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leonidascinema · 1 year

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FILM ADAPTATION

Meet our film adaptation team!

Alex Lennen - director

India Marshall - Cinematographer

Fionntan McCaughey - Sound designer/recordist

Niamh McPherson - Scriptwriter

Nikola Jurcaga - Producer

Leonidas Ibarra (me) - Editor

PRE-PRODUCTION

We sat down before class to discuss what short story we wanted to adapt for our short film. After going through many ideas, we finally settled on the Cop and the Anthem.

Obviously this part of the production was primarily focused on Niamh getting the script done and Nikola preparing all the paperwork, schedule, and booking the necessary equipment. I tried my best to be as present in this process, sharing my input about what would/wouldn't be possible as editor. I also talked with Alex and India about the visual idea they had for the film as well as the pacing to get a rough idea and be prepared.

Once everything was ready, Nikola sent us all the information and schedule for us to prepare.

PRODUCTION

Production was shot over two days on the 17th and 18th of March. I was present as runner throughout the whole shoot. We faced a lot of obstacles, most of them being unwanted noises and people interrupting, which we could only do so much about. It also started raining at a point, which delayed the shoot quite a bit.

I had to look over the equipment most the time and got to meet a lovely man who told me a bit about Dean village and lived right next to where the equipment was kept.

When I wasn't looking after the equipment, I was helping Fionntan with sound, and we tried our best to get as much coverage in the time frame that we had.

I would have loved for us to get more time, because with the two days that we had there would be little coverage for me to play around with.

POST-PRODUCTION!!!!

Now that the shoot for film adaptation is finally over, it is my time to shine as editor.

Before starting anything, I had made sure I was comfortable enough in my editing skills by attending as many tutorials as I could (medical consultations and surgery over the months of March/April made attendance quite difficult). I also made use of the avid resources that were given to us in previous semesters and took notes.

Once all the files were sent to me, Alex set my deadline and I got to work. The toughest part of editing this film was definitely the sound, and trying to pick footage that wasn't going to be a nightmare to manage for the sound designer. I had little coverage and a lot of scenes did not have shots that linked together, so I resorted to whatever I had. For instance, I used B-roll footage of Soapy walking to link two scenes, and I reluctantly used a cut to black as a scene transition, but it worked alright as a whole. I had a lot of fun solving all these tiny details and was particularly happy with how the busker scene looked.

I also checked in with Alex with every scene I edited to make sure the film was still accurate to his vision. He was very responsive and gave me a lot of useful feedback that I applied to the best of my ability.

After the edit was done and the film was in picture lock, I was still asked to go back on it to make changes for the scene with the Lady. Alex was able to show it to different audiences and they mentioned the scene made little sense with the laughing stranger (Max Brodbeck) not there.

Then came the colour correcting. I had a lot of trouble trying to get the initial colours I was going for (blue to more yellowish tones starting at the busker scene) as I was ill prepared and did not do much research on the way colour correction worked. I will definitely delve further into it and find resources for the next project I work on as I think I was one of the biggest problems I faced in my work on this production.

With the film exported and colour corrected, my job as editor was over.

I was not very present for the sound design part of the post-production because of surgery and recovery, so there is not much I can say.

Overall, this was a really fun production to work on, it gave us a lot of perspective on film adaptations and their process. Though there are certainly things we could improve on, I am proud of everyone's dedication to the short.

Meet the team!

Alex Lennen - director

India Marshall - Cinematographer

Fionntan McCaughey - Sound designer/recordist

Niamh McPherson - Scriptwriter

Nikola Jurcaga - Producer

Leonidas Ibarra (me) - Editor

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leonidascinema · 1 year

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FILM FORM: "NIGHT BUS" - Finalization

After all the preparation I finally got to work on the actual script. I received very useful feedback from Caio, Catriona and my director Oliwia.

Caio feedback

He told me there wasn't enough conflict in the script and that everything was just laid out to the audience. "People don't like being told what to feel" - based on that, I worked to make sure the conflict was more dramatic by giving the stranger and Ethan a more dynamic dialogue with a snappy back and forth, making sure I didn't spiral into a lecturing monologue for the audience. Furthermore, he mentioned it would be more personal of a story and thus be more engaging.

