The geography of Gotham is quite strange in Schumachers films. More so in Batman & Robin, but I am going to post this here because I like this page better. After all, its the same exact city in both films with no real deviations from style like there was when the jump was made from Burton to Schumacher. Gotham City would seem to have a giant mountainside cliff running through the center of it, which is showcased in Batman & Robin during two scenes: The one where Barbara Wilsons motorcycle race ends, and of course the location of Gotham Observatory. Both locations show us that this is not the edge of the city, as city is streets and buildings are shown at the bottom. Batman and his team even approach the observatory from the city streets beneath. City atop cliff 2.bp.blogspot/-2gazL4LxJdY/T4j--8hJQ0I/AAAAAAAAA2g/-X1Pev9- vik/s1600/Photo+24.jpg Street beneath cliff https://viewerscommentary.files.wordpress/2012/04/batman-robin-bat skiff-bathammer-and-batcycle.png Bike race i1.ytimg/vi/hki1jk1MMLM/maxresdefault.jpg So Gotham is split into two levels, with half the city being atop the mountain cliff and the other half being below. In Batman Forever, we see great walls built alongside the river which runs through the city. This implies that Gotham sits quite high above the river, or that the river is in a deep gorge that cuts through the city. Weird architecture would have Wayne Enterprises either a) sitting atop another smaller river that pours into the larger river a few blocks down from the spillway, or b) that Wayne Enterprises doubles as a hydroelectric plant and funnels water up from the river and then pumps it through generators and then releases the water via the spillways back into the river. Here are some sketches of the city structures...forums.superherohype/showthread.php?t=158455. Cityscape scifimethods/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/gotham_batman1995_2 .jpg Wayne Enterprises static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120623154404/batman/images/2/2 6/WayneEnterprisesBatmanForever.png Another shot shows the city sitting close to the rivers edge and not built up on higher hills with retaining walls like the part of Gotham where Wayne Enterprises stands. Perhaps the Hippodrome area is further down river, towards the coastline? Hippodrome upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Gotham_City_in_Batman_Fo rever.png Two-Faces hideout 2.bp.blogspot/-ga4wox0NA9c/UHz-1Ne4KGI/AAAAAAAAC-c/U9UDEI-S tvA/s1600/bfset04.jpg Frozen Gotham depicts a weird view of very high bridges that seem to be 50 stories high or more, featuring highways that are taking drivers around the upper half of the skyscrapers. Gothams high roadways i.imgur/UPUc7.jpg More skyway shots 1.bp.blogspot/-MFBvzDYLBcw/UHz_cvCJ4sI/AAAAAAAAC-8/L_vEhaZo FTw/s1600/b%26rset04.jpg Skyways thecriticalcritics/review/wp-content/images/top10/best_of_w orst/batman_and_robin.jpg How do drivers access these very high roadways? Does Gotham City sit in a deep valley and intersecting highways and interstates come from the highland and out over the top layer of the city? Or are there ramps that lead up to these skyways? How would it work? Is there a giant spiral tower that allows the exit ramp to endlessly take you up or down to these skyways? In one shot of Batman Forever, the Batmobile makes it rather quickly from the ground level roadway to one that must be ten stories or more up in a matter of seconds as the camera pans up to view the batsignal. When Batman leaps off of police headquarters down to the street below, it is a high jump, yet the road below would seem to be a skyway, with who knows how many more stories beneath it. I just find the design of the city to be utterly bizarre. I always find myself trying to fit the bizarre pieces together...how the river seems so deep beneath street level at times, how to access the skyway roads, where this mountainous cliff crosses the cityscape, etc. Its improbable, yet fascinating as a fantasy land.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 07:31:02 +0000