Comments | meddow: BSG, Universe and a Watchmen Review

meddow

BSG, Universe and a Watchmen Review

Mar 22, 2009 20:13

I'm trying desperately to ignore the fact that BSG has ended. If I don’t think about it, I won't be tempted to find out how it ends and spoil myself. Although I may have accidentally spoiled myself for one small but crucial detail. In terms of my own watching, I've just finished Maelstrom in season three, so I'm getting there.

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battlestar galactica, stargate, movies

Comments 11

airie_fairy March 22 2009, 07:21:51 UTC

So the world that mocked you for liking Watchmen is now essentially mocking you for not liking Watchmen? Damn, that's fucked up.

meddow March 22 2009, 07:26:08 UTC

Yeah. When it comes to Watchmen, I really can't win.

not lecturing, but your take on it does make me think... frenchroast March 22 2009, 22:59:38 UTC

Hmm. All the stuff you say you dislike is why I liked it. The point of the movie in this case was simply to tell the exact same story in a different medium, which they did about as flawlessly as you can. That's why people are calling it brilliant, and I have to agree, even if it means there was nothing new added to the story (the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach, which is too rarely employed in most book-to-movie creations ( ... )

Re: not lecturing, but your take on it does make me think... meddow March 23 2009, 03:19:07 UTC

I have to admit, the filmmakers must have gone through amazing lengths to painstakingly recreate panels, so from a technological standpoint, the movie is both groundbreaking and a triumph.

I think really, why we disagree comes down to what a view about what an adaptation should do. I think good adaptations adds something to the source material, such as its matching visual beauty the words on the paper, or showing how the original text applies to contemporary concerns. The Lord of the Rings and Atonement I think are a good example of the former, and The Dark Knight of the latter. The nature of an adaptation means it has to take things away from the original. The difference between a good adaptation and a bad one is that a good one adds more than it takes way ( ... )

Re: not lecturing, but your take on it does make me think... frenchroast March 23 2009, 06:55:37 UTC

I actually don't disagree with you per se. I think you absolutely have a valid point about adaptions either adding to or contemporizing the original source material. I'm just of the opinion that a loyal recreation of the source material in another medium is a valid kind of adaptation, in addition to the two you cite ( ... )

Re: not lecturing, but your take on it does make me think... meddow March 24 2009, 05:57:10 UTC

Wow, I didn't know LotR went to that extent with the visuals.

That's a really good point, and one I didn't think of, about how mediums speak to different people. I'm a bit fan of graphic novels because they work for me as a medium better than ordinary novels, and sometimes (certainly in this case) better than movies.

There is that issue with Watchmen canon that doesn't apply to most comics. But other graphic novels with singular canons such as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, and V for Vendetta had been adapted for movies without such loyalty. But then, I've never read V for Vendetta and From Hell. The only one I've both read and seen the movie is League, which was a really bad movie which actually would have been a lot better if they stuck closer to the graphic novel - so really, that argues your point ( ... )

Thread 5

chocolatepot March 23 2009, 20:44:19 UTC

I agree a lot with everything you said about Watchmen, except that a) the panel-for-panel business didn't bother me that much since I only read the book a week or so before the film came out, and b) I'm a Veidt!wife. All of the people who love Rorschach are driving me up the wall, though.

meddow March 24 2009, 06:11:26 UTC

I don't know what to make of the Rorschach love. He's a horrific misogynist and all these fangirls are swooning over him. Fandom scares me so much sometimes.

frenchroast March 24 2009, 14:56:39 UTC

The Rorschach love is scary. Reminds me of the Joker love. Of course, even worse is the fangirls slashing Joker/Rorschach. I think I saw a fic of that somewhere (but I'm not about to hunt it down), and that is just messed up.

I mean, I like fictional bad guys (Sylar, Dr. Crane, Lex Luthor) as much as any girl, but I draw the line at mentally disturbed murdering/misogynist sociopaths.

chocolatepot March 25 2009, 18:29:40 UTC

I guess sometimes the woobifying instinct can take over even if the subject has terribly few redeeming features and isn't hot.