Batman in our Academic Lives

[TimTwoFace]

Hey ya'll, how're you doing this evening?

I was just studying something for one of my classes, and then a question hit me - has anyone here done something Batman-based as a school project or as a large creative endeavour in their past? The reason I'm asking is because I'm studying one of the Joker's monlogues from THE KILLING JOKE so I can perform it in an acting class in the coming weeks.

I thought that, since there are so many die-hard Bat-fans on this board, there must be someone else out there that has written a term paper on Batman (something else I've done), creative writing stories involving him or his supportive cast in some capacity (as I also have), film, artwork, or whatever.

I bet I'm not the only one. :)

-Tim

[Bud 'n Lou]

In freshman year, for my final art project, I drew a pic of Batman being cornered in a dark alley by Joker and Harley. I don't even know what grade she gave me for it. I'd show it to you, but it's so crappy. I really wanna re-do it.

[The Penguin]

I can't think of anything off-hand (maybe I will later ;) ), but my friend who is an English major (and a two-post newbie since December here on TZ :rolleyes: ) wrote a really awesome poem for one of his classes about "The Dark Knight" I don't have a copy of it, but trust me it was great.

[TimTwoFace]

Cool! I've written a bunch of poems and short stories myself, as well as a lot of artwork, and I'd love to share them if anyone is interested. :)

So, BudnLou, if you ever redo that picture, post it up! Ditto for you, Pengy, if you ever get a hold of that poem. :)

-Tim

;-Y

[Barb Gordon]

Sometimes in English when we had timed writings I would tend to write Batman related thoughts. I've jotted down a few Batman poems, but never used them for a class, same with drawings. That is so cool that you're using a Joker monologue for acting class! Frankly, the theater department at our school is kinda lame, I take acting over at a theater, a repertory actually. It's amazing how childlike what a high school theater group is like when you're around the real deal. Anyhoo, if I had taken drama for a class, you bet I would have picked Batman related stuff for scenes/monologues. Heck, I do random Batman related monologues all the time.....just no one is around for it. And I'm pretty good, if I do say so myself,lol. :p

~Barb

[TimTwoFace]

Heh, I hear you about the self-monologue thing, Babs. (Wait...self-monologue...that sounds a little redundant.) As of late, on my hikes through town to work, I've caught myself murmuring dialogue as if I were performing. If only my acting prof. let me use RETURN OF THE JOKER as my monologue - that could work as well. Best yet, I have the entire scene memorized!

"What's the matter, Batman? No witty comeback? No threat? Then I'll provide the narration. I'll begin with the way I peeled back the layers of the boy's mind. Oh, he bravely tried to fight it at first; but, all too soon, the serums and the shocks took their toll, and the dear lad began to share such secrets with me - secrets that are mine alone to know...Bruce. It's true, Batsy - I know everything. And, kind of like peeking at your Christmas presents, I must admit, it's sadly anticlimactic. Behind all the sturm (sturm??? What's sturm??) and batarangs you're just another boy in a playsuit crying for mommy and daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!" And at this point, I laugh insanely. It's good stuff. :)

I still think my KILLING JOKE monologue is gonna be fun! I just hope I do a good job with it - should I bother imitating the Joker's voice, use my own, or come up with something altogether different?

Ah!! I didn't want to talk only about me here, though - so, how about the rest of you?

-Tim

[MWilburyJr]

There are creative writing classes here at the University of Central Florida that study Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke. You will find the trade paperbacks on the shelf in the UCF bookstore right amongst all the literature/grammar textbooks. I am certain these comics among others are a are studied in college courses at many major institutes.

