quietprofanity (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
quietprofanity) wrote2008-07-26 06:22 pm
quietprofanity) wrote2008-07-26 06:22 pm
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Re-reading Watchmen
OK, so my copy of Watchmen is in New Jersey, but I was able to procure another copy for special purposes (i.e. gift) and decided to read it again before I gave it away. That trailer has apparently driven everyone crazy for this book again. Amazon.com is sold out, and when I picked up this one at Borders it was on a display that had obviously been larger at one point but was now depleted. It's a bit weird, since the trailer doesn't really SAY anything, except maybe like, "HEY FANS! REMEMBER WHEN THIS HAPPENED? AND THAT HAPPENED? JESUS CHRIST, IT'S DOCTOR MANHATTAN, GET IN THE CAR!"
Anyway, I decided to give it another read-through. I tried to look at what I wrote previously on Watchmen but it just seems to be "WOW, WATCHMEN RORSCHACH WOW SQUEE!!!" So ... here's the things I noticed the second time around.
* I'm ... kind of embarrassed by my like of Rorschach still, even though I think I liked the character a better on the first time reading than the second. Which makes sense, because it's usually not like me to come down with a case of the woobie-vision. (Woobie-vision, by the way, is when an immoral, villainous, disgusting or otherwise reprehensible character goes through a metamorphosis from the page/screen to the fangirl's head and comes out on the other side as a CuddlyMcSexyPants! version of themselves, whose bad qualities can be explained away as the character being "just misunderstood" (fans of Phantom of the Opera are highly susceptible to woobie-vision). This is not the same as fangirls who think that, say Kiriyama from Battle Royale is sexy BECAUSE of his serial killing. That ... is just something else entirely.) I think in the beginning, he was already coded as what everyone expects as the quintessential protagonist superhero despite his Objectivist/moral absolute crazypants quality. The bleak horror of the world that is set up also contributes to you latching onto the guy that sees things simplistically as well, I think.
I don't think I remembered he was secretly in some of the first scenes, BTW. Or at the funeral.
* By contrast, I liked Laurie a lot better on the second reading. I remember thinking she was a bitch in the first half. Maybe it was the "I am the girl superheroine but I do NOT LIKE SUPERHEROING" thing. Shit, this book really DOES force you to bust all of your preconceived notions.
Movie!Laurie looks awesome, by the way. But I wish her face had the careworn character of Gibbons' drawings.
* I know some people really dislike Alan Moore's sex scenes, but I dig them. I love the sensuality of the Dan/Laurie scenes, and I think Dan having a less-than-perfect body makes them sweeter, in a way. He gives off a gentle, big guy vibe. Dave Gibbons' art contributes much to this.
Still, while I say that stuff about Dan, his "Sam" disguise at the end of the book is rather libido-killing. I actually think the maskless Rorschach looks better. (And his psychiatrist was quite right to call him "fascinatingly ugly.")
* I wonder, with our political climate, what it's going to be like to have one of the primary good!superheroes be a right-wing reactionary and the ultimate villain a liberal one. Of course, you couldn't call either of them typical, but still.
* The Black Freighter comic was a lot easier to follow after it was explained to me. I think at one point the Bernard kid does say "You have to read this multiple times." Sheesh.
* When I first read the book, the part about Sally and The Comedian's semi-reconciliation post-rape was the only part that caught me as hinky. The text does attempt to explain it as some sort of self-hatred, but I do go back and forth on how much I can suspend my disbelief for that.
Then again, I have heard people say some really STRANGE things on the Internet regarding reactions to sexual abuse.
* I feel a lot for Laurie's reaction, though. I remember for a time thinking that because my parents didn't have the traditional love story that my life was a mistake, too. :(
* Little moments that were cool: Sally telling Laurie, "Things are tough all over" in a mother-daughter fight moment, and then Laurie repeats it to Jon (I think, might have been Dan) later in the book. I also like how at one point before their affair, Dan holds onto Laurie's hand too long. Then later in the book, Rorschach does the EXACT SAME THING to Dan.
* The scene with the dogs and eating and the killing and the AARGH!!! still gets me every time.
* I warmed up to Jon/Dr. Manhattan a little more this time around. I think when you first read it some of the awe and inability to understand hits you the same way it hits the characters. Second time around you pretty much expect everything he's going to do.
