Selina Kyle In Batman Returns: A Character Study

[StuSmallz]

Next, we follow a woman walking all alone down a snow-covered street in Gotham, before she's abruptly pulled into a dark alleyway by a much larger man, taking advantage of the relative physical weakness she possesses partially due to her gender, and, even though he's apparently just a mugger, the way he rapaciously snatches downward at the woman's purse, keeps his hand firmly over her mouth to smother any potential cries for help, and his creepy comment about her way being a "pretty little thing", mean that the specter of potential sexual assault is never far from our minds during this scene. Before he can finish robbing the poor, helpless woman, however, a long, Expressionistic shadow begins to slowly, ominously rise up on the nearby wall, catching the man's attention and causing him to cease his attack, as he turns to see what's casting it:



It's Selina, finally, fully revealed in all of her Catwoman'd glory, enveloped head-to-toe in her gleaming catsuit, the white stitches all over representing the way that she's "sewn" her fractured psyche back together (for the time being, at least) after her defenestration, the obvious dominatrix stylings representing her newfound aggressive sense of sexuality, one that's not liberated for men's pleasure in any way, but is designed to be weaponized against them, while its full-body design, besides just being practical outside in the icy Gotham winter (a lesson that the naive Ice Princess should've cared about), also prevents it from becoming just some pointless, skimpy bit of fanservice, ala Halle Berry's much-maligned version of the character.



"I just love a big strong man who's not afraid to show it with someone half his size", Selina sarcastically purrs in her deep, sultry Catwoman voice, fearlessly challenging the mugger's manhood, as she is no longer content to just stand around any more and be victimized, or let any other woman have to experience the same trauma she did. The mugger immediately lets go of his first intended victim and looks to make Selina his next one instead, advancing on her while adopting a fighting stance, although he fails to intimidate Selina at all, as she confidentally stands her ground, steady as a rock, and continues to taunt the man by quipping "Be gentle, it's my first time" (again, another example of weaponized sexuality). And, at any rate, you'd never know it was Selina's "first time", as she effortlessly utilizes her six-inch dominatrix heels to brutal effect, taking the man completely off guard with a flurry of furious, no-mercy kickboxing (a discipline that Pfeiffer trained in just for this role!), as she steadily drives him back up against the wall:



Selina then pops out her homemade "claws", made of sewing implements up out of her hand (further weaponizing the incredibly benign, "girly"-seeming hobby), letting out a sudden, furious hiss as she does so, as the mugger can only watch frozen in completely, stunned bewilderment, as she scratches a bloody set of horizontal and vertical lines across his face, darkly, playfully exclaiming "Tic... tac...", before punching him right in the face for the "toe!", sending him out cold to the (also cold) ground before. The woman begins to to thank Selina for saving her, but she is abruptly silenced again by another hand being pressed over her mouth, although it belongs to Selina this time:



"You make it so easy, don't you? Always waiting for some Batman to save you?" Selina challenges the woman, likely thinking back upon her own physical helplessness in the face of the clown, and utilizing her outrage to break the cycle in Gotham of men collectively victimizing, and then rescuing helpless women... from other men. However, rather than continue to direct her self-loathing inward as she did before, she instead lashes out at with it, as if using the other woman as a proxy to criticize her past self, unfairly blaming the victim in the process, which obviously puts Selina in the mugger's place without her realizing it, making her the new predator, as she seems to have gotten involved for her own spiteful reasons, with no real interest in actually helping her out. The woman can only continue to stare in a petrified silence at this sudden about-turn, as Selina leans in closer and fiercly growls "I am Catwoman... hear me roar...", her proclamation to Gotham that a brand new black-clad vigilante is in town, this one a feminist avenger, and the XX-chromosome'd yin to Batman's yang, before she leaves the scene just as dramatically as she entered it, peeling off a flawless, furious set of rapid backflips, and disappearing off into the cold, dark night.

[Bn43]

Always perplexes me why people care so much about the Oscars.

