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February 26, 2017 12:14 AM Subscribe
yt-er kaptainkrisitan on Adapting the Unadaptable Watchmen.
Good video - thoughtful, informed, and superbly edited. Thanks for this!
posted by jammy at 4:37 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by jammy at 4:37 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
OMG WATCHMEN WAS INSPIRED BY CHARLESTON COMICS
O_O
I literally just experienced an increase in sense of life's meaning.
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:25 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
O_O
I literally just experienced an increase in sense of life's meaning.
posted by Mike Mongo at 7:25 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
That was pretty well done...thanks.
posted by HuronBob at 8:25 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by HuronBob at 8:25 AM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
To expand on Mike Mongo's comment, DC acquired the rights to the Charleston Comics superheroes and many of them (The Question, Peacemaker, Captain Atom, etc) had their own books and greater and lesser levels of success. All of the Watchmen characters are parodies of (and improvements on) the Charleston heroes.
posted by SPrintF at 10:26 AM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 10:26 AM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Ok, I also just want to say that recently I discovered that Rorschach in the movies is Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears. Mind blown.
posted by jammy at 10:44 AM on February 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by jammy at 10:44 AM on February 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
Charlton Comics.
Sorry. I'm a pedant, yes.
posted by Grangousier at 4:44 PM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Sorry. I'm a pedant, yes.
posted by Grangousier at 4:44 PM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
Charlton Comics. Sorry. I'm a pedant, yes.
No, you're a goddamn hero. #FactsMatter
posted by misterbee at 5:00 PM on February 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
No, you're a goddamn hero. #FactsMatter
posted by misterbee at 5:00 PM on February 26, 2017 [3 favorites]
Ok, I also just want to say that recently I discovered that Rorschach in the movies is Kelly Leak from the Bad News Bears. Mind blown.
...and Moocher from Breaking Away, both film and series (series?!??).
posted by mwhybark at 8:20 PM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
...and Moocher from Breaking Away, both film and series (series?!??).
posted by mwhybark at 8:20 PM on February 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
IIRC Watchmen started out with the intent to be about the newly-acquired-by-DC Charlton heros, but when Moore was all "I wanna kill one of them" DC went "uh nope" and Moore swizzled them into the Watchmen.
posted by egypturnash at 10:36 PM on February 26, 2017
posted by egypturnash at 10:36 PM on February 26, 2017
While Watchmen was not a successful film, I take issue with the objection to Veidt's 90s Batman-inspired costume. In fact, it was one of the few places where I saw the film doing something useful, by indicting filmic superheroes in the same way the comics did to print counterparts. In fact, I would have been far more interested in Snyder being brave and taking it all the way, moving from serial adaptation homage to Superman and Batman in the 80s, to 90s convolutions. The timeline wouldn't have made sense but it would have said something other than "See that thing from the comic?"
The other bit I take issue with is describing the alley fight as bloodless. While Snyder does go over the top in spots the comic very intentionally choreographs that action as ugly, bereft of the big swings and backflips in traditional comics fights. It's groin-kneeing, eye-gouging street fighting made a bit more awful for the protagonists being very, very good at it, and a bit aroused at the end. I understand what's being said in the context of escalation (which Snyder doesn't know how to do, leading to 300 being something of a trudge, like music's loudness wars in cinematic form) but that scene existed to tell you that the characters are sort of messed up.
posted by mobunited at 11:14 PM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
The other bit I take issue with is describing the alley fight as bloodless. While Snyder does go over the top in spots the comic very intentionally choreographs that action as ugly, bereft of the big swings and backflips in traditional comics fights. It's groin-kneeing, eye-gouging street fighting made a bit more awful for the protagonists being very, very good at it, and a bit aroused at the end. I understand what's being said in the context of escalation (which Snyder doesn't know how to do, leading to 300 being something of a trudge, like music's loudness wars in cinematic form) but that scene existed to tell you that the characters are sort of messed up.
posted by mobunited at 11:14 PM on February 26, 2017 [2 favorites]
…oh jeez I always forget it's Charlton Comics. So here's why that is. When I was a kid we sat and ate Charleston Chews and read comic books. I mean, it was a thing. Saturdays. Walking to the Little General Convenience store on Starkey Road (or East Bay Drive at my Nana's), and sitting and reading comics with my cousin Russ, eating Charleston Chews (a really terrific value candy). We just always called Charlton Charleston because well that's what we called them while eating Charleston Chews. And Charlton was always awesome because they just came at comics from a slightly different angle–sparking a developing appreciation of mine for the underdog and for independents. My favorite Charlton Comics hero was/is E-Man. It's how I learned about Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Also, reading E-Man was how I got switched on to Steve Ditko, who did art for the comic book's backup character/story. So yeah Charleston/Charlton, thanks SPrintF and Grangousier. I'll see what I can do about cleaning that up in my head. But I am buying a Charleston Chew today. Sweet memories, indeed!
posted by Mike Mongo at 5:34 AM on February 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Mike Mongo at 5:34 AM on February 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I really like this film's take on the place of an adaptation.