* For the villain, I still don't find Ozymandias very compelling. I think he's one of the least interesting characters in the book.
* The first six pages of the final chapter are still as jaw-droppingly horrific as they were the first time around. I also think, after the dense dialogue and the long text sections, their silence (except for the newspapers asking the now-trivial "WAR?") makes them all the more powerful.
And ... that's all I can think of to say right now.
Anyway, I decided to give it another read-through. I tried to look at what I wrote previously on Watchmen but it just seems to be "WOW, WATCHMEN RORSCHACH WOW SQUEE!!!" So ... here's the things I noticed the second time around.
* I'm ... kind of embarrassed by my like of Rorschach still, even though I think I liked the character a better on the first time reading than the second. Which makes sense, because it's usually not like me to come down with a case of the woobie-vision. (Woobie-vision, by the way, is when an immoral, villainous, disgusting or otherwise reprehensible character goes through a metamorphosis from the page/screen to the fangirl's head and comes out on the other side as a CuddlyMcSexyPants! version of themselves, whose bad qualities can be explained away as the character being "just misunderstood" (fans of Phantom of the Opera are highly susceptible to woobie-vision). This is not the same as fangirls who think that, say Kiriyama from Battle Royale is sexy BECAUSE of his serial killing. That ... is just something else entirely.) I think in the beginning, he was already coded as what everyone expects as the quintessential protagonist superhero despite his Objectivist/moral absolute crazypants quality. The bleak horror of the world that is set up also contributes to you latching onto the guy that sees things simplistically as well, I think.
I don't think I remembered he was secretly in some of the first scenes, BTW. Or at the funeral.
* By contrast, I liked Laurie a lot better on the second reading. I remember thinking she was a bitch in the first half. Maybe it was the "I am the girl superheroine but I do NOT LIKE SUPERHEROING" thing. Shit, this book really DOES force you to bust all of your preconceived notions.
Movie!Laurie looks awesome, by the way. But I wish her face had the careworn character of Gibbons' drawings.
* I know some people really dislike Alan Moore's sex scenes, but I dig them. I love the sensuality of the Dan/Laurie scenes, and I think Dan having a less-than-perfect body makes them sweeter, in a way. He gives off a gentle, big guy vibe. Dave Gibbons' art contributes much to this.
Still, while I say that stuff about Dan, his "Sam" disguise at the end of the book is rather libido-killing. I actually think the maskless Rorschach looks better. (And his psychiatrist was quite right to call him "fascinatingly ugly.")
* I wonder, with our political climate, what it's going to be like to have one of the primary good!superheroes be a right-wing reactionary and the ultimate villain a liberal one. Of course, you couldn't call either of them typical, but still.
* The Black Freighter comic was a lot easier to follow after it was explained to me. I think at one point the Bernard kid does say "You have to read this multiple times." Sheesh.
* When I first read the book, the part about Sally and The Comedian's semi-reconciliation post-rape was the only part that caught me as hinky. The text does attempt to explain it as some sort of self-hatred, but I do go back and forth on how much I can suspend my disbelief for that.
Then again, I have heard people say some really STRANGE things on the Internet regarding reactions to sexual abuse.
* I feel a lot for Laurie's reaction, though. I remember for a time thinking that because my parents didn't have the traditional love story that my life was a mistake, too. :(
* Little moments that were cool: Sally telling Laurie, "Things are tough all over" in a mother-daughter fight moment, and then Laurie repeats it to Jon (I think, might have been Dan) later in the book. I also like how at one point before their affair, Dan holds onto Laurie's hand too long. Then later in the book, Rorschach does the EXACT SAME THING to Dan.
* The scene with the dogs and eating and the killing and the AARGH!!! still gets me every time.
* I warmed up to Jon/Dr. Manhattan a little more this time around. I think when you first read it some of the awe and inability to understand hits you the same way it hits the characters. Second time around you pretty much expect everything he's going to do.
* For the villain, I still don't find Ozymandias very compelling. I think he's one of the least interesting characters in the book.
* The first six pages of the final chapter are still as jaw-droppingly horrific as they were the first time around. I also think, after the dense dialogue and the long text sections, their silence (except for the newspapers asking the now-trivial "WAR?") makes them all the more powerful.