[StuSmallz]

Originally Posted by Bn43

Always perplexes me why people care so much about the Oscars.

Well, it does make sense that people do, since they're the most prominent entertainment awards around period, so they should be much less irrelevant in terms of what they nominate/award, but they are, and that's why it's so frusturating. If only they weren't so politicized, and looked to actually award the most deserving films of each year, regardless of genre, amount of campagining the studios did, etc., they'd be so, so much better.

[StuSmallz]

Later, Bruce Wayne shows up at Max's office for a meeting about the latter's questionable plans for a new power plant, the secret intent which, of course, lead to Selina's attempted murder earlier, although her absence is excused by Max's claim that she's "using her vacation time". At any rate, the meeting starts off on a bad foot, and then starts going even further south due to Bruce's suspicions over Schreck's fishy connection to The Penguin, but, as a familiar motif of eerily screeching strings reappear on the soundtrack, and something out of frame distracts Bruce completely from the confrontation, Max obliviously threatens him with a "If my assistant was here, she would've already escorted you out to...", as a female voice finishes ..."wherever he wants", as Max finally turns to see who it is:



It's that supposedly "on vacation" assistant, aka Selina, with the bandage still on her forehead, and her skin still pale as a living corpse, seemingly back from the dead, somehow, someway. She continues "Preferably some nightspot, grotto, or, secluded hideaway?", before continuing her flirtation by forwardly complimenting Bruce on his "nice suit", showing a newfound romantic confidence in the face of a potential new partner, even though all he can do is remain silent, staring completely enraptured at the sight of this strange, bewitching woman. A stunned Max, on the other hand, can only mindlessly stammer "Selina... Selina, Selina-", before she cuts him off with a sassy, chuckling "That's my name, Maximillions, don't wear it out or I'll make you buy me a new one", as having survived the ultimate journey to death and back, she no longer cowers in fear of Max's power, or even just cares one whit about whether or not he approves of her conduct.



After yet another pause (one that isn't due to Walken's signature style of delayed line deliveries this time), Max uneasily introduces Selina to Bruce, who, remembering the time he rescued her under a different guise, foolishly claims that they've met before, a dead giveaway to his absentminded state in her magnetic presence. Selina can only confusedly reply "Have we?", before Bruce attempts to correct his error by saying that "I mistook me for someone else", which is not only one of the most clever lines of dialogue I've ever heard, but another dead giveaway, this time to Bruce's fractured, dual state of mind, which will obviously be reflected in Selina's growing issues with her own dueling "personalities", showing how the same similarity that makes it seem as though the two are meant together is also the thing that will ultimately doom their love. At any rate, Bruce points out Selina's bandage and asks what happened, but before she can respond, Max abruptly cuts in asks her if she injured herself "on that ski slope", and if that's the reason why she cut short her "vacation", creating yet another iffy cover story on the fly, and attempting to intimidate Selina into silence in the process:



However, even in the face of that cold staredown, Selina isn't going to play along anymore, as, in the face of dumbstruck Bruce, she instead begins rambling on about how, even though what happened is a "blur" to her, she isn't suffering from complete "amnesia", as she remembers a Sister "Mary-Margaret" puking in church, a friend saying that it was "morning sickness", and how she forget to wear her underwear to school once, and a boy named "Ricky Friedburg" noticed (a nice, quick way of establishing that Selina's formerly repressed sexuality was partly courtesy of a strict Catholic upbringing), before the nostalgic smile suddenly drops off her face with a grim "He's dead now", revealing Selina's now much darker outlook on life. However, she still manages to find some joy when, obviously lying and relishing her vengeful torment of Max with the potentail blackmail of the little secret she now dangles over his head like a ball of yarn, she continues "But last night...? Complete blur! Couldn't you just die?", saying outloud the same exact thing that Max is surely thinking right now.



