Catwoman's Costume

This morning WB released a photo of Anne Hathaway from the upcoming film, The Dark Knight Rises. Now, if I recall, they've yet to refer to Hathaway's character as Catwoman, but she is playing Selina Kyle (who is the original and most famous Catwoman).

So, for convenience's sake, I'm going to refer to Hathaway's character as Catwoman (mainly because if I refer to her as Kyle, Catwoman is going to slip somewhere in this post).

If you haven't seen the picture, here it is (bigger here):

This is the picture, that was officially released. There are other ones of Hathaway's stunt double (presumably from the same scene) that can be viewed here: Catwoman Stunt Double - Possible SPOILERS

My first conscious thought about the suit was that if I didn't know that Hathaway was playing Catwoman, I would have taken this for Batgirl. My second thought was that if I had been told that Hathaway was playing Batgirl or The Huntress, I would've believed it.

And to me, that's kind of messed up. In spite of what one might critique about Nolan's films, in terms of adapting the Batman comics, with the possible exception of Scarecrow (and really, who's going to wear this itchy thing), he's done a great job of adapting the look of all the major players into a cinematic form.

To me, what's really missing are the ears. I get that he's going for the minimalized domino mask Julie Newmar look crossed with the goggles look, but even they have the ears. And yes, I know that some iterations of Catwoman (notably the original) don't have the ears, but I think for most people something more like this (or this) comes to mind when they think "Catwoman."

Of course, before thinking about making this post, before eating breakfast, before taking some time to say something understandable, I made a Twitter boo boo and wrote this:

"rsreed13 Robert Reed

Well Nolan, you were bound to screw something up: #ThatisBatgirlnotCatwoman #fb http://yfrog.com/h477lzvej"

 

Now several people have taken this tweet a number of different ways, and I can't blame them for it. So to clear some things up:

 

1. I think I made that first hashtag a little clearer in the above. The costume just doesn't say "Catwoman" to me on its own, in a way that I think Catwoman's costume should.

 

2. In regards to Nolan screwing something up, I think the costume Hathaway is wearing is kind of a screw up in terms of capturing an iconic Catwoman. That's not to say that Hathaway herself won't knock the character out of the park, or that the costume can't be an intermediate stage between Selina Kyle and Catwoman, or that Nolan's even trying to capture the look of Catwoman. It's just to say that I don't think the costume says "Catwoman," and in that respect, I don't care for it.

 

3. Just because I don't like think the costume is "Catwoman," doesn't mean I'm ragging on the film itself or Hathaway, so if I came off that way, my bad. I'm still looking forward to this film, largely because of some of the imagery that has leaked and what it might mean in terms of the story (if you want to SPOIL some things for yourself, go here and have a look around).

 

4. On its own, I actually like the costume. The goggles look nifty, and those blue lights probably serve some badass function. It just doesn't say "Catwoman" to me.

 

5. Catwoman riding the batpod is the most badass thing officially released by WB. I like that more than the fact that I might get a properly done Bane.

 

In summary, sorry about the Twitter boo boo. Hopefully this clears some of that up.