[Revelator]

I go to UC Davis, and for our Film Theory and Criticism Class I submitted a final paper that linked MOP, the opening of "Beware the Creeper," "Old Wounds," "Over the Edge," "Mad Love," the prologue to "Rebirth" and the uncut ROTJ as a sort of a long film linked by shared themes.
As opposed to the old fashioned woman's film melodrama, where a woman had to choose between a career and home life, the Batman corpus was a male melodrama where the hero had to forsake home life for a career, and ended up suffering for it. In doing so the series provided a critique of the romantic loner-tough-guy image found in American movies and comics.
Although Batman gave up a home life he tried creating one through his sidekicks, and his struggle with the Joker was essentially a struggle between two opposites over the meaning of domesticity and family. The Joker also constructs a surrogate family with Harley, his hyeans and their henchmen. When he finally creates a nuclear family for himself by doing the unspeakable to Tim Drake he crosses a line of no return, and the consequence is obvious.
Our papers were only supposed to be 8 pages long and were marked down if they were late. I turned my paper in two days late. It clocked in at a whopping 18 pages but I didn't get marked down becasue of my extra effort, so I got an A. In intend to clean up and edit my essay one day so I can submit to the World's Finest essay archive. Until then...

[Mike Spiegel]

I've done a lot of Batman releated art projects. I think my greatest one would have to be one I just did this year. My class and I had to do some kind of poster about stopping or getting rid of racism. So I drew an amazing picture of TNBA Batman punching TNBA Joker, and at the top and in the same text as the first Tim Burton Batman movie poster I wrote "Let's Knock Out Racism" "It's No Joke". Then I just painted the background a nice rich red, the kind thats used for the sky in TNBA. I got a perfect on it and it won in the contest of which painting was the best at my school. As soon as I can I'll get a pic and show you guys if you'd like.

[Nightflower]

I wrote an essay about censorship for gr 13 Law, and referred to Return of the Joker and old Looney Tune cartoons as support (Thanks, Toon Zone! You're in my bibliography! :D). I got 87 on it, only because I lost 5% for my lack of footnotes. :rolleyes:

It's actually pretty decent. Maybe I'll post up the ROTJ bits.

[DisneyBoy]

I think I considered using Batsy once or twice, but I always veered away. Why?

For one thing, comics characters are never really a cause for serious debate and, therefore, aren't taken seriously, at least in my experience, in the world of academics. I think that if I had written a paper or speech and began by saying the words "Batman", I would have lost my credibility, to say nothing of the audience or teacher's respect and attention. Comics are meant for leasure, not expository essays (again, in my experience). As for drama class, the teacher (wisely) gave us a list of monolgues to choose from. I commend you all for bravely finding ways to incorporate your vast knowledge of Batman into your academic live, but so far, I've found no opportunity or appropriate venue for it.

[BeastBoyWonder]

I've modified and re-used some of the animated series' plot twists in stories that i've written, and on a recent AP test that I took i referred to a quote by Rupert Thorne. Like DisneyBoy, I usually like to keep Batman out of my academics because people don't take him seriously, although he deserves better treatment than what he gets.

[TimTwoFace]

Oddly enough, in my experience, Batman and other parts of pop culture have been taken very seriously in my classes, particularly in university. I know some people on this board that have used the Simpsons as a model (or anti-model) for nuclear (heh) family life - some have shown Edgar Allan Poe's influence on the Simpsons, etc, etc...myself, I've used Batman umpteen times, from poetry to plays to theses to creative writing and film, etc, etc...maybe I was just lucky that so many of my cohorts respected this as grounds for study.

ACtually, in the creative classes (art, writing, film, theatre, etc), my experience is that he's revered in a sense, because of the mood, atmosphere, and themes most stories convey.

The Bat's earned me a lot of good marks in my time, and I'm thankful for that.

-Tim
(admittedly, quite the geeky fan-boy)

[Simpler Simon]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
If only my acting prof. let me use RETURN OF THE JOKER as my monologue - that could work as well. Best yet, I have the entire scene memorized!