At any rate, the only thing he does say is a pathetic, coded plea of "Selina, please... show out Mr. Wayne", to which she responds with a genuine "With pleasure!", crossing over and making physical contact by taking his arm in a surprisingly assertive, confident gesture, before reminding him to pick up his coat. Bruce, however, can only stare mindlessly at her, completely and utterly smitten by the sight of her for a very long moment, before her words finally register with him and he walks back to pick the article of clothing up, a distraction that Max and Selina take advantage of to exchange a tense, loaded look, each of them daring the other to say or do something stupid, before Bruce returns to be escorted off.



Continuing their walk arm-in-arm out through the reception area, Selina remarks that Bruce doesn't seem like "the type to do business with Mr. Schreck", as she seems able to naturally sense the status given to him by the film as the token "good" billionaire, as opposed to, well, everything Shreck is (who is a far more accurate representation of the rich, IMO, but let's not get into class politics right now, eh?). Bruce, unaware of her previous demeanor, responds that she doesn't seem like the type "to take orders from him", to which she responds that "it's a long story" (as we're already very well aware ourselves).



Bruce, looking to grow closer to this hypnotic woman, says that he could "free up some time" in order to hear that story, an advance that's met in kind by Selina saying that she's "listed" (as in, her number's listed in the phone book, for those of you too young to remember a pre-Internet era). An eager Bruce, having entered the elevator to leave, says that he's "tempted", to which a newly focused Selina, unwilling to let herself get distracted as she did so often before, replies that she's "working", curtly turning to leave Bruce alone as the elevator doors close shut, albeit with an eager smile on her face, having made a new romantic prospect, one that she's justifiably confident will come back to see her again (which he will, of course, but much sooner than Selina expects, as we'll soon see).

https://youtu.be/t7z1kPGea1g

[StuSmallz]

Later, on a night where Batman is furiously battling the Penguin's gang of clowns as they attempt to sew chaos throughout the not-so-good city of Gotham on their boss's orders, a certain other black-clad vigilante slinks into frame, merrily skipping through the streets, as a familiar, stylized cat clock rotates away, just before we transition to the same logo painted on a storefront, as the figure suddenly pops into frame and lines up with it perfectly; it's Selina (duh), back in her Catwoman guise, taking a moment to stop and savor the anticipation of the mayhem she's about to commit, with the appropriately huge, Cheshire Cat-grin on her face seeming to mock the grotesque capitalism that her murderous boss attempts to hide beneath the thin veneer of a mascot engineered to be "cute", before she finally creeps away, her "claws" shrilly screeching across the glass as she does so, not caring one whit about the property damage she's causing as she goes.



Inside, Selina expertly but care-freely cartwheels throughout Schreck's store, showing off the newly-discovered acrobatic prowess that was awakened due to her "rebirth" as Catwoman, before jumping on a nearby mini-trampoline and soaring through the air, her six-inch heels slamming down hard on the slippery, spotless marble floor, although Selina never even comes close to wobbling as she does so, making a 100% firm, solid landing worthy of the Olympics. Selina then unwinds the "tail" (aka whip) wrapped around her body in one incredibly smooth, sinuous motion, the look of anticipatory pleasure positively beaming off her face as she hunts for something to take joy in destroying.



She then finds just such a thing when she notices a row of formally-dressed female mannequins standing nearby, which she quickly, efficiently whips the heads off (something that Pfeiffer apparently did all in one take on set on her first try, having learned how to wield the whip just for this role!), destroying these representations of traditional femininity and the roles that society forces woman into because that's the way they're "supposed" to be, just before Selina leaves by daintily "jumping rope" with the whip, subverting another traditional representation of "girliness". Selina then comes to a stop in front of a jewelry counter (yet another stereotypical representation of femininity), and abruptly, violently smashes it, as two male security guards nonchalantly step into frame, as Selina aggressively turns to face them.



