Unheroic Superheroes, Watch out for the Watchmen

Publius' Forum ^ | 2/18/09 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

If you thought the last Batman movie, The Dark Knight, was dark and cynical, wait until you see Watchmen, arriving in theaters on March 6, 2009. Brooding Bruce Wayne will have nothing on a "hero" that rapes his sidekick, another one that has no interest in mankind at all, one that is a megalomaniac, one that is psychotic, and one that is overweight and sexually impotent all set against a backdrop of a United States that is many shades of despair and evil. It makes Batman, The Dark Knight, seem like a festival of sweetness and light. This is the Watchmen, soon to be released by Warner Brothers. If this new flick at all follows that anti-American, nihilism of the original comic books we are in for some dark stuff, indeed.

Why do contemporary artists all seem to think the end of the world is nigh? Why has art become a thing of ugliness, instead of light? With all the beautiful things we see every day, the delicacy of a flower, the turn of a woman's arm, the grace of a bird in flight, we are treated only to the bizarre and horrid by our artists. These days we see sculptures that look like molecular mistakes writ large. We live in architecture with the image of a jumble of blocks thrown to the ground in the midst of a temper tantrum by a gigantic, petulant child. We view paintings that appear more accidental than planned. We have movies full of violence and anti-social behavior. On the radio we hear music that celebrates all the worst in man. We even have comic books that belittle heroism, that deconstruct the good and exceptional turning their heroes as cartoonishly flawed as the most obscene head case on the Jerry Springer Show.

When did entertainment turn so dark?

Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

[The Louiswu]

"“The Passion of the Christ” was not a cheery, feel-good movie..."

I disagree. The Passion is THE story of the defeat of death and everlasting life, what could possibly make someone feel any better than that?

While I will most likely go see The Watchmen movie...it is just that a movie, soulless entertainment, not to be taken seriously a way to waste a couple of hours holding hands with my wife and eating a bucket of popcorn.

[razorboy]

The pirate story is going into a seperate DVD out the Tuesday after the film opens. The priate story works best on your 3rd or 4th reading of the book when you can really feel the metphorical connection.

[Future Snake Eater]

If they have to cut something, I hope it’s the Pirate comics Moore inserted. I didn’t think they added that much.

Yeah, that comic-in-a-comic is being released as a separate animated DVD (voiced by Gerard Butler of "300" fame). I agree with you, it got dull in the comic. I finally ended up skimming it, then skipping it altogether as I progressed through the story.

I thought the best part of LOTR was leaving out Tom Bombadil and I heard a lot of fans were upset about that.

I'll never understand the LOTR complainers. Those movies were incredible. So it lacked one character and cut some singing. Jeez, let's all beat Peter Jackson to death for his heresy!

As to the FReeper naysayers whose only knowledge of this comic is the lackluster (and that's being generous) description by the author of this article, I say, either read the book or give the movie a shot. It (the comic at least) is excellent, and the movie looks to be very close.

[ecomcon]

Reflecting the “human condition” is not art. It is documentation. Inflicting emotions is not art. Shocking sensibilities is not art, it is manipulation.

If beauty is not the motive, it is not art.

[ecomcon]

Beauty is not a “human condition”.

[mysterio]

If beauty is not the motive, it is not art.

That's like saying if it isn't happiness, it's not a real emotion.

[ecomcon]

No it isn’t. It’s saying if “happiness” is derived from darkness and shame, it isn’t really happiness.

[mysterio]

You must not be a Goya fan.

[urtax$@work]

War movies are not funny anymore either!

[ecomcon]

I’m just saying most “art” is not art, but something else. Usually it’s propaganda. It’s easy to get all dark and foreboding like and inflict intense emotions on people because that is the natural man’s “human condition”. It is far more difficult to create a thing of beauty that emotes without the chain gun of decay and death.

Just my opinion.

[Republican Party Reptile]

“King Lear” anyone?

[Ted Grant]

The movie has a different ending, or so I hear.

[Tanniker Smith]

I was just reading about that in Wired magazine.
We'll see how the fans put up with that.
For me, it's one of the few things that I remember about the comic.

[Ted Grant]

I think Watchmen will under-perform at the box office, admittedly a minority opinion in comic geek circles, who are convinced it will do gangbusters business.

It’s a classic comic mini series that is now 20 years old. Every fanboy who flipped over it at the time is now in their 30s or 40s (or older). That’s not the people who go to movies these days.

True, the graphic novel has had a long shelf life and retains a following, but I think it’s just so off the map for the mainstream moviegoer that they will pass in significant numbers.

We’ll see.

[Vince Ferrer]

Just because a person likes dark entertainment doesn’t mean they’re under thrawl of Satan. It just means they understand not all of life is happy. I’ve always found dark entertainment to be very life affirming...

For some reason, I have always found Rorschach to be a very life affirming character. He has been beaten up his whole life by pretty much everyone, yet for some reason he goes out and fights for the people who have rejected him.

[Borges]

Beauty is a ‘power’ word. Arnold Schoenberg’s atonal music and Picasso’s early modernist paintings were exactly thought of as ‘beautiful’ but have to be regarded as such when we learned to see the world through their eyes.

[Borges]

‘weren’t exactly thought of as beautiful’