Catriona feedback

There was a lot of dialogue that wasn't necessary, especially at the beginning, so Catriona suggested I narrow it down and keep only the essentials while focusing on the actions to lead the story rather than the dialogue. She also mentioned Sean's character and encouraged me to add more depth to him as he seemed to be a very one-dimensional stereotypical 'jock guy', which would've been quite unproductive to keep in the script. The rest of her feedback was similar to that of Caio's.

Oliwia feedback

Oliwia's feedback was mainly focused on how the film would be directed and necessary changes that were to be made to fit the vision.

I mustn't forget to give proper credit to Francis Mackenzie (script editor) who helped me greatly with the wording and grammar, whom Oliwia suggested to me.

I tried my best to incorporate the feedback, going through many drafts and checking in with them.

I am very happy at how the script turned out in the end and grateful for all the help I received.

THE SHOOT

I was not present for most of the shoot as I had work, but tried my best to be as involved as possible.

From what I have seen, it went well, of course not without the usual 'on-set' challenges and sudden crisis . All was dealt with well, and it was one of the most enjoyable shoots I've ever been on.

We were very lucky with the actors as they were very talented and it was definitely a factor in elevating the film.

Cinematography was very calculated and meticulous, which helped motivate each shot. Directing really helped set the tone as well as keep to the original vision Oliwia had in mind.

Seeing the script come to life made it really worth writing it!

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leonidascinema · 1 year

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FILM FORM: "NIGHT BUS"- The set up

It's me and I'm back bigger and stronger with a brand new project!

For this module we have to choose an outline from last semester's assignment and adapt it into a short film. Our group decided on Robbie Anderson's outline: a boy who is struggling getting through his high school years because of his sexuality.

One night, when he's out partying with his friends, he decides to storm off on his own after having had enough of the constant nagging. He meets this older gay man, whom he has a meaningful conversation with and understands that things come with time, and that making the most of 'being young' may not in fact be what he though it mean.

!!! Meet our Crew !!!

Ben Morley - Producer

Nikola Jurcaga - Production designer

Oliwia Stoszka - Director

Molly Mclachlan - Cinematographer

Georgina Ramsay - Editor

Leonidas Ibarra (me) - Screenwriter

THE PROCESS

For this project, I set myself the goal to do as much research and drafting as possible as to feel more confident in the writing and finalizing process.

Ben organized a meeting between Robbie and I to discuss where to take the outline from there and for me to ask questions concerning the story and intent. We agreed that the short should focus on the reality of being gay with a melancholic feel, and that the resolve should be ongoing and that not every question has to be solved by the end of the film. This was very insightful and helped me set the base for my draft. Catriona, our lecturer, took this discussion further by suggesting I explore the characters some more as to give them more authenticity.

I thus decided to go and interview several queer people to find inspiration for the characters. Here are the logs of the people I have interviewed:

VICTOR (he/him)

Victor is a gay trans man whom I discovered through my own transition journey. I asked him a few questions about his experience

(you can find him on twitter @vic_kino, he posts a lot of very helpful resources for both trans and gay individuals in FRENCH)

YVES (he/him)

I've known Yves my whole life. He is older then the rest of the people I've interviewed for this script and thus has a very different perception on being gay. I interviewed him through the phone and he told me about his experiences during the 1990s and early 2000s.

FRANCIS (they/them)

Francis is one of our classmates. Obviously their experience is widely different from mine so I really wanted their input. We sat down and had a discussion about the reality of being queer and throwing anecdotes here and there.

After I felt sufficiently inspired and prepared, I got to writing the first draft:

(above is the first page)

It seems like the whole crew and Robbie liked where the story went and I am happy with the work I've done as well. I still have a lot to work on - I want to add more interactions to the party scene and flesh out the ending a little more.

And that's the whole process so far :)

Can't wait to go forward and see where this project leads us!

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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The Mushroom thief - critical assessment

Here is my reflection on our 5 min portait documentary featuring Juliet King.

For research, we did not take long to choose a subject which was a great advantage since that allowed us to focus on the rest of the process more. Joe suggested we make our documentary portrait on Juliet King, whom he knew beforehand.

We started working on the pre-production process quite early on and worked out a schedule that we stuck with until the end.

It was a little challenging on the communication side of things as some of us weren’t always available, but it eventually worked out all right.