I LOVE that monologue, and have also memorized it! Sometimes I go spouting it out of the blue to creep people out... "I'll begin with how I peeled back the layers of the boy's mind..." :D

As for school-related projects, I haven't used anything directly from Batman, but for a drama production where I was playing this creepy God-like character, I got my inspiration from the Joker, and touched it with a little James Bond :D

[Manhunter]

My senior year in high school, I actually did a book report on The Killing Joke because my teacher said we could do it on anything. So, naturally, I took him on his word. I got a failing grade.

[Nightflower]

Here's the bit in my essay about the cartoons:

“Beep, beep!” The Road Runner stops in the middle of the road, eyeing a tantalizing treat of birdseed. It immediately begins pecking at it. Above it, the Wile E. Coyote sneakily lowers a stick of live dynamite, suspended by a fishing line. But the Road Runner has finished eating, and continues its swift journey. The force of the speed swings the dynamite forward. It dangles, for a moment, then swings back to the helpless Coyote, and… white flash, cut to the next scene.

What happened? In recent years, television network executives have adopted a “no tolerance” policy regarding violence in cartoons. No direct punches are allowed- the scene is cut by the aforementioned white flash.

In response to this, stations such as the WB Network, Nickoledeon, Fox Television, and ABC have taken out the scissors. All gunshots have been edited out from the Looney Tune cartoon shorts “Rabbit Find!”, “Rabbit Seasoning!”, and “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” (1951, 1952 and 1953 respectively). A segment where the character Sylvester inserts a dynamite stick into a crate has been cut from “Happy Days” (1961). Another scene involving dynamite censored from “Hook, Line and Stinker” (1958) is the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner example cited earlier. And “Waggly Tale” (1958) is edited to prevent children from throwing animals into a washing machine to watch them come out as balls of fur.

Violence is not the only reason for network censoring. Many old cartoon shorts are considered politically incorrect and not released at all anymore. An example of this is the Looney Tunes character Speedy Gonzales, a rapid rodent that is deemed an offensive ethnic stereotype of Mexicans and has been off the air since 1999… except on The Cartoon Network of Latin America, where ironically enough, Speedy Gonzales is hugely popular.

If the cuts to these old cartoons seem excessive, the treatment of modern cartoons is far worse. The direct-to-video film “Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” was delayed for several months due to complaints by the Warner Bros. executives. When it was finally released in November 2000, more than fifty cuts and edits had taken place. Some are understandable: direct hits, punches, and fighting movements had been removed. Some are silly: “death” and “kill” were replaced from the dialogue by “defeat” and “ice”; red graffiti in the background was digitally altered to purple because the original color was blood-like. Some make no sense at all: the line “Ah, brave new world, that has such putzes in it” was edited to “Ah, brave new world, that has such yutzes in it.” Even a clip of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon “Hair Ribbin” featured in the movie could not escape unscathed: the dialogue “I wish I were dead. I wish I were dead” is replaced with “I don’t deserve to live.” Poor Bugs never gets any respect.

At the surface, the modern censoring seems reasonable. Children are impressionable, vulnerable creatures and the Looney Tunes cartoons certainly seem outrageously violent. But consider: those cartoons were made in the late fifties/early sixties, a time that was arguably less lenient of subjects allowed to be broadcasted on television. Yet the Financial Post Magazine “Violence in Canada: Murder by Numbers” cites that between 1986 and 1993, violent youth crime increased at twice the rate of adults. If youth aggression is indeed correlated with television violence, wouldn’t it make more sense if the youth crime rate was higher between 1950-1960 than in current times, when children watch sanitized cartoons? “First of all, I don’t like seeing the films cut at all. And it has always startled me that people will take something as innocent as the Road Runner or Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote and they’ll try to nail down their children’s bad behavior on these poor things… anybody who would try to suggest that a child would try imitate the coyote must not understand children. Children are not about to go and imitate failure… throw themselves off a cliff, for God’s sake,” remarks the late Chuck Jones, creator of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, in a 1983 TV Guide article about the censored Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I'm no Maxie or Old Maid, but the teacher liked my writing style. :D
And yes...many, many thanks to the staff of Toon Zone, especially Jon Cooke and the World's Finest team! :)

[DerekPowers]

a few years ago for my drawing class we had to do a drawing of an obsession of ours. So i got a huge illustration board and divided it up into lots of squares and drew a different character from eiter batman or superman in each square.

by the time i was done i had atleast 40 characters. it was lots of fun and everyone loved it. peace.

