Batman Remixed & Reimagined

On Batman and the Problem of Constituent Power

radicalbytes — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 06:11:33 -0400

Earlier this month anthropologist David Graeber wrote an article originally titled “On Batman...

H&R Block made this infographic comparing the income of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker. I’ve...

radicalbytes — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 22:01:00 -0400

H&R Block made this infographic comparing the income of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker. I’ve...

Quick Update: After combing through hundreds of movies looking...

radicalbytes — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:22:00 -0400

Quick Update: After combing through hundreds of movies looking for enough footage to properly reimagine Bruce Wayne as the villain of Gotham City - I’ve decided to delay my remixing project slightly until after The Dark Knight Rises film is released this summer. This way I can incorporate some of the audiovisual source material from the movie to make my mashup more convincing and compelling. I’m also curious to see how the socioeconomic themes play out and feel it would be better to see what Nolan does before I make my transformative critique of the Batman universe. That said, over the next couple months, I will still be working on the project, collecting media, clip farming and storyboarding!

Wanna bet? -From Batman #5, The New 52

radicalbytes — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:21:00 -0400

Wanna bet?

-From Batman #5, The New 52

Bruce Wayne on the cover of Forbes. This remixed magazine cover...

radicalbytes — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:51:59 -0400

Bruce Wayne on the cover of Forbes. This remixed magazine cover is the 1st in a series that will provide clues into the Batman Reimagined narrative.

Here is the first remixed component of the Batman Reimagined...

radicalbytes — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 03:16:00 -0400

Here is the first remixed component of the Batman Reimagined project. What would a television commercial for Wayne Enterprises look like? Now you can see for yourself.

It’s no secret that Batman is funded and equipped via Bruce Wayne’s multi-billion dollar fortune and through his ownership of Wayne Enterprises. What you might not know is that Wayne Enterprises is a massive company of truly Orwellian proportions. If the corporation really existed it would most likely be the largest, most powerful company on the planet - bigger than General Electric, Boeing, Chevron and Lockheed Martin combined.

Although primarily known as a military defense contractor, Wayne Enterprises is actually comprised of dozens of subsidiaries involved in all sectors of the economy in Gotham City and around the world (operating in 190 countries). The Wayne family corporation literally built most of Gotham over the years and still owns a good chunk of the city today. Based on the DC and Batman wikis the corporation includes the following divisions:

Wayne Electronics
Wayne Technologies
Wayne Biotech
Wayne Medical
Wayne Healthcare (which runs Gotham Cities healthcare system)
Wayne Pharmaceuticals
Wayne Foods
Wayne Shipping
Wayne Steel
Wayne Automotive
Wayne Shipbuilders
Wayne Aerospace
Wayne Weapons
Wayne Aviation
Wayne Airlines
Wayne Chemicals
Wayne Industries
Wayne Oil
Wayne Botanical
Wayne Mining (which mines precious metals in Africa)
Wayne Manufacturing
Wayne Research Institute
Wayne Energy
Wayne Electric
Wayne Studios
Wayne Entertainment (including ownership of The Daily Planet newspaper)
Wayne Records
Wayne Stage
Wayne Television
Wayne Retail

Based on this extensive list of properties and holdings, Forbes’ magazine seems to have severely underestimated the value of the company in their 2007 list of the 25 Largest Fictional Companies. Forbes estimated Wayne Enterprises sales at only $31.3 billion which is a ridiculously low figure for such an omnipresent multinational corporation.

Wayne Enterprises - Everything Everywhere Everyday

Here are some of the most famous and terrifying...

radicalbytes — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:23:00 -0400

Here are some of the most famous and terrifying fictional corporations from science fiction films over the past few decades. Recognize them all? As part of the Batman Reminaged project Wayne Enterprises will take its rightful place on this sinister list.

1st Trailer Première Update

radicalbytes — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:05:31 -0400

Happy to announce that the very first trailer for this remix film project will première as part of...

The Importance of Quality HD Source Footage

radicalbytes — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:27:00 -0500

Its not always easy to find good quality source media for your remixing projects but the hunt is a...

