Julie
Newmar was beautiful as Catwoman. But beautiful does not mean sexy. What is
sexy is partly a subjective perception, but also, I believe, partly an
inherently archetypal recognition of someone that is sexually desirable in a
primal way that almost transcends culture.
Why,
as a child, I was able to perceive Julie Newmar's Catwoman as a captivating feminine sex symbol is beyond my understanding. But the point is, it was not preconditioned
by something else. I was too young to have seen much anything else. In my
story, "Cat and Canary," from The Romantic Adventures of Jack &
Dora, Jack reveals something about himself that I drew straight from my life,
concerning his memories of watching Julie Newmar on the Batman TV show. It
bears quoting.
Jack:
"I
think I had my first sexual stirrings from seeing her, possibly this very
episode, as a child of six or seven. I actually remember sitting on the dark
olive green carpet in the living room, or more specifically, lying on my
stomach, face held in my hands with my elbows propping me up. I also remember
the episode in color, but that's not right because we only had a black and
white TV back then. Maybe it's partly an imagined memory, but mostly I think
it's real. I don't remember specific feelings or thoughts, I just know that I
was mesmerized by her, that there were stirrings. Mind you, they were very,
very distant stirrings. Probably I was thinking,"I wish she was my mommy!”
If
Mrs. Peel gave me an appreciation for strong women, Julie Newmar's Catwoman
gave me an appreciation for seductive, crazy ones. Or maybe that appreciation
came from somewhere else (my mother's own, occasionally, unpredictable, wild
nature?). Either Catwoman embodied it or exacerbated it, or both. Catwoman goes
beyond even Jeannie (from I Dream of Jeannie) as a completely moral-free
character who promises a life free of society-created guilt and obligation.
Julie
Newmar had a fresh, effortless, unpretentious sexiness that is rare. No other
woman that has played the role has even come close to her performance. The
honesty of both her passion and her callousness are well illustrated in perhaps
the most wonderful scene of the series between Batman and Catwoman. Batman
seems to finally be succumbing to Catwoman's charms. She suggests they go away
together, just the two of them. Batman asks, "What about Robin?"
Catwoman replies, completely without malice, "We'll kill him. Painlessly,
of course."
One
cannot call Catwoman evil or hate her for her cruelty any more than one can
hate a cat that has caught a mouse. She is not evil. She is completely and
totally self-interested. Somehow, this adds to her sexual allure. Perhaps it is
the fact that she is completely undivided. She suffers no guilt. She knows
completely who and what she is. We, with our guilt, mixed feelings, neuroses, fears
and unfulfilled longings, envy such a state. I myself have stared at a cat,
envying their self-sufficiency and self-completion.
Thus,
even Catwoman's callousness makes her more attractive because it is naturally
part of who she is. And that brings us back to the idea of what is sexy.
Someone is sexy when they are self-assured, undivided, without malice, pretense,
motive or intention, a being complete within themselves, sexual for the sake of
being sexual, not even aware that they are sexy. Catwoman invites us into this
undivided world of self-gratification, unhindered by the present mores of
society or the psychological baggage of our past experience.
Julie
Newmar as Catwoman represents uninhibited, uncomplicated, honest, passionate
sexuality. Who doesn't want that?
She
is the Puritan's nightmare. She was, and always will be, one of my heroes and
one of my greatest desires.
Robert Szeles (saylesh)
www.robertszeles.com
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RobertSzeles
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006T8KFRK
Robert Szeles (saylesh)
www.robertszeles.com
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RobertSzeles
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006T8KFRK
