Tell Me What You See: Watchmen & Adaptation
Posted by Caroline
Note: This article contains significant spoilers for the comic and movie Watchmen. If you don’t want to be spoiled for the end of both, you may want to leave this for later.
Like most of the rest of the world wide nerd corps (and reportedly a few civilians), I went to see the movie Watchmen on its opening night. I’d been rereading my favorite bits and pieces of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel in preparation for the film, so some of the details were very sharp in my mind.
As we left the movie, my friend Samantha, a Watchmen civilian, asked me what I thought. “I heard they changed the ending,” she said tentatively. “Yes,” I sighed. “They changed it, and it’s not the same. It’s just. . .not the same if Ozymandias doesn’t do the victory arms.”
And that was the moment I realized exactly what this movie was up against.
If you’re a fan of Watchmen-the-comic, you might know what I mean about Adrian Veidt’s arms. This panel appears at a climactic moment in the story:
More about that later.
The point is, it’s just one panel. It’s one panel in a long, wordy, intricately constructed comic book, and it depicts an action that, if attempted by a real live person who is not Hiro Nakamura, would probably — if I have to be soul-searchingly honest — look kind of stupid. But I came out of the movie ready to declare that this omission had destroyed the story I loved. (It’s not as crazy as it sounds. But more about that later).
There are a lot of people like me. Not “like me” in their devotion to Ozymandias’s body language; I’ve read a good share of Internet fan reviews over the past week, and I haven’t run across that criticism yet. But with all the images, scenes, and moments in this insanely detailed comic, somebody’s favorite is on every page. Even if the movie’s director (Zack Snyder) and screenwriters (David Hayter & Alex Tse) could possibly include all of these details, there are a lot of levels on which it would be a bad idea. Take a book in which every change or omission is bound to raise some fanperson’s hackles, add the Internet, and you’ve got a nitpicker’s paradise. What’s a filmmaker to do?
The online conversation about this movie seems to bear out this concern. Many fannish reviews — or reviews by anybody who shows a sign of having read the book — dissolve into laundry lists of what the movie got “right” and “wrong,” as though points are going to be awarded for comparison-and-contrast. But others take an opposite approach. “No nitpicking!” this meme tells us.
Nobody wants to be This Guy
Being this guy is A-OK
The Greek in question is Theseus, speaking in the last act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was thinking of him because, the same weekend Watchmen opened, Samantha and I went to see that play at my favorite little Shakespeare theater. At intermission, we started talking about the costumes, the actors, and how the staging affected our understanding of the characters. (“I never really thought about consent issues in the Titania/Bottom relationship, but when you see it done this way. . .”) Suddenly, I realized this conversation sounded familiar. This was exactly the way we’d ended up talking about Watchmen the previous night — with less drinking beer on my brother’s couch and fewer mentions of giant phalluses (it wasn’t one of those Shakespeare productions), but still.
Of course, I’ve had these conversations about theater before, too. I’ve been going to Shakespeare productions whenever I could, since high school. (I once saw two completely different Measure for Measure‘s in the same week; that’s called having a Bard problem). Whenever I finish seeing a play that I know well, I can tick off a few lines that I wish hadn’t been cut, point to a staging or a line reading that made me see the text in a new way, and — just occasionally — declare that my life has been ruined by the blazing incompetence of a director. I once saw a production of The Tempest that eliminated the epilogue. My post-show rant was worthy of Geoffrey Tennant.
As far as I understand it, though, this is what fans of the theater do. (Or possibly it’s just me and Geoffrey, but I’m okay with that). We come in with a text that began in a single dimension (words, words, words. . .), and we trust the actors and director to bring this to life for a few hours. When it’s over, the text hasn’t changed — I had a college professor who liked to say, “Shakespeare is stronger than anything we can throw at him” — but something has happened to our understanding. Even a bad production can teach something about a good play. I never appreciated the epilogue of The Tempest quite as much as the time I didn’t hear it.
Turning a comic into a movie is different from staging a play, of course. It’s different from covering a song, too, which is another analogy I’ve heard tossed around. A written play is only the framework for the final product; the words and melody of a song are bones and sinew, but they aren’t the music. A graphic novel is — or ought to be — a complete work in itself. This is an objection that a lot of Watchmen‘s admirers (and Alan Moore himself) have made, saying the book is so tied to its medium that an adaptation to the screen serves no artistic purpose. It’s a fair point, but it’s not that useful to people who read the book, saw the movie, and are figuring out how to talk about it. In this sense, the analogy to watching a play becomes more apt.