After we decided on our subject, we were given multiple ideas for our focus. Joe suggested we look more into the family ties side of Juliet, whereas Tommy wanted us to focus on her love for mushroom foraging and her views on mushrooms as a medicinal aid. We settled for something in the middle, and tried to capture her persona and ideas as realistically as possible. Juliet seemed to agree that our final cut reflected herself very well, which we were very happy about.

When it came to filming, the beginning was a little bit chaotic. Kieran couldn’t make it to the first day of filming so my position was switched from editor to cinematographer at the last minute. But in the middle of filming, Kieran ended up making it so our roles were switched back to their original positions - I was editor again. Other than that, the filming went well and Juliet was lovely. I am kind of disappointed we didn’t dare to ask her to move, look, or sit a certain way that would help make the film more visually engaging, but I am still happy with how it turned out. There were many ways that we could have edited the structure of the film, as there was a lot of content. Looking back on it, I wish we had made more distinctive parts that tied into each other better.

As for the editing, I tried my best to reflect Juliet’s personality in the work I did. I made sure that all the cutaways and shots had a visual meaning that would bring to the story. However, as it was said in the crit, I wish I had given more room for breathing and for the audience to enjoy the nature part of the short. I focused more on Juliet and her words because I wanted it to be reflective of a portrait. I also made sure that Joe (our director) was on board with the work I did, so I tried to communicate my editing process as much as possible with him. I worked on the visuals and the dialogue, the rest (music, sound effects) was left to the sound designer. As said in the feedback, the documentary was already very loaded with emotions, and I feel like I should’ve played on that more in the edit rather than relying on the music to carry the emotion.

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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Anniversay, critical reflection- film narrative 2

Here are my thoughts concerning our final project, ‘The Anniversay’, made for film narrative 2.

I was director of photography throughout the whole process of this short. Everyone had been given set roles from the start and did a great job at fulfilling them.

We overall had pretty positive feedback on our short. As for the areas of improvement, we were given diverse and helpful feedback. In terms of narrative, it would have been preferable to have a more dynamic change in tone and a clearer shift in power between the husband and the wife. As for other criticism, we were told that more closeups would bring more attention to the actor’s good performance, that some shots could benefit from not having the butler’s tray in the way, and that sound design could have been improved. I am happy to see that small details that incited the shift in power dynamics such as the pouring of the milk and its meaning was acknowledged in this feedback.

In my opinion, this feedback will definitely help me better my building of the tone and power dynamic in my future works as a cinematographer.

When it comes to criticism we received in class, our group tried our best to apply it to the short film, especially in post-production. John and I spent a lot of time on the shot list and storyboard to make sure each and everyone of our shots were meaningful and brought something to the narrative. John also went through about 9 drafts in the editing suite before getting to the final cut, trying to perfect it, which I find admirable.

I think our film’s strongest point would be the way the production design, acting and filming all helped contribute to the narrative. As for our weaker points, I think it was not daring to be more bold with this narrative contribution, which would have helped to highlight the shift in tone and power dynamic. Also I think we should have taken more time to perfect the sound design.

Our group worked wonderfully well together thanks to our producer Katelyn who always made sure we were all informed and up to date with what we had to do. Everyone would show up to meetings and such, and I could see that we were all dedicated and motivated to do our best which made it easy to work together. I wish I had been more involved in the sound design process, but I wasn’t in Edinburgh during that time unfortunately.

Overall, I saw that everyone’s films in the module improved compared to last semester, especially in terms of visuals. I very much enjoyed watching all of them.

Very excited to see what newt year has to bring!

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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TREATMENT CLASS - film narrative 2

I genuinenly really enjoyed this class, I think it really reminded me of why I wanted to do film in the first place. As the lecture went on I got more and more interested on the visual side of filmmaking. I am still unusre what exactly I want to pursue as a career in the film industry but I this class confirmed that I definitely want something to do with visual language ( whether it’s cinematopgraphy, special effects or many others! ).

One of my favourite process of pre-production and what we talked about in this class is finding inspiration from other sources, whether it’s character concepts or moodboards. I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some moodboards I made.

The first one is solely from Dario Argento’s inferno and I have to say I am in love with the colours. Though it’s a giallo and supposed to be very tense, the colours are very lively and almost pastel-like, and I find that a very good combination.

