November 13, 2008
Movie Trailer: Watchmen (Trailer #3)
The latest Watchmen trailer has hit. They've obviously stopped pushing it directly to the fanboys and have tried to coat the thing with a comprehensible narrative. There seems to be a but of bait and switch going on here. The average person, the one's who are adults but have the sense and pride not to waste precious moments in life thumbing through comic books, er graphic novels, will see this and may be drawn in. They go in thinking they're getting Batman or Spider-Man and they're getting Naked Lunch in tights.
I'm excited to see this. I cast in the moment I heard Snyder was on board. I also want to see how the heck they're going to adapt this thing and make it watchable. The idea that this will cross over to the general public seems to be a stretch. Then again, 300 worked and blew out of the box office.
Screenwriter: David Hayter (X-Men) and Alex Tse
Director: Zack Snyder (300)
Actors: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Kabluey), Malin Akerman (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), Billy Crudup (Big Fish), Jackie Earle Haley (Semi-Pro), Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy), and Matt Frewer
I'm excited to see this. I cast in the moment I heard Snyder was on board. I also want to see how the heck they're going to adapt this thing and make it watchable. The idea that this will cross over to the general public seems to be a stretch. Then again, 300 worked and blew out of the box office.
Screenwriter: David Hayter (X-Men) and Alex Tse
Director: Zack Snyder (300)
Actors: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Kabluey), Malin Akerman (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), Billy Crudup (Big Fish), Jackie Earle Haley (Semi-Pro), Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy), and Matt Frewer
Labels: adaptation, Billy Crudup, film, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, movie trailer, Zack Snyder
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 8:30 PM
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4 Comments:
the one's who are adults but have the sense and pride not to waste precious moments in life thumbing through comic books
Ouch.
I can't help but want to respond to that. Is it a waste of time to, for instance, ride a roller coaster? You get nothing out of it but temporal enjoyment. It doesn't make you a better person, it doesn't enlighten you, it doesn't expand your horizons. All it does is make you have fun for a few minutes.
Is it a waste of time to stand and look at a painting or a photograph? Does it make it any better if the photograph is of an important person or event? But what if the photo (or painting) only vaguely hints at an important person or event ... or if it shows that person or event through the filter of a very specific perspective ... is it then a waste of time to stand and admire it?
What about a story that symbolically tells the account of one perspective of a given historical event ... and utilizes fantastic characters and story lines for the sake of expressing elements of human nature and human behavior with broad strokes? Would such a story automatically qualify as a waste of time?
Is it a waste of time to sit on the couch with your kids and spend half an hour laughing at the same Tom N' Jerry cartoons you laughed at when you were a kid?
Is it a waste of time for me to give my oldest son my old comics ... on the condition that he takes them one at a time, in sequence, and reads what he's taken before he asks for another ... and is it a waste of time that he and I discuss the characters, the character arcs, the strengths and weaknesses of the plots, ways the story could have been improved or plot elements that we'd NEVER change in a million years ... or the symbolism (if any) and the greater meaning of the story?
The times he and I have spent entire hour-long car trips doing nothing but talking about comic books, laughing together and actually getting to know more about each other simply by each of us finding out how the other feels about a given plot element, character or new development ... have those exchanges, which my son and I have both enjoyed and both look forward to ... are they wastes of time?
If so, would you suggest a more productive alternative for us to discuss during those car trips? The concept of death as understood by Hinayana Buddhists, perhaps? Or maybe just the latest football scores or advances in chemical fertilizers, or if CSN was better with or without Y?
If you've answered yes to all of those questions, if you've said that every one of those instances is a waste of time ... then at least your consistent. But if any one of those questions gives you pause, I hope you'll re-examine the idea that comics do nothing more than "waste precious moments of life."
Believe it or not, in a very small way, and totally dependent on other, more important elements of my existence, I have to say that comics have made my life better. :)
I always have to put a dig in for the grown men who read comics/graphic novels. To be honest, I don't really have too much of a problem with the comics themselves, it's the pretending they're more than they are. A comic is a comic if you call it graphic novel or not. Think of your tail of the dog reference. Soon video games will be digital diversions or some such nonsense so our generation doesn't have to admit we never grew up.
Before you think I'm some arrogant snob (or at least a bigger snob than I already admit to being) consider - geez, how does Scott know so much about Watchmen in the first place?
Holy cow, I just saw the new trailer, and cannot be more excited!!
I've set my Fandango account to let me know when tickets are available at my favorite opening-night theater.
As to comic books/graphic novels: it seems to me that they are often no worse than a pulp novel (for the record, I love pulp, especially by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I agree completely with Chesterton's "In Defense of Penny Dreadfuls"). Those who say that there is nothing in them worth noting are missing out on some interesting themes and images--particulary in books like Watchmen, Sandman, and my own favorite, Hellboy.
However, that said, graphic novels cannot present debates or much in the way of philosophy, simply because of their limited medium. They exist to tell a story in images, and when they do so well, are well worth discussing and pondering.
It's a valid and interesting medium, and great things have been done in it. But it shouldn't be made out to be more than it is.
I'm glad to see that the movie will still be set in 1985. When I first heard it was being adapted, I feared someone would try to move the plot to the present day. I was only 1 year old in 1985, but even I can tell that the story is too closely tied to that particular era to work as well in any other.
"They go in thinking they're getting Batman or Spider-Man and they're getting Naked Lunch in tights."
I like that one.
Personally, I think the term "graphic novel" could be salvaged and used to refer to those comicbooks which tell a complete story in one volume, as opposed to your usual issues of superhero comics, which are the latest episodes in serials that have been running for over thirty years (and show no signs of stopping, ever). Give the term an objective meaning, rather than subjective judgment of quality.
But I guess the damage has been done, and the term will always be associated with the "It's not a comicbook, it's ART" crowd.
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