This brings us back to Adrian Veidt’s arms. (I promised we’d get here!) ****SPOILERS FOR THE COMIC AND FILM***** In the panel shown above, Veidt/Ozymandias reacts to the news that he has managed to create world peace (YAY!) by engineering a fake alien attack on New York (BOO!) that killed millions and drove millions of others insane. (Yeah, there’s really not a cute little epithet for this one, is there?)
Just a little peek at Adrian's squid
The movie keeps the same plot structure but changes the details of what Veidt has done — more points of attack, more deaths, no giant space squid. I’m not sure these revisions matter much in themselves, but what I always liked about the squid plan was what it said about Veidt. The careful, elaborate insanity of the setup keeps it from being Generic Megalomaniacal Plan for Global Domination #723 and makes the scheme specific to the man who masterminded it. In the “victory arms” panel, Veidt’s gesture of uncomplicated joy makes him look like he just won the Tour de France instead of killing half of New York. It stops him from being Generic Megalomaniacal Villain #336 and lets him be a person. And that makes the thing he just did a hell of a lot scarier.
At least, I see it that way. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s the point. There are plenty of readers out there who aren’t particularly invested in the naïve charm of a mass murderer, and if I step back from my own attachment to the work, I can’t exactly blame them. But seeing the movie brought home how important this moment was to me; I only realized when I missed it.
Zack Snyder and his screenwriters have given us a version of Watchmen, showing us what is important to them. Their version isn’t exactly the same as mine, and if the book means something to you, it probably isn’t the same as yours either. Talking about the differences doesn’t have to diminish the book or the film, but it could help to understand why (or whether) they matter.
Watchmen is stronger than anything the Internet can throw at it. So go ahead. Tell me what you see.
Tell Me What You See
Tell Caroline your nitpicks! Or just tell her how you think about film adaptations in general. Or geek out about Shakespeare with her. She likes that too:
Email: Caroline@fantasticfangirls.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/madmarvelgirl
We also came up with a BRILLIANT plan for “Watchmen: The Musical.” It’s a shame our genius isn’t appreciated in our time.
But the imaginary musical and the actual movie can co-exist simultaneously, and that’s why being a fan is great.
Now I kind of want Geoffrey’s thoughts on Watchmen.
I’m pretty sure Geoffrey avoids everything comic book related since Darren tried to get the rights to stage a musical of Grant Morrison’s X-Men.
I don’t think Watchmen would be his bag, anyway, but I’m pretty sure he read Sandman back in the day. And Jack gave him a copy of 1602 but the historical inaccuracies upset him and there was no repetition of that incident.
(RICHARD on the other hand reads comic books, but no one will ever know).
Richard’s favorite character is Gambit.
It totally is. But if you ask him, he’d say it’s Cyclops. Richard is the only person on earth who assumes Cyclops is the character it’s cool to like.
What does it say about us that this thread has turned into ‘Slings & Arrows’ fanfic?
Also, Minutemen Tango!!! Rorschach/Shrink dance-off!! Best musical ever!
Ozymandias wants a power ballad, dammit!
It’s a cross between Judas’s song in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You.’
He duets with his cat-gazelle.
And serenades his own reflection.
I love this review and I feel it put some of my “dislikes” about the film in perspective.
I completely agree with the sentiment of appreciating something more because you’ve missed it. I had such a hard time with the handling of The Abyss Gazes Also in the movie. And when I got home I just had to read that issue and I was so teary by the end of it. It made me appreciate, love, respect, and see something new in it that I didn’t before.
Personally, the movie strengthened the comic for me. Because for every thing I did not like about the movie, I found its beautifully crafted counterpart in the comic.
Ah! Thank you for the comparison between the many different stagings of Shakespeare and the ways moviemakers approach respected texts.
Also, this thread made me think of some of my favorite adaptations. I grew up within striking distance of Ashland, so I got to see some doozies. Twelfth Night. In 1930 New Orleans! During Mardi Gras!! With multiple Elvises!!! The Guthrie did a really effective Richard III with Richard in a polio brace, and also a Julius Cesar with camo and uzis and banana republic.
And every time I see a favorite re-imagined, I can go back to the text and see how that could work. Thank you for reminding me that works for movies, too.
The main thing I missed with the removal of Ozy’s triumphant arms-up gesture is that we don’t get (yet another) reiteration of the nuclear-clock arms. In this case they’re frozen at the last possible second, of course, but they’re still there to remind us, just as they are in the first panel and the last, that we’re all right on the edge of midnight.
