The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter.
It’s the deepest question asked in the shallowest movie. Midway through 2014’s Neighbors, thirtysomething Seth Rogen asks Zac Efron, who plays college frat star Teddy Sanders, “Who is Batman to you?” Without missing a beat, Teddy replies, “Christian Bale,” a clear indication that he grew up on the Dark Knight films of Christopher Nolan. Rogen’s Mac, meanwhile, remembers the Caped Crusader as Michael Keaton, who played the character in Tim Burton’s movies. Neither of them says Val Kilmer or George Clooney, who played Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, respectively. It’s not surprising—many Bat-fans have for years hoped those movies would be forgotten.
Joel Schumacher, the man behind the aforementioned flops, died this week at the age of 80. As generally happens when a director with a decades-long career passes, his death led to a reevaluation of his work. If there’s one thing that has surfaced again and again, it isn’t nostalgia for his 1980s cult classics like The Lost Boys or St. Elmo’s Fire, it’s the pent-up secret fandom for his Batman flicks. At the time of their release, they were seen as splashy, campy, and far too hypercolored for films about the generally brooding Bruce Wayne. (People of this opinion, though, have slim memories of the Batman TV show from the ’60s.) There were digs at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze and Jim Carrey’s Riddle
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