[Bud 'n Lou]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
So, BudnLou, if you ever redo that picture, post it up!
-Tim

;-Y

I'll do that! In fact, you've inspired me to start working on it now. :0)

[GothamGirl]

For my English class we have journals. And lord knows I have a million ideas that need to get down on paper but I think to much about what I'm writing and they never get done.

[murmur]

Very well written NightFlower. Just FYI, look up the translation for the Yiddish word "putz." I would translate here, but this is a PG board. I still agree that it's a dumb edit, because very few kids know what it means, but I do know why they changed it.

[DR. BELCH]

Once in a h.s. class some...well, putz, for lack of a better word...didn't know what a reservoir was. I said it was a large man-made body of reserve water in a city, in which villains are forever trying to dump poisons and whatnot into "like on Batman". Someone in the back of the class duhs, "You mean like The Penguin?" It was Scarecrow, to be precise, but I really didn't feel like calling them on technicalitie that morning. I should be pleased most of my classmates could add two and two without removing thier shoes.... :rolleyes:

[Mike Spiegel]

Originally posted by murmur
Very well written NightFlower. Just FYI, look up the translation for the Yiddish word "putz." I would translate here, but this is a PG board. I still agree that it's a dumb edit, because very few kids know what it means, but I do know why they changed it.

You know, after finding out the meaning of the word I was a little shocked, but I was even more shocked when I found out that Yutz is a curse word as well. Why would they replace one curse word with another?

[Joe Wagner]

Originally posted by DisneyBoy
I think I considered using Batsy once or twice, but I always veered away. Why?

For one thing, comics characters are never really a cause for serious debate and, therefore, aren't taken seriously, at least in my experience, in the world of academics. I think that if I had written a paper or speech and began by saying the words "Batman", I would have lost my credibility, to say nothing of the audience or teacher's respect and attention. Comics are meant for leasure, not expository essays (again, in my experience). As for drama class, the teacher (wisely) gave us a list of monolgues to choose from. I commend you all for bravely finding ways to incorporate your vast knowledge of Batman into your academic live, but so far, I've found no opportunity or appropriate venue for it.

I know this seems to be the consensus a lot of times so I've actually made it one of my goals to help educate people about the educational values of comics. So far I have given one speech and also written one term paper on this very topic (both for different classes). The view I have given is that by looking at comics you get a look into the view of the world at any given time because they reflect the views of society at the point of publishing date. A couple of examples occurred right around World War II - one of these was the cover of a Superman issue that says "Slap a Jap, Buy a War Bond!" and occurred shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Another example occurred in an early issue of a Marvel comic (title escapes me right at the moment) and dealt with the issue of Namor attacking NYC and flooding the entire city. The people ran for the hills so to speak and at the end of the issue returned to their homes, able to go on. This occurred at a time of heightened tensions about a nuclear bomb going off in NYC and showed the resiliance of New Yorkers and also helped them realized that even if something happened they were strong enough to go on and continue.

Also in one of my English Lit classes we read Maus (great book - if you haven't read it please do so) and I tried to convince him to put Dark Knight Returns on the selection (to little avail though). I also wrote my entrance exam essay on Spider-Man and the theme of "Great Power and Great Responsibility" and it landed me in the highest writing class they offered :D

Next time you think about doing a report on comics DisneyBoy let me know and I'll do my best to help you educate your class and show them that comics aren't just for kids.

-Joe!

[TimTwoFace]

Another argument I use is the comparison between comic books and Greek myths. Both are legends that the populace created as a form of entertainment, they are truly regarded as "higher beings" by some, they represent the ever-lasting battle between good and evil, and all that.

