If someone brings up the 1966 Batman TV show in conversation, they probably used the word "campy".
It might as well be the show's official adjective.
And boy, is it ever campy.
* sound effects and music *
* singing * Batman!
* singing * Batman!
* singing * Batman!
* singing * Batman!
* singing * Batman, Batman, Batman!
The Joker: No! Never again will that ghastly girdle(?) thwart my plans! For I, the clown prince of crime, have found the answer to it!
Woman: What is it, Joker?
The Joker: My own utility belt! * laughter * Woman: Gee! Terrific!
Hand me down the shark repellent bat-spray!
However, shark repellent bat-spray aside, why is it so campy?
That's a great question, I'm glad I asked.
Hey you fancy nerds, I'm Jay and this is "A Quick Take".
It's a new three to seven minute video format where I break down one interesting question.
Of course that means we don't have a lot of time so, let's get started.
Batman first debuted in Detective Comics #27 in 1939 and he was anything but campy.
Bob Kane and Bill Finger created the character, although Finger would not get the proper recognition
he deserved until after his death.
Back in the totally boss year of 1954, the Comics Code Authority was created to regulate
the types of stories, language and themes allowed in comics.
Soon, the days of violence, gore and sexual innuendo were over, but we live in the future
and we all know this didn't last forever.
Psychologist Fredric Wertham's 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent took aim at Batman, among
many other titles.
Wertham claimed that children imitated crimes committed in comic books and that comics had
corrupted the morals of the defenseless youth.
He accused Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson of being lovers and claimed that the book had
homosexual overtones - something most of us have come to realize is perfectly natural
these days, but I digress.
As a result, Batman changed.
Gone were the days of bat-violence and in came a new era of silly, campy fun.
Golden Age Batman often caused serious harm to criminals, would occasionally use a gun
and even killed a few villians in his time.
Some of this change came from a natural progression in the super- hero archetype.
For example, rumor has it that this panel in Batman #1 resulted in a new rule that Batman
could not directly kill anyone.
This was in 1940, pretty early on in the golden age of comics.
However, the tone and themes of the comics themselves shifted as a direct result of the
comics code and by late 1956 (just two years after the introduction of the CCA) the silver
age of comics began with DC Comics' Showcase #4 and a brand new Flash named Barry Allen.
Often called Batman '66 and rebranded as Batman: Classic TV Series in 2013, the show
that debuted in 1966 was simply called Batman.
It was a thirty-minute prime time, live action TV series that ran until 1968 and was still
in reruns when I was a child in the 1980s.
William Dozier was both the producer of the series and the iconic narrator that began and ended each episode.
Narrator: Have the sands of
time run out for the boy wonder?
So, novelist Eric Ambler was hired to write a serious script for a Batman TV movie, however,
Dozier, after reading several Batman comics, decided that the show would only work if it
was done as what he called a "pop art" comedy.
Again, this came a decade into the silver age of comics and so the books Dozier picked
up were not the same golden age Batman stories the creators of the 1940's Batman serials
would have read.
Instead, he ended up with the CCA approved silver age Batman.
Honestly, one could see why he had trouble taking the material seriously.
So why was the 1966 Batman TV show so campy?
Well, simply put it was a product of its time.
The comics code had ushered in an era of silly comic stories with less violence and more
child friendly fun.
When the show first aired, the silver age of comics was a decade old and a person buying
a new Batman comic in 1966 would find plenty of silly, campy fun both on the screen and
on the page.
In much the same way, the 1986 limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and the 1989
one shot Batman: The Killing Joke influenced the 1989 film adaption of Batman.
It too was a product of its time, based on the current form of Batman in print at the
time it was conceived.
Ignoring a couple Batman films that were clearly created as extended commercials, this trend continues.
Alfred: Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, Sir? Batman:I'll get drive-thru.
Batman Begins, released in 2005, took some inspiration from 1987's Batman: Year One
as well as 1996's Batman: The Long Halloween and 1989's The Man Who Falls.
Even the 2016 movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was inspired by The Dark Knight
Returns and the 1992 story arc The Death of Superman.
All of these comics have a couple things in common, they were dark, gritty and serious
and they were influential books that did much to define the modern age of comics.
In the same way that the 1966 Batman TV series and feature film were influenced by the silver
age comics of the time, so are our modern big screen representations of Batman influenced
by the modern age of comics.
In short, 1966's Batman was campy because it was made in a time when Batman was campy.
So what age of comics are we in now?
What effect will the comics of today have on movie depictions of Batman tomorrow?
Jump down to the comment section below and let me know what you think.
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Until next time guys, be kind to each other.
I'm Jay Parks.
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