Watching the Watchmen

Lastnight I went to see the Watchmen with a few friends. It was a 7:10 showing, so it was a bunch of people who really wanted to see the movie, but didn't want to be up until 3:00am to do so. Face it, these days there isn't much I'm going to wait in line for. I think these people all agreed with me.

The important thing for you to know is that I've only read the book once. Yup, once; and, while I liked the book, it left me feeling kind of let down. I could readily see why this book was so culturally important, but it was also confusing and not well written. Come on, tell the truth, did you read absolutely every word of Rorschach's journal? This is, I think the biggest weakness of the film. It relies to heavily on the comic book for script. When in the middle of watching the film it forces you out of the moment when you think, wait he just said what? Other than that, my only complaint was with the 300 style slow motion. It was cool when the Comedian gets thrown out the window, but after that the director need to learn the idea of "judicious" use. Oh, and he could do away with some gratuitous violence. I won't ruin it for anyone, but there are things I don't need to see. It's why I can't bring myself to watch OZ.

Here's the deal. I liked the film. I actually might have liked a shorter, less faithful, to the book version, but I'm not a fan-girl. What I actually want to say, is not so much about the film as it is about myself and the world. Me first, of course. This is not a criticism of the film, just something I found weird. It was strange for me to realize this film was making the majority of my life into a period piece. Yeah. It was strange to see the hair and the ray-bans and everything be so 70's. What's wrong with that? Nothing, but I think the reason Watchmen was such an influencial book was that at it's heart it's timeless. The threat and peril of the story are set at a certain time, but that threat and peril could easily be recast with more contemporary figures.

Threat and peril. Let's talk about that. In the years since 1991, our villanous landscape has changed. Moscow and Havana are not the centers for terror they once were. Even given the period piece ambiance of the film, it was weird to the the soviets as we did. I'm not sure how this will play with younger audiences, maybe it's the reason they made the film seem like such a period piece instead of trying to set it in some nebulous contemporary space.

What I cannot quite articulate are the cultural possibilities. World opinon about both the US and Russia has changed drastically over the last 18 years. (That makes me feel old.) I think there is something significant about our current willingness to accept the Soviets as such a threat. Of all the things that separate me from my students I think the biggest one is the Cold War. Most of my students have no concept of what it meant to live in a world where the premise behind Red Dawn seemed far-fetched, but plausible. It's not something I can adequately explain to them.
The Watchmen is such a product of the Cold War that I wonder if it's us-them mentality can survive, even as a period piece. The fear and angst of the time are reflected in all of the characters. Can you really understand the Comedian, Rorschach, Ozimandius (whatever) if you don't understand the Cold War that created them? Or, is there something about these characters that surpasses their time and place?