Don't let people insult comic books! They're just uneducated!

-Tim

[Joe Wagner]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
Another argument I use is the comparison between comic books and Greek myths. Both are legends that the populace created as a form of entertainment, they are truly regarded as "higher beings" by some, they represent the ever-lasting battle between good and evil, and all that.

Don't let people insult comic books! They're just uneducated!

-Tim

I've read arguements similair to this to - mainly because comics are adapted to different cultures but help to teach morals and unite people from similair and different backgrounds.

I think the funniest story that I remember about comics was reading an article about I guy who's teacher believed that they would rot his brain. In class he was reading an issue of the Incredible Hulk and she threatened to take it away from him - claiming it had no educational value. As she reached for it he pointed out a couple of scientific terms and let her read a couple of pages. She quickly handed it back to him, gave her approval of the educational value of the comic and went on her way. I could only imagine the look of shock on her face :D

-Joe!

[Stardust]

I did a research project on violence and japanese animation and used a few screen shots from BB. I liked the project, but my advisor (who loves japanime) sorta veered my idea towards something else, so i lost interest in completing my project. I still got a B in the class, though, but maybe if i could keep my thoughts straight and work with some other sponsor, then maybe...just maybe i could finish it. :)

I don't have a major like Film or Media studies, but it seems to me that a lot of times I can incorporate Batman (or any other comic book characters/animation characters) into my papers or academic work is if the course is a Communications (film and video, media relations, etc) course. (from reading the other posts, it seems the same way too). Like DisneyBoy, I try to keep them away from academics because it might not be taken too seriously by professors...but it's always fun to work on things that you're truly interested in. :p

[Maxie Zeus]

I attended an academic conference once, where I heard a paper delivered about the meaning of "identity statements." I don't want to get into the tedious technical background, but the guy delivering the paper kept using as his examples the sentences "Superman is Superman" and "Superman is Bruce Wayne." (These were puzzling cases, he explained, because "Superman" and "Bruce Wayne" refer to the same object; so how is it that Lois Lane knows that Superman is Superman, but doesn't know that Superman is Bruce Wayne?)

I had the hardest time concentrating on the substance of the paper, because I kept wanting to yell out: "Superman is Clark Kent, you putz! Bruce Wayne is Batman!"

Moral: If you are going to talk about these things in an academic paper, you should at least get your facts straight. :rolleyes:

[murmur]

Originally posted by Spike Spiegel


You know, after finding out the meaning of the word I was a little shocked, but I was even more shocked when I found out that Yutz is a curse word as well. Why would they replace one curse word with another? Actually, yutz is really not. The best definition I've seen so far is "country bumpkin/fool." There is a webpage that showed up early on Google that defines it as an English swear word but it's really not. Putz has a dirtier origin, though it is used in much the same capacity. Actually, there are a gazillion words in Yiddish for fool. Interestingly though, "putz" is suddenly a popular word in this thread. :p

[TimTwoFace]

Originally quoth by Maxie Zeus
I had the hardest time concentrating on the substance of the paper, because I kept wanting to yell out: "Superman is Clark Kent, you putz! Bruce Wayne is Batman!"

Moral: If you are going to talk about these things in an academic paper, you should at least get your facts straight. :rolleyes:

Hah! I love it! And teachers say that us lowly students have to get OUR facts straight...geez. You should've yelled out the truth, anyway, no matter how nerdy you may have appeared. I've also heard a self-proclaimed comic-buff deliver a speech in which he made reference to "Dick Grayson, the second Robin, was killed by the Joker when he was shot through the spine."

Geez. Some people...

I wonder if Shakespeare was mistreated in HIS day, as comics are in ours?

-Tim

[TimTwoFace]

I never realized the word "putz" has a dirty origin...conversely, the F-word's origin is rather clean. Weird.

So, what does it mean, then? I've always considered it just a synonym for "gullable fool", or something like that. Either that, or it's a golf term.

