I'm thinking of wearing a name tag now that says "No, I have not seen Batman." And then another name tag beneath that one which says "Why? Because showings have been sold out, the lines have been too long, and its only been out for two weeks." I've been asked whether I've seen Batman by everyone and when I reply that I have not, the tiring interrogation demanding my reasoning for not seeing immediately follows.
People, I get it. It's a great film that has a good balance of the eye candy razzle dazzle (Oooh, a black motorcycle! Explosions!) for the Michael Bay audience, without straying too far from the source material so as not to not piss off the hard-core comic book fans, combined with a compelling and dark performance by the now deceased Heath Ledger in the role of the Joker that pleases the art house crowd and validates the fact that they are watching a movie about one of the most mainstream comic book characters ever while masking their macabre fascination with Ledger's premature death.
Or I can just resort to lying, which doesn't seem too difficult here.
"Hey did you see--?"
"YES. Wow. Heath Ledger. What can I say other than Oscar. i don't mean the hot dog."
And then I can continue and talk about how "dark" it was and how the Joker really fucks with Batman's pysche, and the notion of how Batman, the ultra vigilante--a role the daytime playboy adopts to deal with his continuing childhood trauma over the gangland death of his parent--gives birth ironically to the ultra villain.
Am I right or am I right?
Also, I've noticed that people who have seen this movie fit into two distinct groups. One group simply asks, "Have you seen Batman?" The other and more questionable group says "Have you seen the Dark Knight? I generally respond to the latter group, "Dude, you're a little too close and are invading my personal space."
So, I have not seen Batman, but I did go to the Superheros special exhibit at The Met today and saw the Batman costume that Christian Bale wore in the latest movie. Have you seen that, huh? Huh? Have you?
The show highlighted "the symbolic and metaphorical association" and connection between the fictional world of superheros and its relationship with both fashion and technology. There was some great stuff there including the Iron Man suit (pre-paint job) and the suits from Spider Man. But it was also kind of bullshit because there wasn't a single mention of Aquaman.
Update: I received the following two e-mail messages from my friend DC this morning after he read this entry:
12:00 pm: When I called last night I was at the theatre and it was to ask if Batman...the Dark Knight was really good.
12:01 pm: Ahhh...also I'm a little freaked out because I did not realize the joker was ledger....
Mind you DC is one of the sharpest kids I know.