nondescript said:
Falseprophet said:
Aiddon said:
Also, Batman was originally a far darker protagonist in the Golden Age.
I still don't get why so many people want Batman to be such a dark, serious character when his central concept will always be ridiculous: he's a billionaire who dresses up like a bat so he can punch a clown.
Hallelujah! I thought it was just me.
This is coming from a guy who was 9 when the Tim Burton movie came out and was raised side-by-side with the Adam West series and Animated Series and love it all. (Though I no longer care much for the Tim Burton films for two reasons I might share later)
There are two reasons why they (and me mostly) want dark and serious for Batman.
1. Because Batman, and superheroes in general are modern mythology. In myths, heroes were godlike and serious, they had their silly stories too but they were protectors and warriors without peer. When you have Robin going "Holy Rusted Metal, Batman" or apply a campy standpoint to any of it, it loses its "godlike" mythos and becomes a issue of ridicule. When Batman is torn down to just the ridiculous it reminds us how stupid it is to be "obsessed" with it. They stop being modern mythology and instead become something "not-smart" and only for "losers" who wish they were good at sports.
2. We don't want to be grown adults who are virtually worshiping childish things. Its the same logic of Bronies talking about the hidden adult themes of MLP:FiM. Or talking about Gaming being Art. Or Anime being "so much more mature" than western cartoons. As much as I am not a religious person I do still see the logic of "Corinithians 13:11" run rampant in Western Society. I'm 32 this year, I don't want to be viewed as childish.
To put it a different way, torn down to his most -superficial- he is a guy in a bat-suit punching a clown. At his central concept, tear away the bat suit and the super-hero nonsense. He's a guy who lost his parents violently, grew up and decided... he didn't want anyone else to have to go through that when -he- could do something about it.
He (and most super-heroes) are our inner voice telling us we can do more than what we are doing. Thus, since the world we live in has the theme of dark and serious, we want dark and serious. We want the hero to fit the time period. Because he is our avatar in stories where we do more than worry about "First World Problems."