"Holy..."
{{Short description|Exclamation of surprise}}
{{About||the song by Sadist|Holy...|other uses|Holy (disambiguation)}}
{{See also|Holy cow (expression)}}
"Holy...!" (for example "Holy shit!", "Holy mackerel!" or "Holy smoke!", and perhaps most commonly "Holy cow!") is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in English-speaking countries.
Robin of the Batman TV series is noted for his many catchphrase "Holy..." exclamations. The lines in the 1960s TV series were uttered by Robin actor Burt Ward and were directly related to the plot; for example, "Holy Graf Zeppelin!" is uttered by Robin upon seeing an aerial balloon.{{cite web | url=http://holysmokesbatman.com/tracks/holy-graf-zeppelin.html | title=Holy Graf Zeppelin | publisher=Holysmokesbatman.com | accessdate=10 August 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909091548/http://holysmokesbatman.com/tracks/holy-graf-zeppelin.html | archive-date=9 September 2013 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/robins-oddest-holy-exclamations-from-the-batman-tv-series-3896999|title=Robin's 20 Oddest "Holy" Exclamations From the Batman TV Series|work=ThoughtCo|access-date=2018-09-10}} In his cameo on the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Burt Ward exclaims, "Holy crimson skies of death!" while Earth-66 experiences red skies due to the incoming antimatter wave.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/recap/supergirl-season-5-episode-9/amp/|title = 'Supergirl' recap: Holy crimson skies of death!|magazine = Entertainment Weekly| date=9 December 2019 }}
Analysis
Bradley J. Ricca, comic book scholar at Case Western Reserve University, suggests that: "Robin exists as a media entity inextricably linked with Batman and shares nearly as much ubiquity in American culture".{{cite book|last1=Duncan|first1=Randy|last2=Smith|first2=Matthew J.|title=Icons of the American Comic Book: From Captain America to Wonder Woman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M_bRZ_et8BIC&pg=PA612|date=29 January 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39924-4|page=612}} He considers Robin's famous "Holy..." catchphrases to have been grossly overused in the series, popularizing it in the American vernacular. Cartoons such as Super Friends continued to make use of Robin and his catchphrases, "spouting 'Holy' in front of every noun imaginable" and Robin's exclamations still remain closely associated with his character in popular culture.
American author David Shields notes how much in contrast Robin's "Holy..." outbursts, his alliteration and assonance, his fast riffs were to the laconic Batman.{{cite book|last=Shields|first=David|title=Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCdih1A7l40C&pg=PA95|date=30 October 2003|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-19363-8|page=95}} According to film critics Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, Robin's quip "Holey Rusted Metal!" in Batman Forever was an "explicit in-joke".{{cite book|last1=Cartmell|first1=Deborah|last2=Whelehan|first2=Imelda|title=Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OU5cpcFqMgkC&pg=PA196|date=17 June 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-21959-7|page=196}} Camp humour,{{cite book|last=Misiroglu|first=Gina|title=The Superhero Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0zLRBmMZk0C&pg=PA434|date=1 October 2004|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=978-1-57859-370-5|page=434}} through Robin's exclamations and other circumstances in the Batman series, have led some commentators to speculate on homosexual undertones in the relationship between Batman and Robin.{{cite book|last=Halfyard|first=Janet K.|title=Danny Elfman's Batman: A Film Score Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGOYqpxsyRgC&pg=PA42|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5126-9|page=42}} Image Entertainment paid homage to Robin's quips with the title "Batman: Holy Batmania" in a 2004 2-disc DVD release containing four documentaries discussing the sixties TV series. The DVD title is the name of one of the documentaries itself.{{cite book|title=The Batman Filmography|date = 31 July 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWAsAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-6891-1|page=77}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100214011036/http://holysmokesbatman.com/directory Directory of exclamations and audio clips]
{{Batman (TV series)}}
{{Robin}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holy}}
Category:Cultural anthropology
Category:Robin (character) in other media