For those of you that look at my other blogs it comes as no surprise that I am a comic book fan. So with many of them that have been made into movies I have been going to the theaters more often then I had been in recent years. One that I thought would never be made was the Watchmen. I read the graphic novel when it came out over 20 years ago. Back then I was a Christian, as I still am, but some of what I read I didnt think about too much.
When the movie was released I decided to not see it as it was rated "R" and I try not to see movies with that rating. The rating didn't surprise me as one character, Dr. Manhattan, in the story is naked most of the time. I dedided to re-read the novel. When I did things hit me that I had over looked before or forgot about. There was open discussion about homosexuality. The main plot revolved around a murder mystery that is connected to World War III.
It seems that the superhero the Comedian, the perfect fighting man, discovered that former superhero, Ozymandias, who is the smartest man in the world and one of the richest, decideds that WWIII is on the horizion with America and Russia. He fakes an alien invasion in New York City, that kills half the city's population. He hopes this will unite the nations against a perceived common enemy. He also reveals that he had killed The Comedian and others to acheive his end of bringing his own strange peace to the world. He even went so far as to arrange an attempt on his life to direct attention away from himself as a suspect for murdering the Comedian. His assistant was killed and he then killed the killer that he hired and made it seem like self defense.
The problem with this is that it works. Now our heroes, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, and Rorschach, realize if they tell the world things will get worse. In failing to save the world it brought the world a facade of peace. All but Rorschach agree to keep quiet. When he leaves to tell the truth and get some justice Dr. Manhattan kills him. However, there is a chance that the truth will get out. Earlier Rorschach mailed a diary that he had been keeping on this adventure. It arrives at the offices of a magazine that he always read. The editor of that magazine has to pull a two column article. He ask an assistant to find some filler material for the spot. On the last frame we see the hand of the assistant reaching into the mail pile and next to his hand is Rorschach's diary.
When the movie was released I decided to not see it as it was rated "R" and I try not to see movies with that rating. The rating didn't surprise me as one character, Dr. Manhattan, in the story is naked most of the time. I dedided to re-read the novel. When I did things hit me that I had over looked before or forgot about. There was open discussion about homosexuality. The main plot revolved around a murder mystery that is connected to World War III.
It seems that the superhero the Comedian, the perfect fighting man, discovered that former superhero, Ozymandias, who is the smartest man in the world and one of the richest, decideds that WWIII is on the horizion with America and Russia. He fakes an alien invasion in New York City, that kills half the city's population. He hopes this will unite the nations against a perceived common enemy. He also reveals that he had killed The Comedian and others to acheive his end of bringing his own strange peace to the world. He even went so far as to arrange an attempt on his life to direct attention away from himself as a suspect for murdering the Comedian. His assistant was killed and he then killed the killer that he hired and made it seem like self defense.
The problem with this is that it works. Now our heroes, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, and Rorschach, realize if they tell the world things will get worse. In failing to save the world it brought the world a facade of peace. All but Rorschach agree to keep quiet. When he leaves to tell the truth and get some justice Dr. Manhattan kills him. However, there is a chance that the truth will get out. Earlier Rorschach mailed a diary that he had been keeping on this adventure. It arrives at the offices of a magazine that he always read. The editor of that magazine has to pull a two column article. He ask an assistant to find some filler material for the spot. On the last frame we see the hand of the assistant reaching into the mail pile and next to his hand is Rorschach's diary.
When I re-read this story I couldn't help but wish that certain politican who is also a comic book fan didn't read this back in the eighties and take it seriously. Well anyone for that matter.
