The Batman Franchise

Eileen Meehan asserts plainly in her analysis of the Batman franchise titled "Holy commodity fetish, Batman!" that the text surrounding Batman's character - in comics, movies, television, etc. - cannot be isolated by literary critics without consideration of the text as a commodity. In her long-winded description of Batman's history as a revenue-generating culture, Meehan breaks down the nature of transindustrial integration that accelerated Batman into hyper commodification. Based on this undetachable aspect of economic association, the Batman's validity as a symbol of literary significance has been lost to multi industrial corporation. The resounding message of this analysis boils Batman's character down to a simple product, with no authenticity as a real literary figure.

I find it difficult to argue against this position, primarily because of the way Batman is perceived in today's popular culture. How does one separate the textual significance of a character from his value as a commodity? When superhero publication receives such a sensational bloom of popularity in American culture, corporate culture tends to take advantage of that popularity by manufacturing products in tandem with mass appeal. Anyone can argue, however, that popular literary figures since decades and even centuries earlier have been shaped by their authors based on reactions of their audiences. Does this completely invalidate that figure from maintaining its literary significance, or does it just create an additional element of influence that must be considered when analyzing the context of such literature?

With that being said, Batman's popularity, according to this article, was the first of any literary creation to take the spotlight on the platform of transindustrial integration. Even though past literary figures have received wide popularity within literary communities, Batman dramatically breached the boundaries of literature and permeated all levels of popular culture with his constant presence in forms of media like music, television, and major motion pictures. The real issue lies in the ownership of Batman as a character in any published form of literature since his purchase by Warner Communications, Inc. (WCI). Once a major corporation attains ownership of a character who was once considered an influential literary figure, it is safe to say that any literary significance in future publications involving that character is ultimately lost. Large corporations have no interest in producing a character that operates beyond the bounds of cultural popularity. The only consideration, of course, is the potential to gain revenue. Even though this consideration is not completely absent from production of literature in the past, its presence as the ONLY consideration of corporate industries renders Batman as an unviable figure of contemporary literature.