with frequent POV shots and even objective cinematography and this makes sense because the significant character development is a shift in how he sees and understands reality as he spends the entire movie acting in a way that in his words has only

provoked more criminals who the hell are you and this only changes at the end when he realizes he can't be a symbol of Vengeance I'm Vengeance if Snyder reclaims the myth reev offers a revision of it showing that instilling fear doesn't heal a broken Society it only creates more Riddlers I have had an effect here but not the one I intended and that's when Batman realizes he must become a symbol of hope I have to become more people need hope this doesn't mean that one version cancels out the other on the contrary it only serves

to amplify the myth because Batman can be many things when you started why the mask and that's why this dialogue gains more wait with each new film featuring The Dark Knight because the idea was to be a symol bman could be anybody [Music]