The introduction of more obvious classical techniques to film music is a part of the fusion of quality and diversity which the genre is capable of. In the realm of criticism and comment more drastic and potentially quite damaging ploys are infiltrating. I have personal distaste for the use of the words "operatic" and "symphonic" used out of context and without justification with reference to both the best and the not so good film scores of our time. It seems uncertain quite what is meant by such comments, as it is rare for any attempt to be made towards detailing beyond the supposedly congratulatory. (Still further, perhaps there is some ploy here of lifting a film composer or his score out of dirty commercialism and into art?) In context, I generally take "symphonic" to have some kind of emphasis on fine orchestrations and thoroughgoing thematicism, and "operatic" to mean anything from a constantly noticeable continuous score to an overindulgence in drama.⁶

I hope that in listening to Batman Returns some elements of both these thoughts might occur, particularly in the consistency and economy of thematic material, matched with a devotion to detail and flamboyancy that can only originate in a wild, cynical delight in the absurd. With a darkly humorous mood consistently laid on thick by the writer(s), director and a fine cast (the visual treats and anti-philosophical one-liners fly thick and fast), the door is open for a more temperamental and experimental score. Although the leitmotif "trick" is older than film, the delivery is as sharp and refined as it ever has been.