Buy Or Don’t Buy

We all know what comes out next week. It’s dunna nanna nanana nanana BATMAN! And the reason why we all know of this comic/action movie as opposed to the (at least) 4 others that came (or are coming out) this summer is because 1. Batman rocks, 2. I was told that this Batman movie is going to be epic, and 3. the hype and advertising is everywhere!

It started about two years ago, when Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker. And boy, did I not buy that. Pretty boy Heath Ledger? Taking on a crazy person role that was already killed by Jack Nicholson in 1989? It was laughable (yes, pun intended). Well, it turns out, Heath is a method actor and apparently makes this movie horrifying. Then he died. And yes, it was sad, and yes, it was tragic and he was so young. That earned him the title of “The Aussie James Dean” and gave the movie more hype. Hype, which I totally buy.

Let’s talk about all this advertising. Overkill? I think not! All the ads give the impression that Gotham City is indeed real. And when I was young(er), I imagined different cities where ponies roamed free and there were always rainbows but never rain. Now that I am old(er), this advertising campaign allows me to imagine a city filled with crime and sarcastic and dumb people. Dominos commercials show delivery people delivering pizzas whilst putting their lives in danger and being funny about it. (And since I am working at a company affiliated with Comcast, I know that Comcast provides Internet to the whole city. Aren’t they super?!) Even though Hellboy 2 comes out tonight and they’ve been doing the same kind of scheme where the characters in that world live among us, I’m still not buying that.

How about the trailers and the video clips all over the Internet and television? I buy into that. They are exciting, dark, even a little funny. And when you see Heath as a murderer, after being dead himself, a shiver goes down your spine.

How about the viral and on street campaigns? That hype is also nuts. With sites like “Why So Serious” and secret meetings planned out, true fans have been quietly vandalizing flyers and posters alike with Sharpies, by adding joker faces to those smaller promotions. In Brooklyn the other night, a Batman light was shone on the side of a building. All of this, I am buying.

So when I finally got my ass into gear to actually purchase some IMAX tickets for the midnight premiere, I was sorely disappointed to find that it was sold out. It happens, and it turns out, I’m not the only buying the hype.