And ... that's all I can think of to say right now.
no subject
//dies
RIGHT
RIGHT
....I am a notorious culture vulture and usually hate great books made into crappy films but I honestly REALLY do not think this will translate well to the big screen. In the _book,_ you can pore over the backgrounds and all the little details and go over and over everything and read complex storylines multiple times. In the movie, you get pretty shiny flashy CGI! Bah. And all these people who go "Yeah but now you can see it -- " No, I already see it. In my head. And it's just fine, in fact, better than anything Hollywood can do.
I'm ... kind of embarrassed by my like of Rorschach still, even though I think I liked the character a better on the first time reading than the second
AWW RORSCHACH NEEDS LOVE TOO
The first time I read Watchmen -- was in Neil Gaiman who said Watchmen and Sandman were like STDs, girls got them from their boyfriends? -- I'd borrowed my then-boyfriend's copy, and my best friend, who'd introduced us, loved Rorschach too, so that might have made me less self-conscious about liking him. Nite-Owl was sweet, but....noooooo, not my type.
I liked Laurie a lot better on the second reading
Me, too. Her film costume is really disappointing. And Dan is all BUFF, or, at the v least, not the older, big-guy type in the drawings. Bah.
When I first read the book, the part about Sally and The Comedian's semi-reconciliation post-rape was the only part that caught me as hinky. The text does attempt to explain it as some sort of self-hatred, but I do go back and forth on how much I can suspend my disbelief for that.
Yeah, that was the one part I REALLY HATED, and that never really made sense to me. But it does work in the plot, and the general emotional tone of the book.
The first six pages of the final chapter are still as jaw-droppingly horrific as they were the first time around
Yeah, and for me, that's going to be really make-or-break as far as the movie goes....IF they can do that non-feel-good, shattering, near-silent what-do-we-do-now-God-we-don't-know vibe, esp in a post-9/11 environment, I'll be impressed. But I bet they won't.
....my secret favourite part has always been the chapter with Laurie and Dr Manhattan on Mars, because it's so moving. I know that is cheezy of me, but oh well.
no subject
was in Neil Gaiman who said Watchmen and Sandman were like STDs, girls got them from their boyfriends?
Hah! My boyfriend gave me Watchmen, too, although I had been a comic fan LONG before then (Sandman I read on my own, for instance, gave the first trade to HIM). I just hadn't gotten around to reading it.
I'd borrowed my then-boyfriend's copy, and my best friend, who'd introduced us, loved Rorschach too, so that might have made me less self-conscious about liking him. Nite-Owl was sweet, but....noooooo, not my type.
Yeah, I don't have many friends who are also fans and also fangirls. (Although I once wrote this drabble from Rorschach's point of view that a female LJ friend liked.) Boyfriend liked Rorschach but does not understand the woobie-aspect.
Her film costume is really disappointing.
You know, this vision may not be supported by the text, but in my "mental" film, Laurie doesn't move very well because of her huge heels. Like, I picture her almost clomping her way to the fight in her costume. If she stands in the right place, of course, she can kick ass, but getting there is tough going.
Like I said, may not be supported by the text, but ... even though the power walk with her hair waving is a nice visual flourish ... that mental image feels more real to me than anything I see in the flesh-and-blood movie.
And Dan is all BUFF, or, at the v least, not the older, big-guy type in the drawings. Bah.
Yeah. I mean, I do realize some things look better on paper than they do on film, but I would have liked him with a little more pudge.
But it does work in the plot, and the general emotional tone of the book.
Yeah, that aspect keeps me from condemning it completely.
Yeah, and for me, that's going to be really make-or-break as far as the movie goes....IF they can do that non-feel-good, shattering, near-silent what-do-we-do-now-God-we-don't-know vibe, esp in a post-9/11 environment, I'll be impressed. But I bet they won't.
Well, if they DO do it right, we can be assured of at least 50 movie reviewers calling the film "The Feel-Bad Popcorn Movie of the Year!" (Oboy.)
....my secret favourite part has always been the chapter with Laurie and Dr Manhattan on Mars, because it's so moving. I know that is cheezy of me, but oh well.
Awww, nah. That's one of my favorite chapters, too. Maybe my second favorite, tied with the chapter where Jon tells his life, because the structure is just so impeccable.
I think the chapter with Rorschach telling his past to the psychiatrist is my ultimate favorite chapter, though. (And the coda in the later chapter when he looks at the son of his prostitute landlady. That panel is so sad.)