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Batman
Movie

Batman

1989 • Action, Adventure

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

Gotham City. Crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance) effectively runs the town but there's a new crime fighter in town - Batman (Michael Keaton). Grissom's right-hand man is Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson), a brutal man who is not entirely sane... After falling out between the two Grissom has Napier set up with the Police and Napier falls to his apparent death in a vat of chemicals. However, he soon reappears as The Joker and starts a reign of terror in Gotham City. Meanwhile, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) is in the city to do an article on Batman. She soon starts a relationship with Batman's everyday persona, billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Overall Series Review

Tim Burton's 1989 'Batman' is a quintessential 80s blockbuster that prioritizes a Gothic aesthetic and character drama over social or political commentary. The narrative centers on the psychological conflict between the traumatized vigilante Batman and the nihilistic, chaotic villain The Joker. The film portrays a city, Gotham, that is fundamentally corrupt, relying on an elite figure (Bruce Wayne) to impose order where the democratic institutions have failed. The story is a straightforward struggle of good versus pure evil, establishing clear moral lines despite the hero's unconventional methods. The female lead, Vicki Vale, is a career-focused photojournalist, but her primary function in the plot is as a damsel and the romantic object of conflict between the two male titans, limiting her agency. The core themes are universal: trauma, morality, and the nature of madness, with a notable absence of identity-based conflict or progressive social ideology.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

Characters are defined by personal trauma, moral code, and professional roles (billionaire, criminal, reporter), not by intersectional hierarchy or immutable characteristics. The central conflict is between three white individuals, and the narrative does not lecture on privilege or vilify 'whiteness.' Casting is colorblind within the confines of the source material's traditionally white major characters, adhering to a universal meritocracy of action and morality.

Oikophobia4/10

The film does not attack Western ancestors or civilization outright but does depict the Western institution of Gotham's municipal government and police force as deeply corrupt and ineffectual. A private individual, Batman, is required to operate outside the established system to fight chaos. This critique of the existing civic structure elevates the score slightly, though the goal remains to *save* the city and restore order, not to demonize the foundational values themselves.

Feminism5/10

Vicki Vale is an independent, career-focused photojournalist, suggesting competence. However, her main plot function is as the love interest and object of obsession for both Batman and The Joker, consistently requiring rescue and lacking significant narrative agency or self-salvation. This portrayal is not a 'Girl Boss' narrative but an old-fashioned 'damsel-in-distress' trope, placing the gender dynamic at a neutral to moderate score.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative adheres strictly to normative structure, centering on the heterosexual attraction between Bruce Wayne/Batman and Vicki Vale. There is no presence of alternative sexualities, deconstruction of the nuclear family unit, or discussion of gender ideology. Sexuality is treated as a private matter relevant only to the central romantic tension.

Anti-Theism2/10

The conflict is an exploration of Objective Truth, with Batman representing a fixed moral law (justice, protection) and The Joker representing total moral relativism and chaotic evil (nihilism). The film does not contain hostility toward religion, and the climax takes place in Gotham Cathedral, symbolically placing the struggle between good and evil in a traditional spiritual setting. The morality is transcendent, rooted in a clear good-versus-evil dichotomy.