![]() ![]() All aristocrats, who like Batman’s Bruce Wayne keep a secret identity. It’s certainly, obviously true for Batman, whose ancestors include The Shadow ‘s Lamont Cranston, Zorro ‘s Don Diego de la Vega, and the Scarlet Pimpernel ‘s Sir Percy Blakeney. Being wealthy, strong, and righteous is the ultimate power fantasy. Not all superheroes are metaphors on wealth–but an awful lot of them are. ![]() Wodehouse’s Jeeves (actually a valet, not a butler) is how the lowly servant asserts his dominance over the helpless Wooster. We all want butlers, but we also want to laugh at the people who need butlers–the comic irony with P.G. (Her play “ The Bat ,” about a masked criminal, was one of Batman’s many inspirations.) The phrase “the butler did it?” It was coined in 1930 by Pittsburgh’s Mary Roberts Rinehart, known as the American Agatha Christie. When Alfred debuted in 1943, the butler was an instantly recognizable character, an easy frame of reference as Americans devoured potboilers and screwball comedies about the foibles of the ruling class. With characteristic British efficiency, Alfred cuts to the core themes that draw people to Batman–wealth, loss, and family.īutlers and superheroes are two literary archetypes that say a lot about America’s conflicted fascination with wealth and social status.īuttling is a tradition that goes back nearly 1,000 years in England–and while the United States was ostensibly founded in rejection of the British social hierarchy, British butlers remain a signifier of status here to this day. Alfred didn’t just survive, he was chosen. But that evolution doesn’t happen in a vacuum–in the Darwinian, publish-or-die world of monthly comics production the changes that stick almost always reflect something about the cultural psyche. How Alfred evolved from Bruce Wayne’s foil to his conscience is a fascinating look into how pop culture mythology evolves, organically covering gaps and healing its missteps with characters that develop minds of their own. It took 76 years, but Alfred grew from a foppish comic relief background character to an emotional core of perhaps the world’s most famous superhero franchise. ![]() But for Alfred fans, it’s a most satisfying moment–proof that steadfast service can finally pay off. “ Pennyworth,” a spy TV show about the early years of Batman’s longtime butler, premiered on Epix this past Sunday.įor Batman fans, it’s a bit frustrating that DC Comics insists on making Caped Crusader shows without the Caped Crusader. After decades of loyal service, Alfred Pennyworth is finally getting some time in the spotlight. ![]()
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