As one show edges ever so close to its conclusion (Arrow), another is just about to begin its journey. To further expand the popular franchise known as the Arrowverse, Greg Berlanti and his team with the help of Caroline Dries this time looked towards one of the latest additions in DC Comics: Kate Kane (a.k.a. Batwoman). The wealthy businesswoman and passionate crime fighter made her first appearance in last year's Elseworlds crossover, portrayed by Australia's own high profile actress and model Ruby Rose. And in just a couple of months from now, her own show will hit television screens in many countries around the globe. Batwoman is Berlanti's greater opportunity in exploring the insanely popular 'Bat' files and seeing what more could be used for DCTV. It is a new hope that not only provides an extra life for the Arrowverse, but too seeks a new audience that lives for anything associated with Gotham City as well as 'The World's Greatest Detective'. However, the upcoming series seems to have gotten off to a rocky start with the people before it has even taken off. I'm here to focus on the issues surrounding DCTV's next leg, give my take on them and perhaps offer a possible solution.
Batwoman has quickly become the latest talk for all the wrong reasons. Everything from the casting choices and acting samples to the entire idea itself, has been flooded with complaints of all sorts. Instead of what should simply be viewed as another experimental step for DC in bringing all works forward with them, the yet-to-air project has been driven into becoming everything but that. I myself, have stumbled across the words of many disgruntled representatives of different communities online. Why Ruby Rose? Why Batwoman? Why even another female superhero some have said. Everything added together, told me that there was no winning here for Berlanti, Dries and the rest of the crew. It was now a matter of turning it all around and earning the respect of viewers in the hardest of ways. There is frustration which I can fathom though, given I too have been able to gather problems from what has been shared so far about the nearing show. It shouldn't really surprise anybody where I found most of these problems coming from.
The official trailer for the new Arrowverse series was released back in May, only to then become something widely controversial. It looked to threaten the show's chances at longevity and success, communicating certain political ideas in what many perceived to be a fairly coercive manner. The most notable of them was surrounding 'Feminism' and girl power, presented in the form of two contentious lines and accompanying music that resulted in nothing but displeasure and ridicule from thousands of viewers. People considered it a step too far, concluding the trailer and possibly the show was an act of desperation from political aficionados working in the American film and television industry. Other members of the audience, were simply offended by the potential disrespect shown towards the popular Batman character. The overall growing consensus though, was there being little care shown for the history of the DC franchise and an overwhelming need for the Batwoman series to delight those of liberal movements.
For the most part, I do find much of the disapproval surrounding Batwoman to be unjustified. A few people seem to immediately go down the lane of looking at these superheroes as being some form of a cheap knock-off. This is especially the case with a small amount of the female characters. Take for instance Batwoman here along with Supergirl. Rather than looking to them as being relatives heavily inspired by their male counterparts to suit up and fight for what's right, many just persist with the idea that the ladies are nothing more than poor carbon copies of DC's signature duo marketed to smaller audiences. The historical significance of both are commonly disregarded. The growing number of appearances they make in DC material, ends up meaning little to nothing. This all comes across as highly disrespectful in my opinion. It spits on the face of all the creators, including the late Otto Binder who did nothing more than help expand and give more detail to the DC universe.
If you ask me, we should be commending the promotion of these characters. We should be giving writers and producers an incentive to bring forth new ideas and shine a light on lesser-known material. I find DC to be well behind in this area, especially when compared to their major rivals in Marvel. While they manage to touch on a bit of everything in their animated works, they appear to have a hard time looking beyond the capes of both the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight when talking live-action. It's an endless search for the ultimate success story. A constant attempt for a box-office smash that can mirror the achievements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The refusal to think outside the box, has general audiences also struggling a little to enjoy something different. Because whenever they are provided with that something different, they are always wanting to see how either one of Batman or Superman tie into the story.
FACT: Between the two live-action Wonder Woman films of 1974 and 2017, there have been seven live-action Batman movies and six live-action Superman movies. Not to mention there was the unsatisfying Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Not one film has been made with any of The Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman (until 2018) or Cyborg outside of Justice League. There was the one Green Lantern move, though it was poorly received by critics and even mocked by the star Ryan Reynolds himself. Meanwhile, Marvel in recent times (despite not settling with any one film studio) would see seven Spider-Man films, twelve X-Men projects including two Deadpool movies, three films with the Fantastic Four, three with Iron Man, three with Captain America, three with Thor, two with The Incredible Hulk, two with the Guardians Of The Galaxy, one with Dr. Strange, one with Daredevil, one with Elektra (despite poor reception), one with Black Panther and one with Captain Marvel. Then you have the super successful Avengers film series. And if that's not enough, they are about to release a Black Widow film in the coming months. Talk about diversity and expansion.