Another one I made using mainly old school slasher and horror films such as Evil dead, The Burning or Hellraiser. This was originally for one of our script idea but it we ended up going with different one that wasn’t horror themed.

I also wanted to discuss character concept and concept art as it particularly drew my attention. I am a big fan of the video game concept art and was delighted to hear it was also applicable to film! I am particularly drawn to anything horror themed and have a soft spot for character concepts that fit this category. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the wonderful work Resident Evil creators came up with for the Village game (more specifically the Heisenberg Factory part of thegame).

Note: I could not find the name of the concept artist(s) for this - all I know is it is Capcom owned, and you can have a browse through all of the concept art if you play the game.

This kind of work really inspires me and really motivates me to come up with something as visually amazing as this. I often try my hand at drawing my own concept art but I am still far from satified. I play Dungeons and dragons and often use concept art to aid me in my worldbuliding. For instance, RE Village concept art above aided me in visualising one of my player’s character concept. I am still not very satisfied yet but I am slowly bulidng my way up.

Straying away from concept art, we were given an exercise to mark up part of the screenplay from Ocean’s eleven. I admit I rushed it a little bit and ended up with a shotlist including 6 shot that were more mechanical than artistic in my opinion. Next time I’ll try and draw more power from my inspiration!!

Overall, this lecture was very inspiring and motivating to me. I have learned a lot in terms of ressources, abbreviations and Treatment. I am looking forward to the next one !!

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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FILM NARRATIVE 2 - first blog post!!

Today’s blog post will discuss our film narrative 2 project which I’m very excited about.

Firstly, let me present our wonderful crew and our roles:

Director - John Kelbie

Producer - Katelyn Hill

Sound design - Sanjana Sanath

Writer - Ethan Lennon

Cinematographer - Leonidas Ibarra (me)

I think we all chose our roles pretty well because we were all quite effective and eager to work. I like the fact that everything is very organised and dealt with asap. We’re not exactly sure yet who’s going to do what and help us for the rest of the roles, but John and I volunteered to work on post-production.

Katelyn’s note: We have finalized our research by looking at the stylizations of the mega rich in today’s society. This is as our location has been started and our script is being re written and so we are looking into finalizing the pre-production work and costume/set design. This is as our group has been really lovely to discuss with, good with communication and great with discussing and sticking to deadlines. The location on the Craiglockhart campus we have found is perfect. We are currently looking into using it for our film and how we can go about hiring it out for the shoot.

Sajana’s note: I’m part of a wonderful team with members that contribute generously to group discussions, are accepting of everyone’s ideas, and are quick to set plans into action. We were able to develop ideas for a plot as soon as we finalised on the film idea. The plot was inspired by a spacious room that we came across at Craiglockhart. It has tall windows and large table which immediately set the scene for a dramatic and regal narrative. And this is a segue into my role for the production of the film. I am the set designer. For the set I am inclined to dress the set-in props that depict more about the husband to assert his dominance and the fact that he has the first say in most decisions and visions of the couple’s life. What I really like about our film is that we consider set and props as one of the elements that drive the story and reflect on the characters. This is an aspect I am very excited to collaborate on with my group. My other role is that of a sound designer. Our offscreen presence, the butler, is an essential part of our sound design. Throughout the film we will also depend on diegetic sound to move the story forward. Background sounds also give us an insight into the wife’s life, in a way symbolic to her status in the household. However, we are still deciding on whether to use background music at certain points of the film. I’m excited to prep for my roles and am optimistic about the production process.

Ethan’s note: For my role in the group, I’m the scriptwriter, so it’s my responsibility to make sure we have a good, clear, and on brief script. The idea that our group decided on was an anniversary dinner between a Husband and Wife. The Husband is revealed to be a pretentious, pompous, possessive, and arrogant man, who is controlling of his wife. The Wife, however, has her own schemes in mind as well, as it is revealed that she is leaving him for another man after years of mistreatment.I’ve so far completed two drafts of the script, and after every draft have made sure to email it all members of the group so they can read over it and give their feedback via our producer. I feel that our group dynamic is working well. We’ve kept up good communication with each other as to how has to do what, and we’ve made sure in our meetings that everyone gets a say and agrees with what steps were taking or ideas were choosing.

