I must admit, I’m mixed. It looks good, it looks like they’re trying to keep things close to the book. I want to watch it, even. But- BUT! – You can’t make this comic into a movie. No matter how close they keep to the book, no matter how awesome it is. It’s a meta comic story that is also the history of super hero comics and a criticism of comics and comic book reading and that same history. You can’t translate into a movie. You just can’t. The medium was part of the message. And a lot of the time bending, meta narrative and nonlinear plot arcs aren’t going to work.
The book will be missing. The pirate comic, missing. And even if they try to somehow incorporate these things, the impact and effect that was created while reading the comic won’t translate into a movie. It’s just not possible.
So, yeah. Excited to see it, but won’t expect it to be the comic, or even have the same impact or power as the comic. [Watch the trailer at io9]
Keeping my jury out on this one, too. My main concern is this project having been fast tracked on the heels of Snyder’s 300 success. Really hard for me not to put some carts before some horses, so I won’t.
Right now, I’m jonesin’ for The Dark Knight. The History Channel had a smart, sharp special two nights ago: Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight. And we won’t be able to go see the movie this weekend, daggumit!!!
Yeah The Dark Knight looks amazing, and the Joker in that one seems spot on. Nice thing about Batman- he has been changed so much and altered so much that he’s more of an icon, a mindframe, an archetype. A myth sort of figure. So you can’t make a movie that’s inaccurate to the “comics” since with each voice the comic changes, molds, breaks the shape.
an myth type of figure, exactly. our myths are all these super people doing wonderfully large heroic things or whatever people in tights generally do, and all the while trying to instill or teach some moral or tradition or you know all the stan lee great power&resposibility kinda stuff, superman fights for truth, justice and the “american” way, batman you know he’s just a normal guy with a suit and some kung-fu and a code of honor or whatever. were the greeks any different? did they really think hercules did all that stuff? or were their temples more akin to our movie theatres? who’s to say what people will think of our culture three thousand years from now. and it’s funny, jack kirby already thought about all this and put it into his comics back in the seventies, he wondered if they’d have hulk-o-lympics in the future. kirby really knew what was going on with this stuff.
and that really brings me to my whole idea of the myths and stuff, i think that big business has gotten to far into controlling and dictationing our dreams and myths, i mean i love batman and spiderman and aeverybody but, why should the wb inc be able to control a story, as storytellers we need to give all those big businessmen who are only interested in what brings the biggest profit, _the_ finger, a giant fuckoff stay outta our dreams you greedy assholes. now, hey yeah there is more diverse stuff out there, but we don’t get to decide what is diverse and what is not, all that is figured in a ledger book. how do we give them that finger, well that’s the pickle of my story here isn’t it?
benny
“as storytellers we need to give all those big businessmen who are only interested in what brings the biggest profit, _the_ finger, a giant fuckoff stay outta our dreams you greedy assholes.”
Isn’t that the whole point of the Watchmen comic?
but that’s my point right. when the majority turns to the minority for it’s ideas they’re bound to get you know, like, whored out and stuff. remember when you were in highschool and you wore your sonic youth tees and flanels and how many years went by before all that was at the gap and jc penny and everything. i’d be lieing if i said i wore eyeliner and teased my hair in highschool, but johnny sure did, now what is the hip cool stuff they sell everyewhere? alan moore specifically created watchmen with the intent that it could _not_ be translated into a movie right, so maybe by conceding to it’s filming that is in effect his illustration of it not being filmable, as you said the pirates won’t be there or at least if it is, it won’t be the same at all, for all the more it struggles to be just like the comic that will be pushing it that much further into the realization that is a film trying to emulate a comic. but, maybe like how the book is always better than the movie, youknow maybe it’s just supposed to make people think about comics more. and i think i got a gmail now, it’s up in that box, but i dunno yours, send me something there to reply to or something.
benny
yeah, yeah ok cool, I’ll do the gmail thing in a sec.
I dunno know man, we had Hot Topic when we were in HS- that was all about commodifying the underground. I got nothing wrong with big business or any of that stuff. I dunno, I guess I’m just not the cynical yet.