A Cat of Nine Tails, Episode 1: Lee Meriwether in Batman The Movie (1966)

To kick off this series, let’s talk about how Lee Meriwether got her paws wet in the first theatrical version of Catwoman. We’ll cat-alogue her cat-crimes, dig our claws into her purrturbing relationship with Batman, and chat about her portrayal as a feline femme fatale.
Sources: The Many Lives of Catwoman by Tim Hanley
screenrant.com/batman-60s-tv-...
• One Hour Femmes Fatale... for femme fatales
www.dc.com/blog/2022/03/03/th...
Costume analyses of Catwoman: morethanaloveinterest.tumblr....
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0:00 Introduction
0:46 Part I: A Cataclysmic Catalogue of Cat-Crimes
6:59 Part II: Riding in Cat-illacs with Bat-Boys
15:12 Part III: Cats, Catwomen, and the Feline Femme Fatale
24:44 Conclusion

[@sorcerersapprentice]

The Bruce Wayne and Catwoman dynamic was always fascinating and fun to watch. She's the rare instance of a female anima. I think the only other time I've seen that from what I've recalled is Katniss in the Hunger Games, who needs an animus to balance her out in the form of Peeta. (Which I would love to see you cover one day). Selina and him balance each other out well in ways that a lot of ships don't.
Something else I find interesting about this version is that she's Eastern European coded. Kitka is a Bulgarian/Russian name, and she sounds like she has an accent. Considering this movie came out during the Cold War, making her Russian would make sense, because it would make her seem more twisted and attractive to the male audience. In the modern comics, I think she's at least half latina from what I heard.

[@annekalgesch5094]

Yeah, I've always liked the interplay between the two of them. I was surprised this movie did so much with that, given how short it is and how much time is devoted to silliness. That's a good example - I always like the balance
Definitely being made during the cold war impacted the story - lots of satire about the UN and such. I'm not sure how pointed it was to have the honey trap be Russian but it certainly worked here. Oh yeah, I believe the current Selina is Latina (to some extent, they play with her backstory quite a bit). I'm looking forward to exploring several iterations of her

[@sorcerersapprentice]

@@annekalgesch5094 Given that this series came out in the 60s, it's pretty progressive. Eartha Kitt also played her in the show, and she was half black. Having a half black woman play a love interest and be sympathetic is ground breaking. (Even though, I find it funny, since I still tie her more to Yzma in the Emperor's New Groove. xD )
I am not sure if that coding was intentional either, but it worked out here.
That's cool. Curious to see how they'll play around with that in the future.