John’s note: As I am the Director in my group, I have been putting together mood boards. These mood boards included shots from films that have inspired me, or I think could be utilised in the production of our film. Along with this I have produced other mood boards focusing on different areas such as: lighting, set design, colour etc. After our Script to Shoot class this week I realise these are all parts that make up a treatment, therefore I will be using the mood boards already produced and add them during the production of the treatment.

As of now, we are on time for our pre-production. I still have to finish the shot list, but that shall be done before next week. The script already has a first draft and Ethan is currently taking in everyone’s suggestion and making some edits. As for the rest everything is slowly taking form. I’m quite excited about the casting as we are going to be holding auditions (which in my opinion is very fun) so that we’ll get to know our actors better and understand their range of acting.

Now, onto the story that we have developed.

Our two first ideas were widely different - one was about a person being kidnapped and tortured, and the other was about an anniversary dinner gone wrong. We went for the latter one as it seemed we all preferred that idea and it would spare us the hassle of special effects and the very stain-ey fake blood.

The story is about a husband and a wife from the upper class having a marriage anniversary dinner. The husband is clearly introduced as a materialistic and classist man, whereas his wife is very empathic and respectful. The whole disaster sprouts from her having enough of his behaviour, and offering divorce papers as an anniversary present. We aim to establish this difference from the character through the role of the Butler - both characters act differently toward him. We also incorporate subtle hints that let the audience understand that there is tension between them and somewhat anticipate the grand reveal. We took a long time to try and drive the script towards something that will be both entertaining and have good exposure and character building.

As the cinematographer, I worked on a few moodboards for both the ideas. I will only incorporate the marriage narrative moodboard in that post and will show the two others in a separate post.

Note: it is called long table because the short film will incorporate a long table to demonstrate the separation between the husband’s character and the wife’s (we did not have a working title at the time).

As you can see, there are a lot of warm tones clashing with cold tones (especially orange and blue). I thought it would be a very interesting visual queue to both express the ‘intimate’ tone of the scene and the fragmentation between the two characters.

John also added some visual ideas for frames and shot sizes and also made one for costume ideas. I have included parts of it below.

As for location, we found a nice place right next to the Chapel in the Craiglockhart campus. Hopefully recording good sound shouldn't be a problem haha.

We’re all working well and hard together so far. Katelyn executes her job as a producer perfectly and keeps everyone on track. Everyone is heard and decisions are always discussed as a group.

I am not worried at all when it comes to getting everything done on time. Hopefully there won’t be any impossible obstacles that will get in our way.

I am very excited to really get into the heart of this project!!!

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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Day (1/2) of our scene recreation shoot. There was a lot we didn’t anticipate, escpecially how cold it was gonna be. I think everyone couldn’t feel their fingers at some point ... But nonetheless we had a lot of fun and surely learned from our mistakes.

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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Blade Storyboard

Spent 6 consecutive hours working on that storyboard whilst listening to the Blade sountrack over and over again... While it’s a bit rough, I’m relatively proud of how it came out.

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leonidascinema · 2 years

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Queerness in the batman franchise. [RE-upload]

This was an essay I may several months ago. I thought I’d share it here because I often find myself in a situation where I have to copy paste and send it to several people in order for them to read it. Now I can just send them the link to this post :)

Queerness in the batman franchise

Now, before I start getting into the nitty-gritty of things, every person must keep in mind that Batman is a very broad franchise with a lot of different interpretations; this essay is in no way trying to force people to see Batman as a gay character, simply to acknowledge that there are multiple valid reasons to read Batman as such. Some creators have claimed he was a homosexual whilst some have said he was straight; as Devin Grayson puts it "It depends who you ask, doesn't it?”. Batman has seen over 70 years of publication and has been many things, and thus cannot be tied down to a single identity. Everyone is free to interpret batman as they want, which ties in to my main point; if people see Batman as queer and have the proof to back it up, let them see him this way. No one should go around and force people to see Batman in a single, thought-out way. On that note, let’s get into the heart of the subject.

“Gayness is built into Batman… I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it.”

Grant Morrison, comic book writer for DC Comics

When I expose my ‘peculiar’ theory that Batman is gay to straight people, they will often assume that I am looking too much into it, when in fact I am looking into it as much as I would for any other analysis; the truth is, Batman has been been stripped of his gay connotations and associated with prominent masculinity and badassery so much that people refuse to see him as queer- perhaps because, in the general subconscious mind of society, they assume being a homosexual cannot be associated with these terms.