"Who is she?", one of them says. "What is she? I don't know whether to open fire or fall in love!", the other responds, as they both share a sexist chuckle between them before drawing their firearms and training them on Selina, eager to underestimate her because of her sex, and not take her seriously as a genuine physical threat. However, Selina soon corrects their misperception of her, as she responds "You poor guys; always confusing your pistols with your privates", returning their gender-based disrespect in a voice absolutely dripping with contempt, before she metaphorically castrates them of said "privates" by quickly whipping them out of their hands, both of them unable to react in their defense at all, completely caught off-guard by the possibility that a mere dame could beat them in this way.



Now helpless at Selina's mercy, either clutching their hands still stinging from the bite of her whip, or holding them up in an eager, petrified surrender gesture, the guards now completely change their tone, pathetically begging "Don't hurt us lady, our take-home's less then 300!" (hardly a surprise to learn, a rich guy under-paying his workers, eh?). However, even though she knows herself the horrors of working for Schreck (far more than these guys do, in fact), Selina's in no mood for any kind of class solidarity, as she merely responds "You're overpaid! Hit the road", before dismissing them with another sudden crack of her whip, sending them cowardly scurrying away, before she contemptuously turns her back on them, rewrapping the whip around herself with a confident, self-satisfied flourish, rightfully assured that she's put them in their place.



Finally, while Batman continues battling the Penguin's goons nearby (with a certain amount of "excessive force"), Selina continues her rampage by walking into the housewares sections of the store, carrying a bundle of aerosol cans in her arms, before placing them down, walking towards a panel on a nearby panel on a wall, and using her claws to violently stab through it, ripping the panel off and revealing a can alarmingly labelled "GAS", which she pulls a hose loose from, sending a jet of the stuff whistling through the air, before walking back to the aerosols, stuffing them all in a microwave before twisting the timing knob, before continuing to skip away, exiting the store the same way she entered it; savoring the coming destruction of the foremost symbol of Max's greed, and the eventual chaos that she's about to set off (literally).

https://youtu.be/W-lYpSBR-a4

[StuSmallz]

Later, out in front of Schreck's, Batman and The Penguin are sharing a tense confrontation over the destruction that the latter's minions are causing, although this scene is soon interrupted by the sound of Selina furiously backflipping into frame towards them across the plaza, as the two men can only stand and watch transfixed by this unexpected intruder, before she finally comes to a stop before them, popping up, taking a moment to catch her breath, and, after a long, tense moment, finally letting out the world's most droll, satisfied "Meow", before the store instantly vaporizes in the explosion she set up earlier:



Startled by this, Batman looks up to spy Selina already making her escape by clambering her way up a nearby building, while The Penguin takes advantage of this distraction to also make his escape, via use of an oh so Burton-y improbable umbrella-turned-personal-helicopter, although not before he, obviously physically enticed by the sight of Catwoman as the hopeless horndog that he is, remarks to Batman "I saw her first", before gracefully taking off. And, as he floats away, the camera pans over to settle on Selina standing on a rooftop, big Cheshire Cat-grin plastered on her face, watching him as she lazily swings her whip back and forth, obviously inspired by the sight of a fellow kindred spirit helping to contribute to the overall mayhem ongoing in Gotham:



However, after taking pleasure in this brief respite, Selina then gets back to her business of anarchy, as she walks away with a flourish to intercept the batty one as he pursues her up a ladder, as she kicks him back off to the rooftop below, jumping after Batman and taking him by complete storm/surprise with a flurry of punishing punches and kicks, as well as engaging in some psychological warfare to compliment her physical kind, as once she has Bats back on the ropes, she randomly stops short in order to strike a menacing pose with both sets of claws poised to pounce, obviously catching him completely off-guard with her assault, enjoying lashing out at this patriarchal representation of law and order, still resenting him for making her feel helpless back during the riot, even though she really did need his help at the time:



However, eventually Batman gets weary of letting his ass get kicked, so he finally starts to block Catwoman's blows like the trained martial artist that he is, before actually trying to fight back with a brutal backhand, which sends her sprawling down to the ground, as an out of breath Selina heaves an outraged "How could you... I'm a woman!", hypocritically taking advantage of the traditional gender roles hard-baked into Gotham society (and the world as a whole), as if she hadn't just been in the middle of violently assaulting him just a second ago. Unfortunately, Batman falls for this obvious trap, immediately feeling ashamed of himself for having struck a woman (who, again, was striking him), expressing a genuinely ashamed "I'm sorry", and reaching his hand out to Selina to help her back up:



