Superhero Conservatism

Cross Action News ^ | 2-13-09 | David Swindle

[Victory111]

On March 6 audiences will experience Watchmen, the most political comic book movie yet made. The film, based off of the acclaimed graphic novel, considers superheroes in the “real world,” and imagines a 1980s Cold War world in which the presence of superheroes has given the United States an edge over the Soviet Union.

The film is not the first to consider the superhero in a political context. As the genre developed especially since when Watchmen was first published in the mid ’80s stories and characters have gone well beyond simple escapism. And as superhero films started being adapted more regularly some ten years ago – now that cinematic special effects had caught up with the imagination of comic artists – these more intellectual and political themes began popping up in superhero adaptations.

[VRWCmember]

Pretty long article, and not a single word after the excerpted portion about the new Watchmen movie that I thought the article was going to discuss.

[RJR_fan]

thanks, good article, i passed it. I read the graphic novel a few years ago. One of the 100 best literary works of the 20th century in English, I’ve heard.

[mdk1960]

The author of this graphic novel absolutely hated and still hates Reagan, whom he publicly blamed for everything bad on earth. I will not be wasting my cash on it - even knowing that the author himself does not support the film.

[Tanniker Smith]

I've told friends and casual acquaintances not to expect much from Watchmen. Every Alan Moore comic book adaptation so far has sucked badly. No reason to believe this one won't either.

Flip side to this: After the Country Bear Jamboree, Disney released Pirates of the Caribbean, so anything is possible.

[Ueriah]

Alan Moore is an AMAZING writer. He is probably the most gifted writer to ever touch the comic book medium. The Watchmen was one of the best graphic novels ever - if not the best.

That being said, there is something about comic books that fails to translate well into movie medium. Maybe it’s that in a comic book, you can kind of skip forward and backward, and in the movie, it’s all one stream. I thought Alan Moore’s V For Vandetta was an awesome comic book - the movie sucked. I thought Hellblazer, the character he created that became the Constaintine movie - was awesome. But the movie? Ick.

The Watchmen has the potentional to be the BEST movie of 2009 hands down. I’ll be there to see it no matter what.

[Secret Agent Man]

It isn’t any wonder that superheroes and the whole superhero themes revolve around more conservative characters. Individualism and individual achievement/excellence are traits that are conservative, and need to be there in any superhero. You cannot have superheroes that are not personally driven, striving to be the best, going their own way even when everyone else bails and staying true to what they believe in despite the consequences. These are all conservative traits.

In many cases, as the article points out, they understand their ability to be who they are is because of where they live (generally USA) and the freedoms they have, and it drives them to preserve the freedoms and liberties (even while knowing the system isn’t perfect, it’s better than anywhere else) so that others can also experience the benefits of living under the best system in the world. Without having to be slaves to terrorists or powerhungry villians of all shapes and sizes.

In short these descriptions hardly make you think of a liberal. It makes you think of a grown up. A strong man. A strong woman. Conservative independent responsibility-assuming people.

[Vince Ferrer]

...there is something about comic books that fails to translate well into movie medium.

Alan Moore is a master at his chosen medium, and Watchmen is a masterpiece of the comic medium. It and Dark Knight Returns gained an enormous amount of respect for the medium, and proved it was not just a format for kids, that it was a medium of storytelling equal to film, stage, or novels.

The format of Watchmen itself was deliberately designed to enhance the comic medium, to tell a story beyond what could be done on film or stage. The story contains comic books within comic books, stories within stories, and extra literary material at the back of each chapter. It was written to be read and re-read as you wait for the next issue. Even this faithful reproduction to film can't contain the whole story. (Which causes a not insignificant number of fans to say why bother make a film at all, as if making a film "legitimizes" the story)

The only medium that could containn Watchmen besides comic books is a multimedia website, which did not exist at the time it was written. And while millions of websites have been created, and billions of dollars spent and made on the web, the web still hasn't had an Alan Moore come along and push it to its limit, to legitimize it as a story telling medium.