If we take a look back in the early comic book days, you would have to be blind not to notice the clear queer connotations the duo of Batman and Robin have. In the 1960s, George Melly even made a remark on the Adam West TV show stating: "We all knew Robin and Batman were pouves.". That is what will precisely lead to the reason why certain people deny Batman is queer in the first place.

The issuing of best-seller ‘Seduction of the innocent’ by Frederic Wetham, targeted the Batman comics and stated they were compelling young children to “homoerotic attitudes”; he also wrote about Robin and Batman’s relationship: “They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and have a butler. It is like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together.”. All this fuss about Batman’s queerness will lead to complaints to ‘Senate subcommittee hearing’ in the 1950s, pressuring creators to introduce Batgirl and Batwoman to promote more acceptable concepts closer to that of ‘traditional family values’.

This also ties into the importance of Batman’s queerness since, according to Andy Medhurst, "he was one of the first fictional characters to be attacked on the grounds of his presumed homosexuality”.

After the introduction of Batwoman and Batgirl, queer Batman was erased from DC Comics and would not see the light of day until lead actor George Clooney for “Batman and Robin” (1997) admitted to have played Batman’s character as gay, and, more importantly, until its re-emergance in 2005 through a montage of panels from "The Joker's Comedy of Errors" in Batman #66, which translates to roughly 50 years of silencing. It is also important to note that in 2000, DC Comics refused to re-introduce Batman’s gay connotation by denying the reprint of panels to illustrate Christopher York's paper “All in the Family: Homophobia and Batman Comics in the 1950s” …

The “homosexual nightmare” - Batman and the Joker’s relationship

There’s no denying it, the Joker is queer, in all senses of the term. He is insane, impulsive and is the exact definition of ‘human perversion’. Now, one can decide to ignore this idea of him being a homosexual and would still be able to enjoy the comics… However, one must note that this is not the way I am interpreting him in this essay; there is a different light under which you can see it that gives a lot of character to the franchise. The Joker represents all the hero is afraid of becoming; sexually deviant, queer, perverted, chaotic. In some ways, the Joker is Batman’s physical manifestation of his personal nightmare. The queerness has to be buried deep within Batman, but, eventually, the villain loves constantly reminding him of this one similarity he has with him: "to them, you're just a freak … like me" (All-Star Batman & Robin). This ties into the idea Batman is himself closeted and is unable to come to terms with who he is because of these fears that haunts him, and why they make such an interesting duo; they are polar opposites, with only one common trait. Many comic book creators have depicted Joker as being obsessed with Batman; in the White Knight series the Joker even alludes to the fact that he and Batman are a perfect couple : “We’re a team Bats. Admit it ! That’s our dynamic. All that’s missing is the make-up sex.”. In Catwoman #14, Joker admits to catwoman that he is in love with Batman - “...You’re the one in love with him” to which he replies “Of course. Isn’t that obvious”. Of course, it is somewhat clear the feeling isn’t mutual. Batman despises the Joker; but he despises him because of his own “sexual repression” (as the Joker puts it in the ‘Dark Knight” comics) as the villain reminds him of what he has buried deep down within himself. This hero/villain dynamic is very interesting to see through this perspective, it gives a lot of flavour to it, differing from the ‘vanilla’ good guy vs. bad guy storyline we are used to.

Forcing heterosexuality onto Batman

Again, I would like to state that seeing batman as heterosexual is completely valid, just as the queer interpretation is, and anyone who enjoy the Batman comics this way can and should definitely continue reading it so. However, interestingly enough, a lot of people are very defensive of Batman’s sexuality when this topic is brought up; they aren’t too keen on my idea of Batman being some level of queer … but instead of simply ignoring these comments and labeling these people as ‘homphobic’ or ‘close-minded’ (which may be highly probable), let us understand why that is. My suspicions were first aroused when I stumbled upon a news website known as “Liberal darkness”, in which they address the topic of Batman’s ‘sexual deviance’, referring to him as a superhero who came out at night “to engage in exhausting muscle-bound masochism with dangerously costumed fetishists”… After listing quite a few examples proving the hero’s homosexuality, they eventually come to the conclusion that men who enjoy reading/watching Batman are themselves homosexuals because he “represents their inner desires to act out the ultimate of gay lifestyle” (absolutely ridiculous in my opinon). After this reading, I was left with one question: “Are people tirelessly arguing that the queer reading of Batman is invalid in fear that they will be judged by others on their own sexuality?”. Nowadays, people are really easy to label others as certain things, especially if it is to mock or shame them, and, let us be honest, the ‘gay’ insult is always one of the easiest one to slide in. Of course, I am just making assumptions and trying to make sense as to why some people do not want to let others interpret Batman as a queer character, and this is but one of the many conclusions I could have come to.