Honestly, that’s another minor irritation I had with the movie: the blood on the smiley doesn’t look like clock hands in the movie.
Of course, I’m the kind of guy who searches the comic for circles just to see if Gibbons puts the hands on them. (And he almost always does.)
And the showstopping “(We’re All) Dead on the Corner” number in Act II is one I’m looking forward to, especially the touching Bernie & Bernie dance.
Fantastic piece, Caroline! I’m fascinated by what’s important to Snyder versus what’s important to various individuals I know. I think I already told you my nitpick: I missed the panel where Doc Manhattan gives a little smile after seeing naked Spectre/Nite Owl. I feel the same way about that moment as you do about the Ozy/fist pump moment — such a gentle, humanizing touch, and it says so much about the character. That single panel has always stuck with me.
Wow, these are great comments, thank you!
@Graciela — that’s a great illustration of my point. I’ve been collecting people’s ‘nitpicks’ of the adaptation (I wish I had a better word than that) and I’ve seen quite a few about Rorschach’s backstory, which make some great points that I hadn’t even thought of. And it’s not like I ever ignored Rorschach, I just never thought about it that way.
@Wired — I’m glad you liked the Shakespeare comparison. It doesn’t *exactly* hold up — if you see a production of a play that doesn’t work for you, there will always be a chance to see another. But then, to turn it around, no one would ever insist that you HAVE TO accept one director’s interpretation without questioning it, either. Like Samantha said above, we can all keep our personal movies in our head and the movies that get made don’t change that.
@Cash — Man, I didn’t even think about how Adrian’s posing as a doomsday clock. Creepy. I love that you’ve given that kind of thought to the details. And an excellent suggestion for a musical number. Now the big question: pirates or no pirates?
@Sarah — Thanks, I was hoping you would bring up the ‘smile’ moment — which I just realized echoes the ‘smiley face’ motif with a real smile. Re: my Watchmen vs. Snyder’s — I think, to me, it’s as much Adrian’s story as anyone else’s; to Snyder, he’s a necessary antagonist for Rorschach and Laurie and Dan but it’s not about him as much as it is about the others. Which is totally valid, as a choice, it just makes me appreciate what’s in the book that much more.
When it’s over, the text hasn’t changed — I had a college professor who liked to say, “Shakespeare is stronger than anything we can throw at him” — but something has happened to our understanding.
Oh, good point. I hadn’t quite thought of it that way.
*is picturing the cast of Slings & Arrows watching Wolverine* (er, what I imagine the movie will be like since it obviously hasn’t been released yet.)
@handyhunter: Somehow I imagine Ellen having problems with the whole Wolverine thing. Wouldn’t she be the sort to complain that Jackman’s Canadian accent wasn’t right or something?
@Caroline: Watchmen is an immensely rewarding book for examining tiny art details in hopes of finding clock hands. Laurie runs a finger down Dan’s dusty goggles… Laurie wipes Archie’s windshield… Jon’s glass castle collapses on Mars… smoke crosses the moon after Dan & Laurie’s sex scene… a small clear spot opens up in the surface of Adrian’s snow-covered dome… Bernie & Bernie are backlit by the terrible explosion… they’re EVERYWHERE.
First of all, I want a WATCHMEN musical…now! Joss doesn’t have to write or direct it, but I do think he and his brothers have earned a shot to write the songs.
Okay, now on to business. I haven’t seen the movie, yet. As someone who has read the book, yet does not worship the book, I wanted to hold back and get both sides of the story. I wanted to see what the die hards thought. I wanted to see what the civilians thought. I wanted to see what my fellow middle-of-the-roaders thought.
That being said, I think adapting something like WATCHMEN into a feature film is different than adapting a comic book “property.” All the scrutiny that movies based on Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, or Iron Man get is nothing compared to the pressure of adapting an actual, self-contained story.
For example, since you’re telling an original story, you could make Victor von Doom a businessman who joins the FF on their faithful space mission. Sure, a few fans mat cry foul, but it doesn’t have any effect on the overall story that you’re telling. However, with something like WATCHMEN (or V FOR VENDETTA or A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE), which was created as a closed system–for lack of a better phrase–even a minor change can create ripples in the narrative that need to be addressed.
Actually, when I first heard that this movie was finally getting made, my first reaction was that it should have been a 12-part series on HBO…there’s something very DEADWOOD or ROME about WATCHMEN.