Back to the situation regarding the upcoming Batwoman series and the criticism it is receiving. I too feel a bit of it is shallow. Of course this wouldn't mean much given how the trailer was constructed, but in most cases I sense there is a default position with any modern show led by a female. They are straight away viewed as being unwatchable and incredibly average before they're really given the chance. All the talk is immediately leftist propaganda, Social Justice Warriors and virtue signalling. In times like these, there is a stigma surrounding women whenever they are upfront. They are made to look special, which therefore leaves the idea appearing as if it's something unnatural. Everything as a result, creates an unpleasant imbalance here. This imbalance becomes too significant for anybody to ignore, and it causes the stories which are shared to take a backseat more often than they should. Who's to blame for this you ask? The answer is every single one of us.
Hatred is something we don't ever really want to experience, and rightly so. This is indeed the source of many social issues today and it's also the reason why these social issues escalate into something more out of control. In this case, everybody behind the scenes of Batwoman is feeling the need to combat hatred in a reckless manner. They are taking the words of even smaller groups of bigots and uncaring monsters to heart and are retaliating in ways which gives hatred more of a voice. So their view of representation is possibly inflated. There's a strong chance too much focus will be applied on the character of Kate Kane being a woman and a lesbian instead of being Kate Kane, cousin of Bruce Wayne and Batwoman. And because of this, there will be a stronger presence of disapproval from the public. Audiences will naturally look to this as political correctness shoved in their faces. Rather than a comic-inspired tale, Batwoman will be seen more as another means of a particular group of people preaching bias. All of this is a see-sawing mess that only gets worse with time. So with many things today, representation is always likely be a topic of discussion thanks to both sides. And with this series involving a female steering the ship, the talk of feminism cannot be avoided.
I personally tend to see feminism like most other political campaigns which fight for representation today. It's at a stage now where people's voices have well and truly been heard. The television is flooded with endless support. Laws in many countries have been altered nowadays to favour these supposed "minority groups". It is all one step towards a form of egalitarianism that I do very much approve of. But to me, there is such a thing as taking a step too far. Why are these movements still going like they have made no progress? Why are they making an appearance in every direction one turns? I can't help but get the impression that it's nothing but 'fighting fire with fire'. We're being encouraged to treat the even smaller communities of bigots and misogynists as the entire population. Little do these representatives know that they could be doing more harm than good. They are wanting to show the world that they matter (which they do) and that they stand for virtue, yet they are struggling to demonstrate these values. Long story short, I now come to believe that political movements are not fighting for equality... but rather for supremacy. It's justice put aside in favour of vengeance, with people fighting back against history's series of wrongdoings.
My stance on feminist movements however do not speak for my view of females in general. I absolutely adore women, especially when represented on film and television. As a matter of fact, I actually enjoy female characters more-so than male characters. It's a personal preference that I cannot seem to explain. One could argue it being that they get more attention from the producers, but I just simply sense more colour and energy coming from them. When talking Teen Wolf, I am all over the likes of Kira (Arden Cho), Lydia (Holland Roden) and Malia (Shelley Hennig). If it's Once Upon A Time, I live for the Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) content. With Legion, there was no looking past Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza). You have the awesomeness of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) on DC's Legends of Tomorrow. And the Danvers sisters on Supergirl warm my heart every time I see them together in a scene. There is just something about many fictional women that keep me hanging around. That is not to say I don't like male characters either. Despite my strange tendency to lean towards girls on TV, I see gender as a paltry detail. Same goes with age, race, culture, sexuality and any other general category of identification. They don't (and shouldn't) change my view of any film or TV series, and none of these need to be heavily concentrated on. All characters are dearly welcomed on my screen, so long as they are both vibrant and well-written.
However, we are at a point in time when there's a propensity for overemphasising the brackets of humanity we fall under. It's all about what it means to be gay, or to be black, or to be a woman, etc. This attitude to everything, undoubtedly throws individuality out the window. Our own personalities are unpleasantly twisted into being more alike, which further sees certain ideas and opinions clumped together to make less room for proper thought and innovation. And not only does it shred nearly every detail of own own selves to pieces, but also nearly every detail of the things we create. Our imagination is compressed because of how little we are encouraged to use our minds. This all ties back to Batwoman and how both sides are at fault. Regardless of whether we are lovers, haters, writers, critics or anything else for that matter, we are all forwarding this systematic approach. It is one that abuses art and generalises almost every opinion. Our ideas as a result of this, are more often than not scrutinised in ways that can seem reasonably unfair.
