Journal for tbrounst

I figured it would be nice of me to post something sometime soon. I’ve been bogged down with a lot of other work, though, and haven’t really had the urge to write one of these for the past couple days. The good news, though, is I’m making good headway on my work. I had six essays to do by April 2nd. I did one about the time I went to London, then last Wednesday I did a second one. I started a third today and am hoping to write most of it this evening and finish it tomorrow or the next day. Then, Monday I’ll start the fourth one and make a lot of progress and finish it on Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, which is a national holiday in Ireland so I have the day free. That will take care of my four essays for my Irish Culture class, and all I’ll have left to worry about is my long essay for medieval Europe and my director’s plan (which I’m thinking of as an essay) and about two and a half weeks to do them. Not bad. After that, it’s hanging out with Jackie, parents, and Anna for two months, and then eight weeks of math research before gearing up for senior year. Not bad at all! I just need to get those essays done…

Last night we went to see Watchmen. For those of you who don’t know, Watchmen was a graphic novel (glorified comic book) that revolutionized the comic book world in the 80’s with its realistic characters, focus on character development and ultra-dark and gritty tone. It begins with a former super hero getting brutally murdered and follows the investigation of who killed him and why as many former heroes have to face there past and humanity. Many people considered the book unfilmable, but that didn’t stop them from doing it anyone.

I’m in a pretty fortunate position when it comes to this movie. I knew what to expect—I knew a lot of people who thought it was just another super hero movie—because I read the book, but I’m not as crazy obsessed with it as a lot of people who act like it’s the best thing ever. I don’t sanctify it. As such, I really enjoyed the movie. I wasn’t shocked that it wasn’t a typical action movie, and I also didn’t care about what they changed.

To be fair, though, they didn’t change much. While it would be easy to complain about what they cut, what’s more impressive is what they kept in. Look at it this way: Sin City was a full length movie and it only adapted three issues and a short story. Watchmen however was only two and a half hours and had to include 12 issues. That’s a lot of plot in not much time, and they handled it really well. They cut out a lot of the subplots, which is nice. In the world of Watchmen, people read pirate comic books, and throughout the series there is a full length pirate comic that’s a big metaphor for all the action in the stories and the characters and…it’s pointless and boring. Reading through it was a slog to get to the rest of the action. Cutting it out sped up the story significantly, and the people who complain it’s gone are probably the same who think Tom Bombadil was an important character to Lord of the Rings. He did nothing!

The other aspects they cut were, sadly, a little more interesting. The comic included a number of subplots of random people living in New York, such as a kid reading a pirate comic and the newsman standing next to him, or a psychiatrist and his wife, which were actually interesting to read. Near the end of the comic the evolution of their plots is shown as a direct contrast to what many of the main characters say—it shows the goodness within people in what is often described as a rotting and evil city, and by extension world. Plus, having these subplots made the emotional impact of the climax significantly stronger. In the end, though, they had to be rejected to keep the main plot moving. Someone who watches the movie without the book won’t mind, but as someone who read the book I’m sad to see them go.

Overall, the biggest problem with the movie was that it was too rushed in a couple of places and some of the subtlety of the book was lost. Dr. Manhattan being a watchmaker originally, and then becoming essentially a God (in parallel to common theological arguments), or Rorschach saying he liked a material because it was black and white never mixing (and then using it for his mask) are two examples of what was lost. It’s not a big deal, and wouldn’t be noticeable to most people, but I fear that it makes the movie a little rougher around the edges and some of the excellent character development is lost.

I loved the movie, though. It was excellent and well done. The action was intense, but didn’t suffocate the main points, and the mood and style seemed fitting. It worked very well, and it’s the sort of movie I would watch again. It’s not a super hero movie, but it’s a movie about super heroes. It brought the story to life, and fixed the biggest problem I had with the book: the pacing. The movie moved quickly and never felt bogged down the same way the book did. If you’re looking for something different, for a commentary on normal super hero fairs, then Watchmen is a great choice. Just don’t expect it to be like other movies. It isn’t.