Cash: I hadn’t noticed the allusion to the Doomsday Clock in Adrian’s victory pose. There’s even a spotlight around him to indicate the clock. It’s amazing how many times you can read this story and see something new each time.
For me, the pivotal missing panel was Sally Jupiter kissing the framed photo of Eddie Blake. Reading that was the first time a comic book actually moved me emotionally.
Mike M: Yeah, I would have liked that shot of Sally.
Honestly, I don’t think the movie made Laurie’s dislike of Blake strong enough to justify her response on Mars. In the book, it’s well-established that she hates him, but in the film the violent pounding on the glass castle just doesn’t ring true. (Admittedly, it would help if Malin Akerman was a better actor.)
I also thought of an addition I found annoying: when Rorschach chases Big Figure into the men’s room, I thought the views of him through the swinging door were unnecessary. Was Snyder trying to make Dan & Laurie complicit in Rorschach’s killing B.F., since they could see him in there? And if so, why? In the book, they just mention all the banging around and then R. cracks the line about many who’d agree about diving headfirst into things. Shorter, clearer, funnier. Hurm.
I’m loving this discussion — incidentally, it occurred to me that I should emphasize I’m not just begging for negative comments. Feel free to mention things about the adaptation that worked — either changes for the better, or translations that helped the story click for you.
@handyhunter I’m pretty sure Ellen, if forced to watch superhero movies, only pays attention to the actresses, how old they look, whether she’d do a better job in their parts, and if she thinks she’d want them. She might make a good Moira McTaggart
.
@Dan I’m glad you made that point about adapting a book versus recreating a franchise. I tend to be really laissez-faire about franchise recreations — I mean, I got sucked in to comics by the X-Men movies and those bear little resemblance to the comics in terms of detail. So I was surprised how picky I was with ‘Watchmen.’ (Not that I should be. If you ever watch a Jane Austen movie with me, I’ll probably be yelling at the screen about obscure rules of Regency etiquette that I only know from reading Jane Austen.)
Still, I do think that how you feel about franchise adaptations depends on what you think the original was about — ie, your attachement to Batman-as-detective, which the Nolan movies don’t really deliver.
@Mike M — Hi Mike! And yeah, the whole Laurie story was a bit too compressed.
@Cash — Yeah, that bathroom fight was weird — it made Dan & Laurie look even more useless than they already are in that scene. Especially weird that they KEPT the shot of the blood flowing from under the door, even though there was no need for the information that it conveyed. This was one of the scenes that made me wonder whether Snyder understands how information is conveyed visually. (In the interest of fairness, the scene with Adrian toasting with poisoned champagne and watching the scientists die, without the camera cutting from him, was brilliantly done and I don’t *think* there’s an equivalent in the comic.)
(To the tune of “Be Our Guest”)
We’re…
All…
Dead,
We’re all dead,
We’re deceased, that’s what we said!
Someone cloned a squid
From some poor kid
And blew up all our heads.
It was weird,
Since we feared
Nukes would get us, but we’re cheered:
Once the aliens invaded,
East and West cooperated!
We’ve got peace!
War will cease!
Sure, we’ve been reduced to grease,
But at least you’re all surviving in our stead!
Why is the Premier fixin’
To shake hands with Nixon?
We’re all dead!
We’re all dead!
We’re all dead!
@Cash — Who needs Whedon? YOU’RE HIRED!
Okay, this thread has convinced me that maybe a Watchmen Musical might work!
Otherwise, I really like the theatre production analogy – at least from the point of how fans of plays approach different productions, which doesn’t reduce the original play or even that production but does help to inform what we think of a new incarnation.
Yes, we should all be more like Geoffrey Tennant and less like the Comic Book Guy. No question.
OMG. My main criticism of this film (as a film) is the pacing sucks so everything lacks an emotional punch and and and —
MAKING IT A MUSICAL WOULD SO SOLVE THAT.
Seriously, this story is screaming to be a musical the way Harry Potter really should have been a BBC television series instead of a big budget film franchise.
I wish I had an agent. I’d make them send in a proposal.
And great post
(I’m catching up, sorry so late w/the comments – it did take me a week to just see the film!!)
I see a crab
[...] comics when Watchmen came out in March — it may not have been a great movie but it was an awesome conversation piece — but since then my interest has been in the [...]
[...] to approach such canonical texts that way. But I’ve written about adaptation before — in this article where I talked about the Watchmen movie and more Shakespeare — and looking back at that, I realize Welles’ Othello was the example in the back of my [...]
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