Monday, April 03, 2006
You Don't Bring Me Flowers...
This post contains spoilers to Batman #651.
In the previous issue we were shown that Poison Ivy was wielding enhanced power; her plants were swarming all over the top tier of a major skyscraper. So it struck me that the writer missed an opportunity in this issue, since Ivy is outsmarted, overcome, and escorted to Arkham Asylum fairly effortlessly, (in a manner that I thought was reminiscent of the 60s television show).
I was intrigued by the artist's choice of imagery in depicting her "Oh, I give up" moment:
Does this look to anyone else as if it's the climactic moment in a fairy tale? If that's what this is supposed to evoke, shouldn't the knight be on his knees, anyway?
Did I miss something, or has Ivy just asked Batman to marry her?
In the previous issue we were shown that Poison Ivy was wielding enhanced power; her plants were swarming all over the top tier of a major skyscraper. So it struck me that the writer missed an opportunity in this issue, since Ivy is outsmarted, overcome, and escorted to Arkham Asylum fairly effortlessly, (in a manner that I thought was reminiscent of the 60s television show).
I was intrigued by the artist's choice of imagery in depicting her "Oh, I give up" moment:
Does this look to anyone else as if it's the climactic moment in a fairy tale? If that's what this is supposed to evoke, shouldn't the knight be on his knees, anyway?
Did I miss something, or has Ivy just asked Batman to marry her?
Comments:
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I'm not sure, but it's definitely a symbolic submission/dominance gesture, ritualized obescience. Also, Batman looks like a stamen in that last panel.
# posted by 
: 6:35 PM
: 6:35 PM
Hi, KKG!
Good points. And you're right, Batman does resemble a significant plant-part in that panel.
The depiction of Poison Ivy's surrender to Batman struck me as sexualized (and therefore unpleasant); the panel that really made me cringe was the first one in the center series.
Good points. And you're right, Batman does resemble a significant plant-part in that panel.
The depiction of Poison Ivy's surrender to Batman struck me as sexualized (and therefore unpleasant); the panel that really made me cringe was the first one in the center series.
*coughs* Yes, that's definitely one of those "if taken out of context" panels. I think the sexualization of an otherwise dominant-male/submissive-female framework may come from the characters themselves. Ivy is highly sexualized as a fertility goddess. Batman is, perhaps not as obviously, an incarnation of the horned god, (typically representing both the underworld and male virility in most cultures). The whole stamen/flower visual image, being analogous to various phallic symbolism, doesn't help.
# posted by : 12:03 AM
: 12:03 AM
OR maybe they wanted to hint at a batman and Ivy kind of relationship. Or he's just helping her up. Batman wasn't made to be a horn god. That is just coincidence(that he has horns..wtf). We all know his cowl wasn't even all that pointy when it started.
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# posted by : 3:47 AM
: 3:47 AM << Home