Despite being pretty frustrated with the choices of the Watchmen movie, I ended up buying it because the parts where it illustrates the comic well are really powerful to me.
It kind of occupies a place of shame on my shelf because Zack Snyder films should not be encouraged.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:27 AM on February 27, 2017
Despite being pretty frustrated with the choices of the Watchmen movie, I ended up buying it because the parts where it illustrates the comic well are really powerful to me.
It kind of occupies a place of shame on my shelf because Zack Snyder films should not be encouraged.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:27 AM on February 27, 2017
One of the things that really blew me away in Watchmen (and which both Zach Snyder and this video missed) is the way Moore was able to humanize the deaths of millions of people.
There's this subplot revolving around this newsstand in New York. There's a kid reading pirate comics, the newsstand owner who yells at him for treating him like a library (but never actually kicks him out), the lesbian couple whose relationship is on the rocks, and so on. It's mostly just slice-of-life stuff, but in the final chapter, when we see the destruction, all of these people are among the dead.
This is brilliant, because a million deaths is this really abstract concept that most people can't comprehend, but Moore went ahead and made us know a few of them so that the deaths become personal.
Honestly, had Snyder kept that part of the graphic novel, I would respect him a whole lot more as a filmmaker.
posted by suetanvil at 12:24 PM on February 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
There's this subplot revolving around this newsstand in New York. There's a kid reading pirate comics, the newsstand owner who yells at him for treating him like a library (but never actually kicks him out), the lesbian couple whose relationship is on the rocks, and so on. It's mostly just slice-of-life stuff, but in the final chapter, when we see the destruction, all of these people are among the dead.
This is brilliant, because a million deaths is this really abstract concept that most people can't comprehend, but Moore went ahead and made us know a few of them so that the deaths become personal.
Honestly, had Snyder kept that part of the graphic novel, I would respect him a whole lot more as a filmmaker.
posted by suetanvil at 12:24 PM on February 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
I wasn't aware of the Charlton Comics connection. Which is odd because I loved me some Charlton comics as a kid.
posted by DaddyNewt at 4:04 PM on February 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by DaddyNewt at 4:04 PM on February 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is brilliant, because a million deaths is this really abstract concept that most people can't comprehend, but Moore went ahead and made us know a few of them so that the deaths become personal.
And so when Ozymandias says that he already carried out his plan half an hour before, I remember the ground slipping away from beneath me - not only were the people I'd grown to know over almost a year (the effect of reading in serialisation and in one volume is quite different) doomed, they were already dead, and I hadn't noticed and there was nothing that could be done. In the movie it's just a gimmick. The next change that Snyder makes - turning the giant squid, which is ridiculous, into a mere bomb flattens the devastating effect - these people we knew were murdered as a joke.
I do sympathise with Moore's disdain for Hollywood - none of the adaptations of his work have understood the work they were exploiting in the least bit. Personally, I'd have accepted the money and insulted the filmmakers twice as hard, but I have no principles. Neither do I have the capacity to write something that would generate that kind of cultural capital in the first place.
posted by Grangousier at 5:32 AM on February 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
And so when Ozymandias says that he already carried out his plan half an hour before, I remember the ground slipping away from beneath me - not only were the people I'd grown to know over almost a year (the effect of reading in serialisation and in one volume is quite different) doomed, they were already dead, and I hadn't noticed and there was nothing that could be done. In the movie it's just a gimmick. The next change that Snyder makes - turning the giant squid, which is ridiculous, into a mere bomb flattens the devastating effect - these people we knew were murdered as a joke.
I do sympathise with Moore's disdain for Hollywood - none of the adaptations of his work have understood the work they were exploiting in the least bit. Personally, I'd have accepted the money and insulted the filmmakers twice as hard, but I have no principles. Neither do I have the capacity to write something that would generate that kind of cultural capital in the first place.
posted by Grangousier at 5:32 AM on February 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by churl at 1:37 AM on February 26, 2017