Reisz Batman

Batman and The Joker

      Tim Burton practices film noir to create a unique mood throughout his version of Batman. A major element of film noir is the use of stark dark angular shadows mixed with an off-balance feel of the world. Burton’s set embodied this darkness with shadows in almost every frame and a 2-D comic book feel that created an off-balance feel for Gotham City.  Urban modernity is another key element of film noir, which is seen through Gotham city’s filth, industrialization, and heavy population. This urban element aided the dark and detached feel of the city that rubbed off on many of the characters. The urban modernity helped explain why the characters thought and behaved in the dark ways that they did. Burton himself despised suburbs and cities that looked all the same, like Gotham City. He believed that they cut people off from expressing themselves and promoted categorization. Gotham City's dark limitations clearly rubbed off on its citizens as many have become corrupt and backhanded figures.

Another revolutionary element of film noir that is especially prominent in Burton’s film was the depiction of femme fatales characters. The femme fatales characters use their powers of seductive in attempts to attain greater supremacy in society. Vicki Vale embodies this seductive siren role as she is first seen as a pair of long legs in heels. Knox is immediately drawn in as she continues seducing him in order to attain assistance in her quest for the Batman. She then continues to do a similar act with Wayne until she actually begins to fall in love with him. This shift in her motives is a common element in film noir in which the femme fatales becomes domesticated in society.

Other elements of this new seductive woman are portrayed in Jack’s mistress. This plays off of the original reason for the femme fatales characters which was the fear of men during World War II that their wives would cheat on them while they were away at war. Other small details Burton adds to the film that farther promote this include the portraits of harlot women that hang in the gangsters’ rooms and the tight low-cut dresses that many of the women wore. This picture of a woman was something forbidden and scandalous, which adds to Burton’s dark mood and corruption that shocked many viewers.

While many of these film noir techniques enhance the mood of the film, I think that it makes Burton stray from his traditional opinions and his film characteristics. Burton himself said that he felt the most emotionally detached from this film because of the creative restrictions that came with the scripts preproduction and constant changing. While I think that Batman and the Joker prove that people are complex individuals, the overall Manichean worldview of the characters and narrow categorization of women that film noir presents goes against Burton’s usual beliefs. Normally straying from stereotypical archetypes, Burton does fall more in line with it through his depiction of femme fatales women and quick idiotic romances. However, while many of the women are objectified, Burton is also presenting a type of woman that strays from society’s ‘norm.’ 

Reisz Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

     Death is one of the few areas that, like many Americans, I have yet to fully come to terms with. This fear of death, however, is routed in more than the actual act of dying but in the fear of never accomplishing all that I want in life and the unknown that will follow. I believe that this fear has been embedded into the “American Dream” and, therefore, into the American way of life. We live in a fast-paced society that leaves little room to contemplate the inevitable reality of death. However, if Americans actually had the time to reflect on their life, they may not be too content with the structure that has been created for them.

            Beetlejuice explores this exact concept as Americans and many other societies assume that after death, your worries will dissipate. They ignore death because of its looming mystery and, instead, focus on getting everything that they “have to do” done with in life, despite not necessarily enjoying it. Beetlejuice takes the assumed concept of death being the end and flips it to make death a parody of life where a bureaucratic society remains and your problems do not go away. The tedious tasks of life simply continue in the after life, which makes death seem to be a continuation of life instead of an ending. This creates a denial of what death represents to many and poses harsh questions towards viewers about their own life.

            In order to get ahead and accomplish our goals in life, we believe that we must obey the greater authorities and complete tedious functions of society. Americans especially deny death because of their focus on attaining this “American Dream” and functioning in a capitalist society. In “Beetlejuice,” the goals of the living and the dead juxtapose one another, despite both resembling a bureaucracy. The living Deetzes’ are constantly searching for a way to monopolize and increase their wealth. While living the Maitlands, although less drastically, enjoyed controlling their little model of the town and took pride in their idyllic home; however, they immediately changed their priorities in the afterlife. Things that made one deny death and focus only on getting ahead in life became irrelevant when death became an extension of life. Overall, “Beetlejuice” denied death by making it a continuation of bureaucratic life but commented on our denial of death and questioned our priorities in life.

Reisz: Introduction

Leanne Reisz

            My name is Leanne Reisz and I am a freshman at Loyola University New Orleans with a major in Mass Communications. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, I had never visited New Orleans before beginning college here, which forged a tangled mixture of nervousness and excitement. However, after a couple of weeks, I soon adapted to both the city and the school. In high school, I played five sports all four years-- field hockey, basketball, track & field, cross-country, and swimming. I also performed as a lawyer and witness on the Mock Trial team, which is a competition that simulates actual law cases with a prosecution and defense in front of a circuit judge and jury. My passion, however, has always been theater and I hope to pursue it at Loyola in the future. My favorite productions that I participated in were Pygmalion, The Crucible, and Crimes of the Heart. One of the many traditions that our cast adopted before productions was to sing and interpretive dance with Disney’s Mulan song, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” This odd tradition began my freshman year and has continued in the Theater of Louisville Collegiate High School ever since.

            Another one of my favorite hobbies consists of shooting and editing film. Last year, I created a documentary educating people on our city’s local initiative, “Keep Louisville Weird,” and promoting local business. This consisted of interviewing local business owners and consumers around the city. The video was later displayed on the Louisville Independent Business Association’s website. Another project that I truly enjoyed last year was a promotional video for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, in which I interviewed patients about the facts of the disease and its impact on their lives. This project became very special to me as I have immediate family who struggle with the disease. The video acted as a platform for the non-profit organization and a comfort for many patients.

            Overall, I love to always be active in everything.  From theater and mock trial to film and music, I thoroughly enjoy creating new things and examining others’ art forms. I chose Mass Communications for its always changing nature that will keep one on their toes on the job. I also enjoy its focus in film, writing, and people. I am excited to begin analyzing Tim Burton’s work this semester and enjoying his art as a storyteller.