However, her trap fallen into, Selina then viciously kicks Batman backwards, and then suddenly pops right back up, her whip out and being swung in a blinding flurry of cracks, one which drives Batman back further, until he clumsily trips over the edge of the roof and tumbles off, with the only thing ensuring him from splatting on the street below is Catwoman using the whip to grab a hold of his arm as he falls, showing that, while she isn't quite "bad" enough to want to kill Batman, she still won't let him go without teaching him a lesson about making sexist assumptions towards women. As Batman dangles helplessly a mile above the unforgiving pavement below, she continues with great relish "As I was saying, I'm a woman, and can't be taken for granted. Life's a *****, now so am I!":



However, during this little speech, Batman covertly takes some sort of chemical-filled capsule out his bottomless utility belt, activating it by shaking it up, and throwing up at Selina in a splash of blue liquid, burning her shoulder, and sending her flying with a startled scream onto a nearby slanted rooftop, one that Selina frantically attempts to clamber up to no avail, her razor-sharp claws and heels finding no purchase on the treacherous surface. However, just before Selina can fall off, Batman soon arrives to save her once again, grabbing her and lifting her up into his arms on the nearby ledge, and, despite the incredibly close quarters they're sharing, Bruce still underestimates his (female) opponent and makes absolutely no attempt to apprehend of restrain Selina, who immediately begins playing her mind games with him once again:



"Who are you? Who's the man behind the Bat? Maybe you can help me find... the woman, behind the Cat?". As she speaks, Selina holds out one threatingly beclawed hand, and caresses it seductively down the faux six-pack of Batman's torso armor, which Batman obviously enjoys, as a rare smile of enjoyment spreads on his face, not realizing that Catwoman is again laying a trap for him (though with her feminine whiles this time instead of her gender), which is something that she basically admits right to his face when she says "No, that's not you... ah, there you are" as she searches for, and finds a weak point, manipulating Batman with her sexuality in order to find a literal chink in his armor.



Selina takes advantage of this discovery by using said claws for their original intended purpose, as she suddenly stabs through Batman's armor, which he reacts to by reflexively giving her yet another "pimp-style" backhand (the use of which against a woman carries plenty of uncomfortable undercurrents of its own), sending her flying straight off the ledge, and into a fortunately-timed dump truck driving by, which is conveniently carrying a load of soft sand in its bed, providing another plausible explanation for how Selina is possibly surviving all these potentially deadly falls, absent of any actual supernatural explanations. Immediately shaking some of it off, Selina looks down at her situation, before relaxing, and remarking that she was "Saved by 'kitty litter'", letting out a surprised laugh at the irony, although she's not quite willing yet to let bygones by bygones, as she then notices the newly-formed tear in the shoulder of her catsuit courtesy of Batman's peculiar chemical cocktail, and spitting out a "Bastard!" with genuine disdain in her voice, as it's clear that she still intends to return to gain some sort of vengeance against him, very soon:



However, the sentiment proves to not be mutual, as we then see Batman recovering from the fight in the Batcave, painfully removing one of Catwoman's "claws" still embedded in his side, amongst the ragged mess of holes she punctured in his suit. He then picks up a nearby phone, and asks the ever-trusty Alfred to bring some anti-septic ointment to him. Alfred inquires if Bruce is any kind of pain, to which he replies "No, not really", before continuing to study the claw, the lone memento of the extremely memorable encounter he just had, as he repeats "Meow", and a lone, shrill stringed instrument shrieks on the soundtrack, showing that, despite the physical beating this mysterious woman just laid upon him, the bewitching mental impression that Catwoman left upon Bruce is far, far stronger:

https://youtu.be/j6FBRst_xO0