The man behind the mask: Camp and queer masculinity in LEGO batman

Abstract

In this chapter, author Kyra Hunting analyzes how the LEGO cinematic universe in the film LEGO Batman deploys Batman’s media franchise history. Arguing that LEGO Batman challenges the hypermasculinity of the Batman persona in many of the franchise’s most prominent films, Hunting focuses on how this challenge to masculinity hinges on the incorporation of queer dimensions of the Batman mythos and the embrace of older camp Batman texts that have long been marginalized in the franchise. She argues that the way LEGO adapts media texts allows LEGO Batman to playfully embrace a broad range of intertextual references from the parent franchise. She notes that the flexibility and playfulness that LEGO’s cinematic affords facilitated a complex engagement with Batman’s historical depictions of masculinity and queerness.