Evin
Name: Evin Weston
Bio: Amateur cartoonist (@ http://knifestone.net), amateur podcaster (@ http://sacklunch.ca), professional manatee.
Twitter:
Reviews
All reviews by Evin
Comic Books Discussion, Podcasts and Community
Name: Evin Weston
Bio: Amateur cartoonist (@ http://knifestone.net), amateur podcaster (@ http://sacklunch.ca), professional manatee.
Twitter:
Copyright © Great Northern Media
Some rights reserved.
http://sacklunch.ca/?p=90
Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
*buys*
@ultimatehoratio
I definitely agree. Like I said, I can begrudge it the ending it has because it does mostly get us there, and also because to have the original ending would either make the film way too long, or make normal people confused/mad/whatever.
I am just now worried that the thousands of people who are seeing this movie without having read a comic in their lives will then pick up the book, get to the ending, be all "Wait, aliens? What? That is weird. Comics are stupid."
The ending in the book is so my most beloved part of Watchmen. You are Captain Wrong, Josh!
That said, I can begrudge the ending the film has, because, as you said, they do mostly all reach the same points as they do in the book, it just felt kindof lazy and sterile to me. They did the same thing (conclusively) throuigh doing less (cinematically) by doing more (literally). And what I mean is that the characters pretty much acted the same, but since adding all the genetic engineering and artist kidnapping and all of that just to explain how an alien showed up to destroy New York would have added a ton of time to an already long movie (because if they didn't, you'd leave the general public really, really confused and probably a little cranky when the squid showed up) they needed something different and more easily explained, and to have the world powers to do the same thing would require a shit-ton more people to die, in way more cities than New York, which is what they did. The same through less by more.
And that just strikes me as lazy, sortof. I mean, it predicated by necessity, but even though it gets to the same place, it feels like a different one. The thing that I love about the ending of the book is how much sense it makes. It says something more interesting about humanity that we all unite when something larger and outside of ourselves appears and shows us what we are. In the movie it's not the epiphanous "Holy shit!" momentof the book, it's more a "That motherfucker! C'mon guys, let's round up a posse and kick his ass!" one. I mean, one can definitely say that Manhattan is the thing that is big and outside ourselves, and so you do reach that conclusion, but in watching the movie it didn't feel like that to me. The ending of the book to me feels like humanity ducking into a cave, desperately trying to find something to protect itself with, so that the fucked up shadows that it thinks are monsters outside won't get it, and the ending in the movie feels like someone just spilled a beer on humanity and they're kicking back the bar stool and looking for a fight.
This is rambly and overlong so I am going to shut up. A more coherant reaction from me exists over at http://evin.livejournal.com/390924.html if anyone cares.
I did actually consider Mouse Guard and American Born Chinese when staring at my self, but, as great as they are, I think that they're largely (Mouse Guard especially) more art-heavy than they are story-heavy. ABC is better, but still a little light, I think.
Plain Janes is a good idea, although I totally just did buy our last copy a few weeks ago, though I imagine we could get more.
I do also agree that Understanding Comics is a little... dry. I just thought it might work because, if there's anything that could be regarded as a textbook for this stuff, it's that one.
Thanks for the help, guys.