Evolution of Superhero Movies 1966-
2013
• Brief Two
• James Morris

Since the begging of the comic book and the
invention of the superhero fans have longed to
see there heroes on the big screen but with the
dawn of multiplex cinema and special effects fans
where finally granted there dream. But
superhero movies have had a rocky past and
through the process of audience research and
genre change they have finally emerged as an
important pat of the film business for example
Avengers Assemble (2012) was the 3rd biggest
box office success ever grossing over a billion
dollars. This no doubt show the strength in these
characters and the connection people have with
them.

I’ve been looking at the differences between two trailers of the
superhero movies The Dark Knight (2008) and Batman The
Motion Picture (1966). Both movies are based on the same
character but set in different universe and contain completely
different themes. While the 1966 batman is very campy with
the spandex The Dark Knight is very dark with batman being
shown as a silent watchmen in stead of a friendly crime fighter.
This is clear in both trailers and the reasoning's beyond this will
become clearer with further analysis into genre change and
codes and conventions.

The content was constructed using extensive product research and
audience research. For the 1966 batman it had spun off from at
the time a successful TV programme starting Adam West the
response of the TV show was very positive as it kept to the values
that the the first comics had set up a very light hearted superhero
to appeal to young children and teach them lessons of right and
wrong. All though the backstory was dark the TV show never
referenced it only focusing on the crime fighting and exotic villains.
This is very clear in the trailer for this movie you can see the
producer wanted to aim this at children. The Dark Knight trailer
has clearly been constructed not only to appeal to a wider
audience but also to stay true to the comics dark beginnings and
darker evolution of the superhero which occurred from the 1970’s
onwards and is the hero today which people love and know. The
Dark Knight trailer not only appeals to comic book fans but a wider
audience with the use of special effects, action sequences and a
bombastic musical score. This trailer is seen as a key point in the
evolution of the superhero movie with films such as Iron Man 3
and Man of Steel taking inspiration from the themes and darkness
of this trailer.

Superhero movies & trailers hit a various width of conventions while
containing a large amount of codes these are Setting :Location often an
American city a big location where things can go wrong in this case Gotham
city. The location also gives us vast opportunities for things to go wrong hence
the explosions we see in the trailer. Themes :The themes in superhero movies
always show the human and super human element of the character and who
he deals with both lifestyles for example batman, Spiderman and ironman.
There is also an element of public threat in every movie.
Character :There are normally 4 types of character in superhero movies
hero, villain, damsel and the public. The hero is often recognizable and given
normal problems so the audience can relate to him. Villains are vengeance
driven or set on coursing madness. Damsel are the hero’s weakness as they
will do anything to protect them. The public might to a normal person who
can understand the problems the hero is going through e.g.. Alfred in the
Dark Knight. Props: The props are items that represent what superhero for
example a car costume or power they posses. Narrative & Plot: The plot is
normally a tail of good vs. evil at its simplest. The plot will also show the two
sides of the superhero and his struggle with them. Style: Superhero movies
vary in style but normally settle on either true to the comics and very colorful
or dark and brooding this is clear with films such as the amazing spider man
and man of steel. Examples of the brighter films include Sam Raimi’s
Spiderman Franchise and The New Marvel Universe where humor is key to its
success.

The Modes of address is how the media product in this case
superhero movies is conveyed to the audience and the style of
which it sets out during marketing in poster trailers and other
material. The mode of address can say a lot about a film prior to its
release and give people an idea of what the film maybe about
going into it. The Modes of Address in superhero movies contain
most of the conventions on the previous slide but can change
people opinion and out look of the film. For example Man Of Steel
(2013) was marketed as a psychological character driven movie
setting out many different themes during the trailers and
advertising campaign. This brought with it a high sense of
expectation and mystery about a new chapter in superhero
movies. Upon release critics where disappointed that the movie
was filled with over the top action sequences that dwarfed the
character building. This opinion may have been down to the mode
of address. I personally disagree but can see where the critics are
coming from and how the mode of address can massively impact
the films success.

The two trailers I will be analyzing are the Batman Motion Picture
Staring Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966 and The 2008
Christopher Nolan film staring Christian Bale The Dark Knight. With
both movies based on the same character its clear they are going
to be some similarities but as the films have a 42 year age gap it is
clear that there are going to be some massive differences. In that
time over 117 super movie adaptions have been made not to
mention TV shows, Cartoons and various other media that this
now unique genre has touched.

The 1966 Batman movie trailer is a contains many conventions of your average
super hero movie only differences is they are displayed as a clear advertisement
with Batman and Robin explaining what you can see in the new movie and what
characters it will feature. As they explain we are given tasters of some of the
action scenes in the film all with a campy comic book feel thanks to the over the
top dialogue and bright costumes. This is a great example of the selection of
content with in the trailer. We also see all the conventions you would expect to
find in a trailer with batman referencing the various props the movie offers
which we are then show. We are also shown the 4 main villain's each of which
has there own line of dialogue specifically designed for the trailer. Locations are
also shown with action scenes taking place in the bat cave and onto of a
submarine. A few small clips indicate some recurring themes with the private life
of the hero being shown and the Polaris missile which dates the film to cold war
period showing that world events had an impact on the big screen. The trailer
markets a fun film in which children can attend as most of the violence is filtered
with cards that say ‘pow’ and ‘splat’. This meant the film could reach a larger
target audience and during the 1960’s violence in film was uncommon. As the
film was a spin off from a successful TV show half an audience for the film was
almost garneted. But with the colorful trailer containing large action
sequences, cool gadgets and exotic locations the film attracted more people
who had never heard of batman before. Although in todays eyes this trailer is
seen as stupid and cheesy it still meets conventions clear in many other movie
trailers today and I believe it is a creative successful trailer that would make you
want to see the film.

