Warner Bros Nixes Any Attempt At Transing The Batman Franchise
Warner Bros Issues Cease And Desist Order Over Transgender Joker Film
Trans filmmaker Vera Drew’s indie film The People’s Joker has been pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival after Warner Bros. reportedly issued a cease-and-desist order.
The crowd-funded parody, which Drew wrote, directed, and stars in, recasts the iconic Batman villain as a transgender comedian attempting to find her voice in an oppressive society. Drew’s character, according to the film’s official synopsis, spent years numbing herself with fictional drug before grappling with “gender identity, first love, and a fascist caped crusader all while founding an illegal comedy theatre in Gotham City.”
The film is unauthorized by Warner Bros. and DC Comics, a fact the filmmaker acknowledges in a title card that reportedly precedes the film, claiming the characters are used under U.S. fair use doctrine, which protects the use of copyrighted materials for certain purposes. In 1988, the Supreme Court established that parody is protected under the First Amendment.
“If these are our modern myths, and if the purpose of myth is to learn about the human experience and grow and also chart your progress—the hero’s journey and all that stuff—let’s actually do that earnestly with these characters,” Drew said ahead of the film’s premiere.
But that didn’t stop Warner Bros. from reportedly issuing a cease-and-desist after the film received one screening at TIFF. The festival issued the following statement via its website: “The filmmaker has withdrawn this film due to rights issues. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
“…and a fascist caped crusader”
Yeah, I think I just hit upon why this movie got hit with a C&D.
Batman is a much-loved superhero. We love him because he is real to us. On the contrary, Superman or Clark Kent is not real to Americans. Superman is an alien who can fly, take bullets to the face, jump over skyscrapers, lift skyscrapers, etc. Likewise, Spiderman is not real either. Spiderman has ridiculous motor skills allowing him to slow down time in his head and react at alarming rates. He also shoots webs out of his wrists allowing him to swing from building to building almost effortlessly. This “spider power" also gives him the ability to climb walls and be super strong. Batman's “superpower" is his money and his abilities. He doesn't have any supernatural ability that helps him fight his enemies. We love Batman because he is simply an extraordinary man.
We love him for two reasons. Firstly, he's rich and doesn't have to fight crime. Secondly, we love him because while all other superheroes stand on their pedestal and soak in the fame of being super, Batman is willing to make all the necessary sacrifices to keep Gotham safe, even if it means he has to be labeled as the bad guy. He vows to work in the dark and protect the people, wearing a mask and fighting in the dead of night without a pat on the back or a sign of gratitude from the people so to suggest that Batman is a fascist, or even has fascist tendencies, is a slap in the face to the legions of Batman fans across the country and Warner knows a good thing when they see it and will not brook any retelling of their moneymaker, parody or not.
And they’re certainly not going to allow any wokeness to infiltrate the franchise.
This isn’t the first time Warner decided that going woke was going broke when they pulled their own authorized version of Batgirl in partnership with HBO Max. The studio said it wasn’t “good enough” and early test screenings seem to bear this out but, according to insiders, the movie was permanently shelved by Warner Bros amidst reports that the "woke" iteration of the character was "irredeemable."
Early tests revealed that the moviegoers did not enjoy the film at all. In fact, it was apparently so bad that the executives at Warner decided it wasn’t worth going straight to DVD.
The film had reportedly completed filming, despite some routine post-production work, and was set to be distributed later in 2022 on HBO Max with a possible theatrical release. Batgirl's budget was at least $70 million while some claim it was upwards of $100 million. It's now been pulled from HBO Max, theaters, and any other streaming service.
Hollywood has figured out woke-free movies pay off big time.
Recently, Netflix told their employees to go work somewhere else if the content is not to their liking.
“Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful,” the company said in a memo. “If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”