How Batman Became a Cultural Icon
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Batman has worn many faces, but his shadow has never faded. From gritty detective tales to cartoon camp, billion-dollar films, and everything in between, the Dark Knight has reflected the fears, hopes, and styles of every era. Batman wasn’t always a global icon, but decade by decade, he became a mirror of what audiences wanted in a hero and what they feared in a villain. Andrew Farago, curator at the Cartoon Art Museum and author of Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight, explores how one character moved from pulp pages to the center of pop culture.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.5 | Adventure should never come with a pause button. |
| 0:07.1 | Remember Movie Pass? |
| 0:08.4 | All the movies you wanted for just nine bucks? |
| 0:11.1 | I'm Bridget Todd, host of There Are No Girls on the Internet. |
| 0:13.9 | And this season, I'm digging into the tech stories we weren't told. |
| 0:17.4 | Starting with Stacey Spikes, the black founder of movie pass who got pushed out of the company |
| 0:21.6 | he built. |
| 0:22.8 | Everybody's trying to knock you down and it's not going to work and no one's going to like it. |
| 0:27.3 | And then boom, it's everywhere. |
| 0:29.3 | And that was that moment. |
| 0:30.7 | Listen to there are no girls on the internet on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. |
| 0:44.8 | Music or wherever you get your podcast. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, |
| 0:49.2 | the show where America is the star and the American people. |
| 0:53.1 | Nowadays, Batman is a household name. |
| 0:55.9 | His list of comic issues, let alone live action movies, animated films, and TV shows, |
| 1:01.2 | video games, you name it. |
| 1:02.9 | Well, it's nothing short of astounding. |
| 1:05.5 | But this wasn't always the case. |
| 1:07.4 | Today, Andrew Farragow, curator at the Cartoon Art Museum, an author of Batman, the definitive |
| 1:14.2 | history of the Dark Night in comics, film, and beyond, is here to tell us the story of |
| 1:21.1 | the dark night. |
... |
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