Nonfiction

Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman

Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-04-25 13:54:04
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Will Brooker
  • ISBN：1848852800
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Summary

Publishing on the eve of the world premiere of the third of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies， The Dark Knight Rises in July 2012， Will Brooker’s new book explores Batman’s twenty-first century incarnations。
 
Will Brooker’s in depth investigation into Batman Begins and The Dark Knight uncovers the complex relationship between popular films， audiences， and producers in our age of media  convergence。 He addresses a myriad of questions raised by these films: did Batman Begins end when The Dark Knight began？ Does its story include Burger King’s “Dark Whopper，” the Gotham Knight DVD， or the “Why So Serious” viral marketing campaign？ Is it separate from the parallel narratives of the Arkham Asylum videogame， the monthly comic books， the animated series and the graphic novels？ Can the brightly campy incarnations of the Batman ever be fully repressed by The Dark Knight， or are they an intrinsic part of the character？ In other words， do all of these various manifestations feed into a single Batman metanarrative？

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Reviews

Nick Jamilla ，

So how does one who is not trained in deconstructionism write a review of Will Brooker's book "Hunting the Dark Knight"？Right off， it's important to state that this book is not for the casual reader。 To best understand it， a university education in literary analysis and a thorough knowledge of the Batman comics all the way from the 1930's would help。I don't have either of those， but that didn't stop me from reading Brooker's fascinating book。 It gets into ideas such as authorship， fidelity， para So how does one who is not trained in deconstructionism write a review of Will Brooker's book "Hunting the Dark Knight"？Right off， it's important to state that this book is not for the casual reader。 To best understand it， a university education in literary analysis and a thorough knowledge of the Batman comics all the way from the 1930's would help。I don't have either of those， but that didn't stop me from reading Brooker's fascinating book。 It gets into ideas such as authorship， fidelity， paratexts， and intertextuality， among other literary tools to examine who Batman is， and who he isn't。Two things struck me as I was reading the book。 First， Brooker uses modern tools in examining Batman because he is a modern， pop culture subject。 Instead of a scholastic approach wherein one might sight other authoritative writers to prove a personal argument， Brooker looks at information in the modern world。 He cites message board discussions， reviews on Amazon。com （like this one）， and movie review in magazines， newspapers， and websites。 It's a world where Brooker looks at ordinary people who participate in the Batman phenomenon by contributing their personally varying degrees of interest， knowledge， and expertise to the critique of Batman。Second， I was struck by how loose the concept of Batman is in spite of corporations or directors trying to define Batman in their own way。 Especially in the sections on adaptation of the Batman character， I thought that things like continuity， canon， reboots， and branding worked to keep a tight reign on who the Batman character is。 Not true！ And here's an example。You know Bat-girl？ Well， she was created to heterosexualize Batman because a 1954 book entitled Seduction of the Innocent asserted Batman and Robin was code for gay。 But then the 1960's TV show undermined her by showing a campy Batman。 Later， again， in the 1990's， Schumacher's two Batman films further reinforced that gay camp with nippled costumes and prominent codpieces。 So what is the new Batman？ A mean， masculine Batman who reflects a post 9/11 world where issues of terrorism reflect the public's mood。But is that it？ A dark Batman without a Robin？Well， that's not what Brooker asserts， as Batman is continually evolving， as he always has since his creation more than 70 years ago。So how does this review help a person decide to buy the book （or not）？ Check out a sample of the book before you buy。 If the first 10 pages don't make sense to you， then it won't be any easier to finish the rest of the book。 The more you know about Batman lore and history， the more you'll get out of this book， as it is not a primer in any way。If you take Batman seriously in any serious or academic fashion， then you MUST buy this book。 You'll particularly be intrigued by the Pharmakon analogy that breaks down the two-part/opposite approach where word meaning can create a gray area in the literary analysis of Batman。 I won't even begin to try to explain this， but it is a fascinating read that leads to a discussion on the Bush policy on terrorism。（Originally posted on Amazon。com） 。。。more

John Carter McKnight ，

Very good academic book on Batman in the age of the Nolan movies and Grant Morrison comics。

Scott Weatherly ，

An interesting book but a bit too dry。 I learnt a lot from it but think I will go back to my four colour Batman kicking butt。

Brian ，

This book is an interesting philosophical treatise （specifically a post-modern deconstruction using the work of Foucault and Derrida） of Batman as a cultural icon and modern myth。 The author also uses journalistic and literary theory to support his premise that Batman is multifaceted， not subject to only one interpretation。 The author posits that Batman is， like many other cultural icons， a reflection of and a device to explain the current socio-political climate regardless of the era。 In fact， This book is an interesting philosophical treatise （specifically a post-modern deconstruction using the work of Foucault and Derrida） of Batman as a cultural icon and modern myth。 The author also uses journalistic and literary theory to support his premise that Batman is multifaceted， not subject to only one interpretation。 The author posits that Batman is， like many other cultural icons， a reflection of and a device to explain the current socio-political climate regardless of the era。 In fact， the author's conclusion is that Batman is whatever the reader wants him to be。 It is the reader who choses the stories that they find important， inevitably creating THEIR Batman。 Readers who are not familiar with Foucault or Derrida's work may find a lot of this book too academic。 The reader will find no comfort or understanding in the author's explanations of the more abstract concepts he uses from these philosophers。 Even those who ARE familiar with the referenced material struggle to comprehend。 However， this is not the fault of the author， rather the difficulty in understanding the theoretical perceptions of Foucault and Derrida。 The book really shines in its use of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy as the cultural product that represents the current era of Batman。 Given the book's publishing date， the author focuses more on "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight"， than "The Dark Knight Rises" which is disappointing。 But the author's use of the trilogy as a example of the multiple interpretations and influences of Batman creating a composite image of Batman that is identified by the public and uber-fans alike as THE definitive Batman for all time。 I would recommended this book for all of my fellow Academic Batman fans。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0