Page 1 of Forthcoming Batman, the American Right, politics and Hollywood - your thoughts?

we all remember him against the Joker, then there was the Penguin and Catwoman - both admirable foes. The it came to the Riddler, which, while not as dark as the others, was still in keeping with the tradition of Batman from DC Comics, as was Mr Freeze, say what you will about the film itself.

so here`s my point - when did Batman ever go against Arab (and thus by extension, Muslim) terrorists? the reason i bring this up, is i just read the cast for the next batman - it includes Liam Neeson (rumor has it) as a guy called "R`as al Ghul" - never heard a more arab/Muslim sounding name. maybe he wont be a terrorist - maybe he wont be arab at all. i dunno - i just don`t remember him from Batman comics - maybe i missed a few? but my suspicions are there that this will be an attempt to scare people about Muslims/arabs.

i never realized we had run out of the ficticious characters that now we have to politicize a fantasy film and depict the Muslims as baddies. i could understand it somewhat if it was a film like the siege, which is meant to be real-life type thing, but c`mon this is BATMAN! he never had regular enemies (by regular i mean without any special powers or similar things). i guess major film makers thing this stuff will sell more.

another point i am pondering - is this the fear that Michael Moore speaks about in `Columbine` when he says that the american public are bombarded by ideas that they are unsafe.

would like to hear your comments.

thanks.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 24th February 2004, 22:57

Ken Wantanabe, from The Last Samurai, will play al Ghul - not Liam Neeson.

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hence the (rumor has it) beside liam`s name - this was on anonova two days (or so) ago when i read it.

you kinda missed my whole point anyways.

Wandered off to do a bit of research.


Ra`s Al Ghul is more your common or garden cultured megalomaniac than anything. According to the fanbase, the name means "The Demon`s Head" in Arabic and he wants to take over the world for its own good. Egyptian by birth, he`s into immortality in a big way, living into the 31st Century and he`s the only bad guy who knows Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same bloke.

J Mark Oates

This item was edited on Wednesday, 25th February 2004, 03:01

Ra`s is a long term Batman foe....I`ve got a Neal adams Batman strip with him in it from about 1974, the situation is complicated by the fact that Ra`s Daughter (Tanya - I think??), fancies Batman and he fancies her, so she never knows where her loyalties lie, and he has to apologise to her for trying to stop her mad Dad.

Ra`s also has some gizmo that lets him get brought back to life Lazarus stylee.

How much of all of this will be in the film is anyone`s guess.

When Batman Returns came out, there were all sorts of accusations flying around that The Joker was anti-semitic.

I remember reading a quote in one paper from a nine-year-old who said "give the guy a break, he`s just a penguin!", which made me laugh.

R`as al Ghul is a character from the comics but I never liked the idea of mixing Batman with an "immortal" - just doesn`t click... this is the only sour note for me about this project. Interested to see how Christian Bale does, though...

i take it you meant the penguin not the joker from batman returns. ;)

anyhow thanks for your thoughts - seems i did miss the issues with ra`s - i am glad there is some tradition of him in batman and not just using an arab guy for the fact that he is arab, if you know what i mean.

thanks again :)

more a case of following in the tradition of say highlander. egyptian with scots accent now arab with japanese accent.
In future try doing a little investigation of the character and their relevance to the story line before jumping up and down and denouncing the directors as right wing with political agendas. :/

Yes, but I think yesterday it was announced that Wantanabe would be in it. And I didn`t actually read your post, stopped when I saw the Liam Neeson bit and replied, so I missed no point. :-)

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