The trailer for the 2008 batman film The Dark Knight set the high standard of most
superhero trailers to live up to. Even after its release many movies are criticized for
ripping off The Dark Knight as they have also taken dark realistic outlook on the
superhero for Example Iron Man 3, Man Of Steel and The Amazing Spider-man. The
trailer really establishes the dark realistic tones that are visible in the film. Like
Batman 1966 the trailer meets all the codes and conventions you would expect in a
superhero trailer. The Trailer opens with batman standing on top of an building with
the Joker giving a monologue explaining a few plot points that where created in the
first film that have carried on to this one. We then a selection of clips that focus on
Bruce Wayne dealing with spilt lifestyle and the unstoppable metaphor for chaos that
is the joker as he creates a hell in both Wayne's personal life and life as batman. This
meats the convention of themes and plot as this film suggest its more about the
struggle with Wayne's inner demons as we only see batman for a screen time of just
under 30 seconds compared to the 2 mins of batman in the ’66’ trailer. This shows
how realistic style this film is conveying to the audience and it isn't the batman show.
Completing this screen time we see more Joker than batman this indicates that the
villain plays a massive part in the film. Although the villains in the 66 trailer had a lot
of screen time there are scene as very cartoony with over elaborate schemes and
more as something to have in the film. This trailer shows us that the film is built
around the villain. The trailer uses big bombastic music and large Imax location shots
to create a vast environment in which the action takes place. We see massive
explosions as well to fit into the action genre . All setting a dark tone. The violence in
this trailer is clearly shown and not as reserved as the 66 Batman. Overall this makes
for a dark violent trailer focusing on a character driven storyline to attract to a wider
audience. Although it has it similarities with the ‘66’ trailer I believe both trailers are
successful in convening appropriate theme tailored to an attracting a specific
audience.

To further understand the effectiveness of the trailers I
conducted a focus group in which I showed the trailer to
people of various age groups and gender to determine what
trailer was better and why. I then handed out surveys and
made notes on what they thought also observed the focus
group to conduct the level of interest show by the
participants. My focus group aged between 10 and 75 with
a mixed gender all equal. I have displayed my results as
comparisons to the trailers target audience.

Findings Batman 1966
As I said in my trailer analysis the target audience seemed to be children
from all the signs that it was giving off. My focus group agreed with me
with one member saying ‘the whole concept looks very childish’. But
when deciding what film they would prefer to watch the younger
members seemed to but my inclined to watch the dark knight when
asked why (male aged 13) they replied saying ‘it looked boring with no
action’. I was surprised to see the older members being attracted to this
film over The Dark Knight. One person male aged 65 said “ it looks like
something you can have fun watching and there doesn't appear to be
much violence in it”. These quotes summed up the split reaction with
many of the older members opting to watch the 1966 batman. The
group looked amused when shown the 1966 trailer almost as if it was
off a sketch show. This showed that the colorful themes displayed in the
66 trailer where seen as completely over the top and comical. The
group however did seem to like the costumes and classic hero values on
show. Again many of the younger members looked uninterested as
there seemed to be no story said one member. Overall I can say that the
Batman 1966 movie has not stood the test of time and its childish
appeal is gone, however its nostalgic properties still remain as the older
members proffered it over the The Dark Knight.

Findings The Dark Knight
As I believe I mentioned in the dark knight trailer analysis the target
audience seemed to be young adult to adults clearly because of it’s dark
themes and in-depth character development. Unlike the Batman 66
trailer my focus group seemed to agree with me. With the overall vibe
being that of excitement but with some people being put off by the
creepy performance of heath ledger as the Joker and the level of
violence on show. As expected the level of action attracted the younger
members and the adults but the older members seemed to be put off
by the rampant pace and explosions one saying ‘the storyline looks
fantastic but there looks very violent and loud as doesn't give you a
chance to settle down before jumping off again’. I had expected this
although the older members seemed to enjoy the banter between
Michael Cane and Christen Bale (Alfred and Bruce). Again violence
became an issue with a one Mother saying the amount of violence in
films like this might cause children to copy what they see. This became a
theme with people who praised the plot but disliked the violence. Some
where able to sit back and just enjoy it for what it is a film trailer, one
man aged 23 said ‘this film is amazing of course there will be arguments
but if anything the film condones this by having a character that fights
for good. Overall the focus group where very satisfied with the trailer
although a few issues where brought up many said they would want to
see the film and find out more about it.

In conclusion I believe that the two trailer I showed meet all the
codes and conventions and appealed to the correct target
audience at time of production. The themes and styles brought
up made people want to see the film. This goes for all
superhero films made to today as I believe there is a strict
formula that these movie must stick to that is displayed in the
two I evaluated. You must show action, locations , vague plot
details , props, music and most importantly the superhero. If
these requirements are there will be public interest in the film.
As there was such a strong debate about violence in film I will
continue the discussion on the next brief.