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| Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian in The Watchmen. |
The story鈥檚 Superman figure doubts if humanity is worth saving. Its Batman is impotent. Its Wonder Woman has mommy issues. And its closest thing to a protagonist also is a murderous sociopath.
Welcome to the world of Watchmen, considered by many to be the greatest comic book ever written. English professor Anthony Enns, who teaches the course 鈥淐artoons and Comics,鈥� appreciates why people feel that way. He remembers Alan Moore鈥檚 comic being a sensation from the moment it first hit shelves over 20 years ago.
鈥淚f you were into comics then, everyone was taking about it, all the time,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople would gather and have these endless debates about what would happen next issue.鈥�
These days, most people read Watchmen鈥檚聽12 chapters as one single volume. And starting today, the story鈥檚 dark, deconstructionist take on the superhero genre can also be seen on the silver screen. After years of development, a feature film adaptation of Watchmen directed by Zack Snyder (300) and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup and Patrick Wilson is arriving in theatres.
For the uninitiated: Watchmen takes place in an alternate-reality 1985, one where Nixon is still president, the nuclear clock sits at minutes to midnight and the United States is on the brink of war with the Soviet Union. The story follows a group of vigilante superheroes, most of whom retired after their activities were outlawed by the government. When one of their ilk turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, they begin to uncover an insidious plot that threatens to change their relationship with humanity forever.
But that鈥檚 just the basics. What elevates Watchmen to the upper echelon of the comic canon is that it鈥檚 a double-coded text 鈥� a superhero story that also serves as a critique of the entire history of the genre, with a shocking ending that calls into question the very 鈥渉eroism鈥� of its characters.
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| Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. |
鈥淚t was innovative not only because of its level of realism, but because it tackled more serious questions about how superheroes would affect our world,鈥� says Dr. Enns. 鈥淚n Moore鈥檚 universe, superheroes end up becoming as much a problem as a solution.鈥�
Dr. Enns explains that the superhero genre has often struggled to address how such characters would interact in the real world. For example, in the late-1930s comic writers concocted a ridiculous plot to try and explain why Superman couldn鈥檛 stop World War II: his x-ray vision caused him to fail an eye exam and he was declared unfit for duty.
In contrast, Alan Moore 鈥� along with his illustrator, Dave Gibbons 鈥� not only created an entirely believable world for his heroes, but he made them all deeply problematic characters, as flawed as the citizens they watched over. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an ironic distance that the book creates between the characters and the reader. There鈥檚 a level of ambiguity that鈥檚 going to be hard to translate to film. On film, you need clear heroes and villains. There is no hero in Watchmen. There is no one to sympathize with.鈥�
That鈥檚 not the only reason why adapting Watchmen for film proves an onerous task. To call the story 鈥渄ense鈥� is an understatement: it鈥檚 filled with complicated flashback narratives exploring both its main characters and their superhero predecessors, and even has an entire sub-comic 鈥� the macabre 鈥淭ales of the Black Freighter鈥� 鈥� woven throughout.
鈥淥ne of the most innovative aspects of the Watchmen lies in the fact that it tells a story that can't be told solely in the form of a comic book,鈥� says Todd McCallum of the Department of History. 鈥淓ach issue ends with a document or series of documents that are key to developing the characters and their story, especially the relationship between the first and second generations of heroes.鈥�
Dr. McCallum, who is about to start work on a book about Alan Moore and Scottish comic book author Grant Morrison, was able to see the film at an advanced screening on Wednesday night. He feels that by excising much of this back story, the movie version of Watchmen loses something in translation.
鈥淢uch of the amazing work done by Moore and Gibbons to develop the characters, to show us their struggle with the personal and political issues of 1980s America, is lost,鈥� he says, later adding, 鈥淭he film lacks what is so effective about the original: the feelings and claustrophobia and inevitable doom brought on by Cold War tensions.鈥�
Fans are expected to line up in droves this weekend to form their own opinions on how the iconic text translates to film. It remains an open question, though, whether audiences unfamiliar with Watchmen will embrace its cynical vision of heroism. After a decade of comic book films dominating the box office, are moviegoers are ready for a story that turns the entire genre on its head?