So how do the crew fix this show to ensure it avoids looking like the contentious trailer? Well I pretty much hinted it in the previous paragraph. Batwoman isn't just a name; it is a compound word. You have the word 'bat', and the word 'woman'. Now which of these two words is more descriptive of the character? The answer here is obvious, and it is too the answer to the problem. Kate Kane is a member of the 'Bat' family. The 'Bat' family is a family of separate personalities, but all share a similar purpose. They fight with similar techniques. They do as the bat does, coming out in the dark of night. They serve justice with no powers and lots of gadgets. 'Bat' in DC Comics, is like the code of a region. It is like the heart of every living creature. It's the ultimate twist of reality. That's how important it is. The 'Bat' in Batwoman gives the show life and is the doorway to both art and imagination. 'Woman' on the other hand, just signifies that she is a woman and nothing else. The problem here is that the crew are attending to the 'woman' part too much, and at the expense of the 'Bat' part. There really isn't any need for this.
Ideally, no part of the name 'Batwoman' should be more important. But reasons show why the 'Bat' part comes first, and it isn't the fact that it sounds better. 'There is no need for Kate Kane to focus on being a woman because we already know she is a woman. There is no one way to be a woman, as women come in many shapes and sizes with different looks and personalities (and it is exactly the same with men). There is only one way however to be a 'Bat'. She needs to show she can fight and successfully cover for the absence of the Caped Crusader. She needs to take on the hero's journey and prove to everybody she is serious about it. Most importantly, she has to go in hard and come out of the series having made herself a strong and worthy member of the 'Bat' family. Wear the ideal costume and use the ideal weapons. Convince people she is most certainly a relative of Bruce Wayne, without coming off as a copy of Bruce Wayne. If Kate Kane were real and right in front of me, I wouldn't just tell her to embrace every bit of who she is. I'd be telling her to 'Be the Bat!'.
A lot of the discussion about this new series and how people look to it, will extend beyond the four walls. I am practically proof, having needed to deviate off course a couple of times. But I am wanting us all to evade reality's touch and truly dive into the waters of Batwoman as well as her place in the DC universe. I am wanting us all to be treating her like we do with most other superheroes. Sure we don't all have to like her. However, we should at least see her being nothing more than a fictional character there to try and entertain us at any time. The trailer I will admit definitely did step towards absurdity with the unnecessary force-feeding and glamourising of modern day womanhood. But I won't allow it to speak for the whole show. After all, one of my favourite sayings is 'don't judge a book by it's cover'. I'll be giving it a shot, and I urge you all to do the same. If it's not for us, we can stop at any time. But let's at least try to look past the fact she is a female and see her for who she really is. There is every chance we will enjoy Batwoman more if we treat it as a work of fiction.
Travis "TJ" James
Batwoman has quickly become the latest talk for all the wrong reasons. Everything from the casting choices and acting samples to the entire idea itself, has been flooded with complaints of all sorts. Instead of what should simply be viewed as another experimental step for DC in bringing all works forward with them, the yet-to-air project has been driven into becoming everything but that. I myself, have stumbled across the words of many disgruntled representatives of different communities online. Why Ruby Rose? Why Batwoman? Why even another female superhero some have said. Everything added together, told me that there was no winning here for Berlanti, Dries and the rest of the crew. It was now a matter of turning it all around and earning the respect of viewers in the hardest of ways. There is frustration which I can fathom though, given I too have been able to gather problems from what has been shared so far about the nearing show. It shouldn't really surprise anybody where I found most of these problems coming from.
The official trailer for the new Arrowverse series was released back in May, only to then become something widely controversial. It looked to threaten the show's chances at longevity and success, communicating certain political ideas in what many perceived to be a fairly coercive manner. The most notable of them was surrounding 'Feminism' and girl power, presented in the form of two contentious lines and accompanying music that resulted in nothing but displeasure and ridicule from thousands of viewers. People considered it a step too far, concluding the trailer and possibly the show was an act of desperation from political aficionados working in the American film and television industry. Other members of the audience, were simply offended by the potential disrespect shown towards the popular Batman character. The overall growing consensus though, was there being little care shown for the history of the DC franchise and an overwhelming need for the Batwoman series to delight those of liberal movements.