-Tim

[GothamGirl]

People your all going to have to except a fact that I excepted long ago.

You are an intelligent human being who is constantly surrounded by the dumbest people God ever created.

[Revelator]

Originally posted by TimTwoFace
I wonder if Shakespeare was mistreated in HIS day, as comics are in ours?
[/B]

Yes, he was. A few years after he left the business all the theaters in England were closed because the Puritans thought they were dens of vice. But very few people attacked Shakespeare on his literary merit--which is what separates his case from that of comics. While I don't wish to bash Batman or comics, I've yet to read a single comic as good as "Othello" or "King Lear." When it comes to the language involved and the complexity of the characters professors do have somewhat of a point when they insist on the superiority of dramatists like Shakespeare, whose use of language remains far more visually evocative than even the best comic artists--who are basically illustrators anyway. Even something like "Watchmen" or TDKR has less moral complexity or power than "Lear," "Coriolanus" or "Macbeth."
Now on the other hand, when we move to a totally non-literary medium I'd rank the Batman animated series far higher--as adventures they can stand up to the work of the great American directors like Howard Hawks or John Ford--both of whom were once critically underrated as well.

[adoptedBatpuppy]

I wrote a Batman story too, for my ESL class, but I'm not sure teacher liked it. I remmember I got a C for it.

[dark knight acolyte]

College Writing.

Comparison-Contrast Paper.

Batman and Robin.

12 font, single space, 4 pages or 5???

97%

:-)

[TimTwoFace]

Regarding the Shakespeare comments, yes, I knew that the Puritans had it in for him and everyone else even loosely connected to theatre. It's a lot like political correctness today, but I think we've loosened up a bit.

As a side note, why is it that so many people compare Batman to Hamlet? I've seen this done numerous times on the net and I don't see a very GOOD comparison there - aside from having dead parents and seeking vengeance, there's nothing. (I suppose Horatio would be Robin then, huh? I don't buy it.)

Ahhh well - I just had to do a mini-rant. :)

-Tim

[The_NewCatwoman]

Last year for my Physical Science class, our teacher, who's a big Marvel fan, assigned us the task of creating our own comic book characters and giving them powers that had to do with something that we'd learned that semester.

I of course had Bruce and Selina marry and have a daughter named Lila. I had to write about her background, have an example of action, blah blah blah. The ability I gave her was based on the doppler effect, mainly because she was human and didn't have superpowers or anything. I got an 98/100.

[BeastBoyWonder]

hey hey, sorry to bring back an old thread but I recently had to do an asanine "Career Focus Paper" revolving around a career that we are planning on persuing when we grow up. I'm not going to get into attacking the idea of the career paper, because that's not what this thread is about but I just wanted to mention that I sucessfully used the Animated Batman in my academic life. I want to be a psychologist when I grow up, and part of that really does stem from the sympathy targeted towards the villains that the creators of BTAS were able to cultivate from its audience (ex. Two Face, the Ventriloquist, Mr. Freeze). My teacher has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to evaluating writing, but I was able to successfully convey the fact that my interest in psychology began with BTAS. Woohoo!

[Fish]

is this an old thread? oh well - I havn't been here for a while and just wanted to say that for my final project in highschool/college/gymnasuim, I wrote about The Dark Knight Returns....I wrote too much and got an passing grade cuz it was way too long - I just couldn't stop writing -I'd like to re-write it and edit it down and see how much I would get.

<>< F I S H ><>

[TimTwoFace]

A couple of days ago I acted the sequence of THE KILLING JOKE I selected for my acting class, and I think I did quite a good job. When I start in the film school next year, I think Batman will be coming in even more and more...

I find a way to get Batman involved with a lot of my projects - almost to the point of nausea. Hey, I'm the one that somehow managed to get a B with my "Paul Dini Poetry Anthology" in Grade 12, so I must've pulled some pretty lofty strings.

"But Tim, psychos never scare me - at least they're committed."

Damn straight. :)

-Tim