In my perspective, and the reason why I find this defensive argument interesting, this need to insist on the superhero’s heterosexuality makes me think of what Batman would say if he had repressed gay feelings or internalised homphobia.

Why are the gays so obsessed with the idea that Batman is queer?

Many people of the LGBTQ+ community struggle to find representation within the media... people may think that it isn’t a big deal, when in fact it actually is a real problem. If I had a character I could have related my struggles to when I was younger, it would have made it so much easier to come to terms with who I am, and would have spared me years of confusion and denial; a large range of other queer people feel the same way. It’s 2021, and, though progress is slowly being made, some corporations are still struggling to introduce LGBTQ+ characters in fear of losing customers and support, which is absolutely enraging. It has been said countless times that Batman was at least some level of queer, but no one knows it because it was taken away from the public eye - not because it was ‘irrelevant to the plot or the character’, but because they didn’t want such a popular public figure to be tarnished by the ‘gay plague’. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t entirely blame the corporations, they are simply doing their job and trying to keep the numbers up… I’m just trying to show how ridiculous it is because I don’t have to write an entire essay to show Superman is some level of straight, because that’s the norm. If Superman was to be gay, many would belive it would take away some of his “manliness”, forcing him to do ‘feminine’ things when that’s not a part of his character, just like people believe it would for Batman. But by proving the point that Batman has been queer this whole time, I’m also proving the fact that he’s still just as badass as other DC Comics heroes all whilst being a homosexual; his entire personality doesn’t revolve around his sexual preference . It shows people don’t have to fall into the ‘flamboyant gay’ stigma that causes so many to be terrified of coming to terms with their sexuality, and even if one were to fall under it, that there’s so much more to an individual than just their sexuality.

Final note ...

Batman is a very interesting character and I have to admit that the creators from DC Comics have done a brilliant job at fleshing him out. The fact that one can interpret the reading in so many different ways makes it all the more fascinating to me. To conclude this essay, I would like to say that the queer reading of Batman ties in with having repressed feelings; whether you would like to interpret that as him not being able to get over his parents death, inner hatred, repressed homsexuality, all of the above of neither, is up to you. In the end, the reader is the one truly tracing Batman’s story and feelings throguh their own background and opinions.

Referenced websites:

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/10/25/batman-finally-asked-are-you-gay/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147928/Is-Batman-gay-Major-DC-Comics-character-come-closet.html

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/04/26/comic-strip-writer-batman-is-very-very-gay/

http://connectmedia.waag.org/media.opencultures.net/queer/data/international/batman-medhurst.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/batman-gay-character-relies-denial

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GNRreYO91ogC&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=%E2%80%9CWe+all+knew+Robin+and+Batman+were+pouves.%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=a1O6asqkwO&sig=8XwFQ-hgtcjtr5mtGZcFVXXL1Ss&hl=en&sa=X&ei=X2nCT_uXFqj80QWAra3DCg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CWe%20all%20knew%20Robin%20and%20Batman%20were%20pouves.%E2%80%9D&f=false

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/batman-forever-updated-seduction-of-the-innocent-for-the-1990s/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Seduction-of-the-Innocent

https://comicsbulletin.com/batman-gay/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Batman-fictional-character#ref1172773

http://liberaldarkness.com/2015/08/18/confirmed-batman-is-a-homosexual/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_Batman_franchise

https://meaww.com/release-the-schumacher-cut-joel-schumacher-batman-forever-gay-are-fans-ready-george-clooney

https://screenrant.com/batman-moments-prove-joker-love/

https://www.towleroad.com/2019/01/batman-comic-depicting-joker-as-gay-and-in-love-with-the-caped-crusader-is-among-2018s-top-sellers/

https://them0vieblog.com/2020/09/21/holy-camp-batman-the-redemptive-queerness-of-batman-robin/

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