For those who have not yet seen the new Batman movie, I will not spoil anything about the plot but only touch on how the character of Cat Woman was portrayed. While many were elated when it was announced that Zoe Kravitz would be assuming the role, some also redacted this approval because of an interview she was in. In a magazine interview she addressed Cat Woman’s history as a highly sexualized pop culture figure and she stated “I tried to think about it not as Cat Woman, but as a woman, how does this make me feel? How are we approaching this and making sure we’re not fetishizing or creating a stereotype?”(par. 3)  Many twitter users were offended by this comment even saying things like “don’t play as Cat Woman then” or “She does understand who Cat Woman is right? Cat Woman has ALWAYS used her sex appeal as a weapon” (par 4).  After the backlash, users came back defending her saying that her comments were simply about controlling her persona and how she chooses to express herself or her “weapon”. Others also analyzed her comments as simply wanting to give her character more depth and having a more real vulnerable side. This interview and the wide range of feedback received left many wondering, how is she going to portray Cat Woman in this new movie? Is she going to not sexualize her all together? Is there really going to be any change at all?

After hearing about this interview, I was really intrigued to see how her new character would be portrayed in the new Batman movie. I was hoping for a more strong and deep representation, while I understand some sexualization with her taking advantage of her looks, I was hoping there would be fewer unnecessary parts. I understand it cannot be taken away all together, but small changes could definitely be made to lessen how dramatically sexualized she usually is.

When I saw this film, I was definitely surprised with how many parts of the movie fetishized her in unnecessary ways (I had high hopes). The part that surprised me the most was how she was introduced, which was by being shown working at a club for a lot of old and creepy men. When they first showed her, she was wearing a bright wig and tight outfit acting as a private server for the owner of the club. He waved her over and she strutted towards him in her boots, being glared down by the creepy man. She was highly sexualized by all the men at the club but I do not think she ever actually had any relationships with any of them. There were times where she was used because of her looks to get information from men and had to flirt her way to get it. All the while, throughout the entire movie she only wore tight outfits.

As for how she showed her vulnerability, it was definitely most strongly shown through her relationship with her dad. I do not want to spoil too much on this topic but it definitely brought out a weak side to her that has never been touched upon much before. In some parts of the movie, she seems almost too ruthless, but her vulnerability about her past makes her character seem much more real. I appreciated how they showed her character feeling real and genuine emotion and felt that it definitely helped connect with her more. I feel that this opened up another side to her that has never been exposed by Cat Woman before, but was this enough?

The question that I asked myself after watching this film was did she really focus more on the depth of her character and controlling her sex appeal as a weapon or was this film not very different than how sexualized the character has been in previous films? When it really came down to her character, I felt many scenes she was in seemed to be made for the male gaze or fetishized in some way. I feel that when it comes to the portrayal of women in marvel movies, they seem to take two steps forward and three steps back. In comparison to how the women in Black Widow were portrayed, this movie was honestly disappointing. While I definitely do believe a more vulnerable side of Cat Woman was exposed, I still do not believe this was enough to offset and make sense of how much she was fetishized throughout the movie. I feel like many parts were simply unnecessary. A part that made me uncomfortable was when she had a camera in her eye showing her walking around the club looking for the source they wanted to get information from. As she walked around the club, the camera showed countless old men looking her up and down and I feel as though this uncomfortable scene lasted an eternity. It was parts of the movie like this and the parts I already stated above that seemed very unnecessary and fetishized her character to an unnecessary extent.

Besides her stereotypical portrayal, I really loved the new Batman movie and definitely recommend it to everyone! If anyone has seen this movie, I want to know your opinion on how you feel like the character of Cat Woman was portrayed. Do you think she was more sexualized or do you believe that her character was well-rounded enough where the parts she was sexualized was more understood as her taking advantaged of her looks in her own way? I personally could not really see it this way and felt she was more sexualized than she needed to be, but what do you think?

Cites

Burleigh, Eleanor, and Eleanor Burleigh (83 Articles Published) . “Men Attack Zoë Kravitz for Saying She Doesn’t Want Catwoman Fetishized.” TheThings, 6 Oct. 2021, https://www.thethings.com/men-attack-zo-kravitz-for-saying-she-doesnt-want-catwoman-fetishized/.