Skip to main content

Week 8 [28.11-04.12] Watchmen - Gray Heroes


Watchmen opening from Sara Goes on Vimeo.

Superheroes, when you hear it probably you think about Marvel characters. Characters who always win, never dies or even get hurts. Heroes who always win against their enemies, no matter who they are. We always can be sure that at the end good will triumph.

Watchmen breaks with what we know from stories about hero, instead of group of people with crystal personality we get individuals which we never have expected that they will save the world. Team of persons which one is sociopathic and the other one has alcohol problems or and the other have disease that would cause we deleted these person from our list of “Good heroes”. In same intro to the movie we learn about black past of our heroes history while in the background we can hear the song of Bob Dylan “The times they are a changin” which perfect fit with the theme of film.
In the word created by Alan Moore we get revised our current history of introducing superheroes. By this procedure a lot of historical events has been completely changed.

America won war in Japan, because of using superheros instead of using atomic bomb and also they won the overwhelming predominance of the cold war with the Soviet Union.

The US with that force became a country which dictates terms.
It should be mentioned that despite the fact of first second of this movie we can see that Batman would never “rise” because thanks to one of the Watchmen, Bruce's parents would be rescued.
Heroes are used in the political struggle and wars. In the first minutes of the film we can see as one of the main characters in Watchmen probably at the request of R. Nixon kill the current president.

People begin to protest because they fear incredible power which nobody can control. Therefore, more and more frequently push against government to ban the the activities of Watchmen. The government relented and officially retired from cooperation with watchmen.
Watchmen is very underrated film because everybody expects just another story about superheros who who have defeat the villain with a lot of special effects.I can say it’s definitely not a film for these persons.  But if you looking for a long, complicated movie that will really make you think about the concepts of right or wrong and heroism you absolutely have to watch it.

Question:
Do you think this types of heroes is more closer to our reality than Marvel characters?
Would you like to superheroes existed?




Sources:


Comments

Unknown said…
It's an interesting idea: film with superheroes who are not perfect. I must watch it. It's very funny when I see Andy Warhol and dead Capitain America. This type of heroes is more real than Marvel heroes. Personally I like films with superheroes very much even though they are category B films. You can see a lot of films with superheroes in the cinema with super stars. Have you ever wondered why they produce so many film about superheroes? Because people stopped going to the cinema to see normal films but they started going to the cinema for superheroes. It would be fine to be hero. Flying would be enough.
Unknown said…
It's an interesting idea: film with superheroes who are not perfect. I must watch it. It's very funny when I see Andy Warhol and dead Capitain America. This type of heroes is more real than Marvel heroes. Personally I like films with superheroes very much even though they are category B films. You can see a lot of films with superheroes in the cinema with super stars. Have you ever wondered why they produce so many film about superheroes? Because people stopped going to the cinema to see normal films but they started going to the cinema for superheroes. It would be fine to be hero. Flying would be enough.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I always wanted to watch that movie and I keep forgetting to finally do this. But I have nothing against simple style, one dimensional characters with magical superpowers (whole statment is huge aproximation). That's the essensce of the comics. I love Marvel movies.