For the most part, I do find much of the disapproval surrounding Batwoman to be unjustified. A few people seem to immediately go down the lane of looking at these superheroes as being some form of a cheap knock-off. This is especially the case with a small amount of the female characters. Take for instance Batwoman here along with Supergirl. Rather than looking to them as being relatives heavily inspired by their male counterparts to suit up and fight for what's right, many just persist with the idea that the ladies are nothing more than poor carbon copies of DC's signature duo marketed to smaller audiences. The historical significance of both are commonly disregarded. The growing number of appearances they make in DC material, ends up meaning little to nothing. This all comes across as highly disrespectful in my opinion. It spits on the face of all the creators, including the late Otto Binder who did nothing more than help expand and give more detail to the DC universe.
If you ask me, we should be commending the promotion of these characters. We should be giving writers and producers an incentive to bring forth new ideas and shine a light on lesser-known material. I find DC to be well behind in this area, especially when compared to their major rivals in Marvel. While they manage to touch on a bit of everything in their animated works, they appear to have a hard time looking beyond the capes of both the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight when talking live-action. It's an endless search for the ultimate success story. A constant attempt for a box-office smash that can mirror the achievements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The refusal to think outside the box, has general audiences also struggling a little to enjoy something different. Because whenever they are provided with that something different, they are always wanting to see how either one of Batman or Superman tie into the story.
FACT: Between the two live-action Wonder Woman films of 1974 and 2017, there have been seven live-action Batman movies and six live-action Superman movies. Not to mention there was the unsatisfying Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Not one film has been made with any of The Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman (until 2018) or Cyborg outside of Justice League. There was the one Green Lantern move, though it was poorly received by critics and even mocked by the star Ryan Reynolds himself. Meanwhile, Marvel in recent times (despite not settling with any one film studio) would see seven Spider-Man films, twelve X-Men projects including two Deadpool movies, three films with the Fantastic Four, three with Iron Man, three with Captain America, three with Thor, two with The Incredible Hulk, two with the Guardians Of The Galaxy, one with Dr. Strange, one with Daredevil, one with Elektra (despite poor reception), one with Black Panther and one with Captain Marvel. Then you have the super successful Avengers film series. And if that's not enough, they are about to release a Black Widow film in the coming months. Talk about diversity and expansion.
Back to the situation regarding the upcoming Batwoman series and the criticism it is receiving. I too feel a bit of it is shallow. Of course this wouldn't mean much given how the trailer was constructed, but in most cases I sense there is a default position with any modern show led by a female. They are straight away viewed as being unwatchable and incredibly average before they're really given the chance. All the talk is immediately leftist propaganda, Social Justice Warriors and virtue signalling. In times like these, there is a stigma surrounding women whenever they are upfront. They are made to look special, which therefore leaves the idea appearing as if it's something unnatural. Everything as a result, creates an unpleasant imbalance here. This imbalance becomes too significant for anybody to ignore, and it causes the stories which are shared to take a backseat more often than they should. Who's to blame for this you ask? The answer is every single one of us.
Hatred is something we don't ever really want to experience, and rightly so. This is indeed the source of many social issues today and it's also the reason why these social issues escalate into something more out of control. In this case, everybody behind the scenes of Batwoman is feeling the need to combat hatred in a reckless manner. They are taking the words of even smaller groups of bigots and uncaring monsters to heart and are retaliating in ways which gives hatred more of a voice. So their view of representation is possibly inflated. There's a strong chance too much focus will be applied on the character of Kate Kane being a woman and a lesbian instead of being Kate Kane, cousin of Bruce Wayne and Batwoman. And because of this, there will be a stronger presence of disapproval from the public. Audiences will naturally look to this as political correctness shoved in their faces. Rather than a comic-inspired tale, Batwoman will be seen more as another means of a particular group of people preaching bias. All of this is a see-sawing mess that only gets worse with time. So with many things today, representation is always likely be a topic of discussion thanks to both sides. And with this series involving a female steering the ship, the talk of feminism cannot be avoided.
I personally tend to see feminism like most other political campaigns which fight for representation today. It's at a stage now where people's voices have well and truly been heard. The television is flooded with endless support. Laws in many countries have been altered nowadays to favour these supposed "minority groups". It is all one step towards a form of egalitarianism that I do very much approve of. But to me, there is such a thing as taking a step too far. Why are these movements still going like they have made no progress? Why are they making an appearance in every direction one turns? I can't help but get the impression that it's nothing but 'fighting fire with fire'. We're being encouraged to treat the even smaller communities of bigots and misogynists as the entire population. Little do these representatives know that they could be doing more harm than good. They are wanting to show the world that they matter (which they do) and that they stand for virtue, yet they are struggling to demonstrate these values. Long story short, I now come to believe that political movements are not fighting for equality... but rather for supremacy. It's justice put aside in favour of vengeance, with people fighting back against history's series of wrongdoings.
