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Gayness is built into Batman. I'm not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There's just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he's intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay.
Grant Morrison
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that the essence of Batman contains elements of gayness, regardless of his heterosexual portrayal.

In this quote, Grant Morrison argues that while the character of Batman is officially portrayed as heterosexual, the undertones of his character and narratives are intrinsically aligned with themes of queerness and fluidity. This notion challenges conventional interpretations and invites deeper consideration of sexuality within iconic figures in popular culture, emphasizing the complexity and richness of character representation.

Themes

BatmanGaynessIdentitySexualityCulture

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion on gender representation in comic books.

More from Grant Morrison

We're the new power, come to replace the old. Cameras in the head, children with microchips, spin doctors rewriting reality as it happens.
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A comic will always be more 'personal' than a DVD or CD, both of which require electronic 'players' to decode their content. With comics, the reader is the player so the engagement with the material is always more fundamental and dynamic. Reading comics is a much less passive activity than consuming CDs and DVDs.
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American writers often say they find it difficult to write Superman. They say he's too powerful; you can't give him problems. But Superman is a metaphor. For me, Superman has the same problems we do, but on a Paul Bunyan scale. If Superman walks the dog, he walks it around the asteroid belt because it can fly in space. When Superman's relatives visit, they come from the 31st century and bring some hellish monster conqueror from the future. But it's still a story about your relatives visiting.
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I'm the evil mastermind behind the scenes. I'm the wicked puppeteer who pulls the strings and makes you dance. I'm your writer.
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Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.
Grant MorrisonRead
A cannon fires only once but words detonate across centuries
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