Unknown said…
I imagine it would be pretty scary to have superheroes/villains flying over your head, fighting and destroying half the city in the process.
There would definitely be an act akin to the Superhero Registration Act as depicted in Marvel Comics in place. Best case scenario, they would have to become federal employees taking orders from the government.
There would be specialized police units set up to deal with it superhumans.
Piotr Basiński said…
After your presentation I definitely set reminder in my phone to remind me to watch this movie on Sunday. It's very interesting concept of heroes that are complicated and not so perfect morally. I watch a lot of marvel movies and I like that, maybe this different approach ala `Watchmen` will be good to see too. I will see on Sunday. Thants for inform me about this super hero movie.
As i said, this movie doesn't have much common witch Marvel except that it is about Superheroes. If you forget about it you can be a little disappointed but if it hit your fancy I can bet you will buy smile-badge like to be like comedian.
I can not remember title of movie/comics but i convinced that somewhere I watch it. Hero are become living advertisements of big corporations and take only this orders that maybe increase their popularity. Imagine Superman with the logo of coca cola ; )
Why they produce so many film about superheroes? Well, almost everyone ran in childhood with the red sheet pretend that he saves the world. Maybe we just never want to grew up. Definitely Watchmen is not category B film, of course they do not earn a lot money and at the beginning of collecting low reviews but the film slowly up the movie rankings.
Unknown said…
I love marvel's superheroes, I always had. :) It is true that they are invincible, they never get hurt (well...they don't get killed at least), they always win. But this is how it should be. Now that is an interesting idea about superhero that is in many areas different than others. It can be a very good movie, I need to watch it.
Perhaps I watched too many movies Marvel but i really hate the fact that we can tell in the first minute of the film who is good/bad guy, and of course who will be defeated. Bad character always must to tell about his whole plan to his greatest enemy instead just do it.
Unknown said…
I'm not a big fan of Marvel movies, because this is too obviuous, you know what I mean? 10 minutes and you can predict everything.
I'm fan of Batman and DC heroes. You can see battle inside of them when they have to make decision what is good and what is bad. They are not only good, smiled and willing to help. They are very human in being superheroes.
I'm not sure if I'm fan of gray heroes, I'm not sure what will be sowded in the moie, but I'll watch to form an opinion
Unknown said…
If you are bored with predictible action, heroes imaginary problems and their pure hearts, this film should be fresh breeze for you.
Unknown said…
I loved this movie. Usually superheroes movies are stories about poor little fella with pure heart who becomes either powerful righteous paragon, or even more lovable, bit self-centered, but still good jerk. Watchmen is dark, sad and leaves audience speechless. I like it.
I haven't watched this movie yet, but now I will definitely put in on my list. It seems to be really interesing scenario: superheroes who normally are just ordinary people having mundane problems.
I would like to superheroes exist... if I was one of them ;) On a more serious note, I think existance of superheroes would bring a lot of problems, so it's better when we can meet them only in comics, books and movies.
Unknown said…
I like movies about superheroes Marvel but this film breaks all the stereotypes so it could be interesting. I have to admit that the song of Bob Dylan and that graphic style is made theme is encouraging to go to the cinema on this movie. The truth is that even if the Marvel heroes at the beginning have some problems and something doesn't go right then to the end they always win. In real life we don't always have to deal with a happy ending so this movie even though the characters have super powers might be more realistic and I think that this is a such a message that there are nobody is perfect.
It sad but at this moment we cannot see this film on big screen on Cinema. Nowadays there is played movie marathons where they have certain profit like Marvel, Batman or Spiderman. But if you want to watch there is Blue-Ray "Uncut version" that provide ~3.5h of movie or if you prefer short version it is also available on Netflix.
In watchmen we do not get any of pure heart characters, even superheroes superhero called the "Comedian" is a person who has committed many crimes and his past is very mysterious. Definitely Watchment is dark and sad, you can immediately say it after hearing a joke about Pagliacci.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f13MZm2N66E
You have to watch watchmen i am sure you can not predict how things will end. in Alan Moore comics/adaptation like "V for Vendetta" there is no space for "good", main characters can only choose evil but they also try believe that what they did was the right thing. But how we can tell what is right?
Unknown said…
I have never watched that movie and i wont do this because i dont like movies with heroes. The only one movie which i watch with heroes is batman but its normal person after special traning which help people and try to save town.
Unknown said…
That Bob Dylan song made my day. I agree that it’s lyrics fits very well into the topic of the film. And it’s such a pleasure to write this comment while listening to this song.
I really like that the creators of that movie broke patterns about superheroes in our mind. Because last superheroes movies are getting kind of predictable for viewers.
I agree that such kind of heroes is able to save the world and even more likely to save the world. The beauty of imperfection.

Science childhood I remember we dreamed about being a superhero or just having superhero friends. With my friends of we were discussing a lot of which talisman from Jeki Chan cartoon we would like to have. Or a snake to become invisible whenever we want. Or to be very strong. That’s a great topic for nostalgia.
Unknown said…
I watched this movie in the past and I thought it is unfair underestimated. It is some kind of fun movie where the heroes are sometimes similar to the real people. For me, it is just DC's type of the average superheroes (don't count for Batman or Superman). It wasn't a bad movie, but personally I prefer Marvel's movies.
Of course, I would like the superheroes to exist, but only if I could be one of them).
It sounds like a really interesting movie, I definitely have to watch it, maybe even this evening :) Although I’m not the biggest fan of superhero movies because they are usually very schematic, I really love the Batman series. It’s weird for me because as a kid I wasn’t very interested in this but when I grow older I started to like batman movies.
Unknown said…
I love this movie and watched it a couple of times. Especially for the Rorschach moments. I can't compare this film with DC and Marvel, the genre is totally different. For me, all this batman-superman stuff is about entertaining, excitement and so on. I feel like a teen watching it, in a good way. But after watching the "Watchmen" for the first time my kind of "wow" was not like after the "Ironman". I was a little bit sad. Because this movie really makes you stop and think. It is not about the superheroes - it's about people, feelings, weakness and real world.
Moode said…
I like Marvel characters and movies. However, this characters are unreal. But I think that this makes the story more interesting. On the other hand I also like to see new ideas put on screen. It is good to have a verity so that people can choose whatever suits them.

