It was in 1939 when the world first met Batman in Detective Comics #27. Batman, Bruce Wayne who as a young child witnessed the murders of both of his parents and feels responsible and dedicates his life to the service of justice. Wayne doesn't do this by becoming a lawyer, judge, or police officer, no because it's fiction and a comic book instead he funds his alter ego, Batman, a superhero who utilizes technology opposed to powers to clean up the streets of Gotham. I'm sure everything above is old news, everybody and their mother has general knowledge about Batman, but why does everybody know about Batman? How did Batman go from a character featured in a comic book in 1939 to a character almost a brand known globally.
Just as Batman the character evolved, Batman as a pop culture icon evolved. Since his inception in 1939 Batman has stayed relevant hardly ever fading. Today, Batman whether it be in comics, movies, video games, on T-shirts, clocks, wallpaper, socks, you name and it has a Batman variety all of these things together make Batman a profit generating machine.
Batman is just one example of fiction or story that becomes a brand. The same is true about Superman, Spider-man, Captain America, and almost every superhero they go from appearing in comics o appearing on everything from t-shirts to bow ties. And, its just not comic book characters the same applies for characters and such from novels for example everybody knows who Harry Potter and Bilbo Baggins both characters from books(Harry Potter books, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy). The same thing can occur with popular TV shows and movies such as Star Trek and Star Wars.
This phenomenon when literature, movies and TV, all of which are encompassed by story inspire other literature, movies, TV, and even video games and go from a story to a brand is an incredible thing. I feel as though this speaks to society's infatuation with story that something as simple as a character can inspire books, movies, TV shows, clothing etc.
This post is very interesting in the sense that it captures the essence of marketing and literary works and their interaction with one another. When you think about it, it's incredible how one simple character or book can become popular "overnight." For the person responsible for the new "craze" though, the ability to have outside sources and a bandwagon behind your work can get you very far, especially in today's world. Looking back on "The Hunger Games Series" and the "Twilight Saga", it truly is weird to think about how these books were once known to only a few. Now though, thanks to the support of most of the world, the symbol of the Mockingjay pin and "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" items are everywhere. Also thanks to this current obsession, these things are permanently pinned into our culture.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to think that how something as simple as a character can inspire books, movies, TV shows, and even clothing like you described. We recognize all of these popular icons like Batman, Spider-man, Harry Potter and a bunch of other characters but we tend to forget that they started out as simple characters and evolved into what we see them as today. I thought the Batman example was perfect because we all know the story behind Batman due to movies and comic books but we forget that he started out just as an idea and then came popular over time just like many other superheroes. They started out being a new unknown thing and now they are an extremely popular brand. This evolution from story to brand is an incredible phenomenon that I never even thought about! I wonder what new "craze" or popular icon will come up next?
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