My stance on feminist movements however do not speak for my view of females in general. I absolutely adore women, especially when represented on film and television. As a matter of fact, I actually enjoy female characters more-so than male characters. It's a personal preference that I cannot seem to explain. One could argue it being that they get more attention from the producers, but I just simply sense more colour and energy coming from them. When talking Teen Wolf, I am all over the likes of Kira (Arden Cho), Lydia (Holland Roden) and Malia (Shelley Hennig). If it's Once Upon A Time, I live for the Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) content. With Legion, there was no looking past Lenny Busker (Aubrey Plaza). You have the awesomeness of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) on DC's Legends of Tomorrow. And the Danvers sisters on Supergirl warm my heart every time I see them together in a scene. There is just something about many fictional women that keep me hanging around. That is not to say I don't like male characters either. Despite my strange tendency to lean towards girls on TV, I see gender as a paltry detail. Same goes with age, race, culture, sexuality and any other general category of identification. They don't (and shouldn't) change my view of any film or TV series, and none of these need to be heavily concentrated on. All characters are dearly welcomed on my screen, so long as they are both vibrant and well-written.
However, we are at a point in time when there's a propensity for overemphasising the brackets of humanity we fall under. It's all about what it means to be gay, or to be black, or to be a woman, etc. This attitude to everything, undoubtedly throws individuality out the window. Our own personalities are unpleasantly twisted into being more alike, which further sees certain ideas and opinions clumped together to make less room for proper thought and innovation. And not only does it shred nearly every detail of own own selves to pieces, but also nearly every detail of the things we create. Our imagination is compressed because of how little we are encouraged to use our minds. This all ties back to Batwoman and how both sides are at fault. Regardless of whether we are lovers, haters, writers, critics or anything else for that matter, we are all forwarding this systematic approach. It is one that abuses art and generalises almost every opinion. Our ideas as a result of this, are more often than not scrutinised in ways that can seem reasonably unfair.
So how do the crew fix this show to ensure it avoids looking like the contentious trailer? Well I pretty much hinted it in the previous paragraph. Batwoman isn't just a name; it is a compound word. You have the word 'bat', and the word 'woman'. Now which of these two words is more descriptive of the character? The answer here is obvious, and it is too the answer to the problem. Kate Kane is a member of the 'Bat' family. The 'Bat' family is a family of separate personalities, but all share a similar purpose. They fight with similar techniques. They do as the bat does, coming out in the dark of night. They serve justice with no powers and lots of gadgets. 'Bat' in DC Comics, is like the code of a region. It is like the heart of every living creature. It's the ultimate twist of reality. That's how important it is. The 'Bat' in Batwoman gives the show life and is the doorway to both art and imagination. 'Woman' on the other hand, just signifies that she is a woman and nothing else. The problem here is that the crew are attending to the 'woman' part too much, and at the expense of the 'Bat' part. There really isn't any need for this.
Ideally, no part of the name 'Batwoman' should be more important. But reasons show why the 'Bat' part comes first, and it isn't the fact that it sounds better. 'There is no need for Kate Kane to focus on being a woman because we already know she is a woman. There is no one way to be a woman, as women come in many shapes and sizes with different looks and personalities (and it is exactly the same with men). There is only one way however to be a 'Bat'. She needs to show she can fight and successfully cover for the absence of the Caped Crusader. She needs to take on the hero's journey and prove to everybody she is serious about it. Most importantly, she has to go in hard and come out of the series having made herself a strong and worthy member of the 'Bat' family. Wear the ideal costume and use the ideal weapons. Convince people she is most certainly a relative of Bruce Wayne, without coming off as a copy of Bruce Wayne. If Kate Kane were real and right in front of me, I wouldn't just tell her to embrace every bit of who she is. I'd be telling her to 'Be the Bat!'.
A lot of the discussion about this new series and how people look to it, will extend beyond the four walls. I am practically proof, having needed to deviate off course a couple of times. But I am wanting us all to evade reality's touch and truly dive into the waters of Batwoman as well as her place in the DC universe. I am wanting us all to be treating her like we do with most other superheroes. Sure we don't all have to like her. However, we should at least see her being nothing more than a fictional character there to try and entertain us at any time. The trailer I will admit definitely did step towards absurdity with the unnecessary force-feeding and glamourising of modern day womanhood. But I won't allow it to speak for the whole show. After all, one of my favourite sayings is 'don't judge a book by it's cover'. I'll be giving it a shot, and I urge you all to do the same. If it's not for us, we can stop at any time. But let's at least try to look past the fact she is a female and see her for who she really is. There is every chance we will enjoy Batwoman more if we treat it as a work of fiction.
Travis "TJ" James
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