I also liked Deathpool who was a bit different from other super heroes. I haven’t seen Watchmann yet but I might now.
After seeing in the cinema this, i was really angry because i did't get want i wanted. In 2009 i was young and this movie hit me really hard. I could not expect that this movie will have some moral. Moral about not everything always is good like it looks like and also good lesson about responsibility. Sometimes we don't get choice and we have to accept some things with which we disagree but we cannot
Unknown said…
I haven't watched it yet but it seems to be interesting. It is more human and more complicated, totally different from the regular superheroes.
I am not really into movies that are based on DC Comics or Mavel. I feel like they're the same films and nothing is really new and you can always predict what will happen.
As i mentioned in article in Watchmen Bruce helps his father in leading a large corporation and never became batman. In this movie most of superheroes of course have some special abilities but still they are mortal. If you don't like movies with heroes you might like Watchmen because it does not really have here "Heroes".
People that watch these superhero movies don't go for them because they want really complicated story with true superheroes. They go there to watch light film with a lot of effects and simply to relax.
I think it is nice way to show people that there can be something else than idealized superheroes. They made them more like some people and less like superheroes.
I think this quote from Skyrim is best to comment on your article ;)
http://img10.deviantart.net/3956/i/2013/067/e/1/paarthurnax_facebook_cover_photo_by_zerotwoone-d5xej6p.png
Unknown said…
One dimensional characters can get repetitive and boring. That's what is kind of happening with Marvel, with every movie they need to up the effects and scope to cover up the fact that characters and story is the same as the previous one.

Perhaps if DC managed to pull it together and do movies like Batman vs Superman right - without them being slow, boring and "gritty" - it could surpass Marvel at least in the story department. Some of the fresh DC stories, like the Injustice series are simple and interesting enough to make a good movie out of them.
Dajana Kubica said…
I think people are going to these types of movies because they want to see something unusual, and the version presented in the movie would be very close to reality. But I think that if someone had a super power, he used it only for his objectives, to become rich for example. Superheroes would not be heroes. The vision of superheroes in the world today does not seem to me interesting.
I'm not a huge fan of superhereos actually, so I can't tell you much about them. Those more humanlike surely are more interesting. Captain America (I knot it's DC) was also quite humanlike, because it was basically the US Army WWII propaganda comicbook.
I love all the Marvel series. I think all of us would like to have some super power. I never decide what super power I would like but for now it would be flying or controlling everything with mind. That would be amazing. I think that we have so many superheroes that anyone can find a connection with a certain one and this is great about. I compare myself to Tony Stark, The Iron Man, and I feel close to him. He is brilliant scientist and I love that. He invented all of stuff by himself and he is the real super hero. And it is amazing. I would like superheroes to exist in real world. I'm not saying that I would feel safer or anything but definitely that would be something awesome.
Denys Dorokhov said…
Wow! When I was watching this movie at home I just skipped that small part in the same way as I always skipping the opening of Game Of Thrones. And if I had been more observant, I would have another picture of this movie in my mind.
Batman would never “rise” because his parents was rescued... My life will never be the same...

Popular posts from this blog

Week 11 [03-09.06.2019] The problem with ecological cars emission in UK

The problem with ecological cars emission in UK Since the adoption of the European Emission Allowance Directive in the European Parliament, all car makers have tried to submit. Since 1992, the Euro I standard has been in force, which limited the emission of carbon monoxide to the atmosphere. The Euro VI standard currently applies, which limits the series of exhaust gases. These include: hydrocarbons, nitrogen and carbon oxides, and dust.   The most significant change was brought by the Euro IV standard. For the first time it introduced the limitation of nitrogen oxides, which are responsible for the harmful compounds of smog.   What is smog?   Smog consists of sulfur oxides, nitrogen and carbon. In addition, solid substances such as suspended dust (PM). Dust suspend in atmospheric aerosols may be in liquid and solid form. These can be particles of sea salt, clouds from the Sahara and artificial compounds made by people. These compounds often come fr

Week 12 (12.01-18.01.15) Are you an early bird or a night owl ?

Owls are nocturnal creatures. They’re wide awake at night and they sleep during the day. If this sounds like bliss to you, then, like about 20 percent of the population who find themselves most active at around 9 pm, you may fall into the same category as our feathered friend. Night owls often have difficulty waking up in the morning, and like to be up late at night.  Studies of animal behaviour indicate that being a night owl may actually be built into some people’s genes. This would explain why those late-to-bed, late-to-rise people find it so difficult to change their behaviour. The trouble for night owls is that they just have to be at places such as work and school far too early. This is when the alarm clock becomes the night owl’s most important survival tool. Experts say that one way for a night owl to beat their dependence on their alarm clocks is to sleep with the curtains open. The Theory is that if they do so, the morning sunlight will awaken them gently and naturally.

Week 4 [06-12.11.2017] This is what happens when you reply to spam email.

James Veitch is a British comedian. In today’s Ted Talk James with characteristic for himself a sense of humor shows how he deals with spam emails and why responding to junk messages may be sometimes dangerous. Questions: What do you think about James’s  way of dealing with spam? Why are junk messages legal, even though it sometimes may be a fraud? Dou you have a problem with spam? How do you deal with with it?