"Systematic overthrow of the underclass. Hollywood conjures images of the past… It’s just..."

radicalbytes — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:49:28 -0500

“Systematic overthrow of the underclass. Hollywood conjures images of the past…...

Remix Video Frame Size and Resolution

radicalbytes — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:50:00 -0500

Choosing appropriate frame size and aspect ratio for your remix video project can be a tricky...

I found this amusing video on Dorkly Bits under the title...

radicalbytes — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:43:00 -0500

I found this amusing video on Dorkly Bits under the title “Batman is the 1% - Why so seriously wealthy?”. It seems that since the release of the official Dark Knight Rises trailer, I’m not the only one now making transformative works critical of Batman’s socioeconomic status.

Jim Carrey tends to portray characters, in both dramas and...

radicalbytes — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:58:00 -0500

Jim Carrey tends to portray characters, in both dramas and comedies, who have been wronged, exploited or dis-empowered by the powerful. He is great at embodying the classic underdog figure. Its for this reason The Riddler (as re-imaged through Carrey’s extended filmography) makes the ideal remixed hero for this project. In fact the actor’s “everyman” characters have a lot in common with Donald Duck from the classic Disney cartoons.

Batman: The Ultimate Plutocratic Hero

radicalbytes — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:07:00 -0500

One of the inspirations for this remix project was an excellent article I read back in January 2011...

Still no official comment from the Wayne Enterprises PR twitter...

radicalbytes — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:03:00 -0500

Still no official comment from the Wayne Enterprises PR twitter account.

"You’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for..."

radicalbytes — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:11:00 -0500

“You’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so...

Gotham City is really not a very good place to be a woman....

radicalbytes — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:39:00 -0500

Gotham City is really not a very good place to be a woman. Gothamites who happen to be female have very few options beyond being a damsel in distress, a sex object and/or dead. With the possible exception of Batgirl and officer Anna Ramirez all the women on this list fit into one (or more) of these narrow categories. Plus, of course, Ramirez ends up as a traitor whose life is only spared via a random coin toss.

There are a few other women who briefly appear in the Batman movies (including the five unnamed women who hang on Bruce Wayne’s arms in the Nolan films) however since their roles are so minor and unimportant to the plot I’ve elected not to included them on this chart.

As Elisa Kreisinger recently pointed out on her blog the stereotypical Hollywood roles for women coupled with the male gaze behind the camera poses a big problem for video remixers wishing to create alternative visual stories. Because there is so little to work with in the original source its extremely difficult to re-imagine stronger or more complete female characters in a Batman Universe remix. That said I’m carefully searching the filmographies of both Uma Thurman and Michelle Pfeiffer looking for creative ways to include them in this project without all the sexist tropes.

There are seven core villains who appear in the...

radicalbytes — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:27:00 -0500

There are seven core villains who appear in the Burton/Schumacher Batman films. While I’m working to include cameos for them all in this project I do need to settle on a few main characters for the remixed narrative to follow. As I’ve discussed in a previous post remixers must, to some extent, let the available source material dictate their storylines. So for this project I’m pulling from the extended filmography of each actor to determine who I can best flip and re-imagine as a hero. Actor Tommy Lee Jones (Two Face in Batman Forever) also happens to play several characters in other films who lead criminal investigations or manhunts - thus making Harvey Dent a compelling pick for one of the major characters in this remix. Stay tuned for more!

GothamCop is one of many Batman themed fan accounts floating...

radicalbytes — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:38:00 -0500

GothamCop is one of many Batman themed fan accounts floating around the twitterverse. Even Gotham Cities police foot-soldiers understand the symbolic significance of rain in the Batman Universe. Rain, snow and storms (especially at nighttime) are also critical elements throughout the film-noir genre. Needless to say there will be plenty of rain in my remixed film.

Gotham Cities villains, or are they? Stay tuned to find out how...

radicalbytes — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:05:00 -0500

The Joker

Catwoman

The Penguin

The Riddler

Two Face

Poison Ivy

Bane

Mr Freeze

Gotham Cities villains, or are they? Stay tuned to find out how each fits into my remixed alternative universe!