2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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this is written by a former atheist science fiction writer...it is a great piece and he really explains a lot when he discusses the Incredibles and the Watchmen......
Superheroes and Antiheroes Story and Antistory John C. Wright s Journal
Upon a time, my son overheard me critiquing the movie WATCHMEN, and asked what I, supposing I had been hired as an author, would have done to revise the ending, or theme, or character arcs, to make the movie hale and sound?
How would I have filmed WATCHMEN?
It is a good question, worth pondering. My answer is: I would have filmed THE INCREDIBLES instead.
The comparison of the two films highlights the differences instructively.
Elsewhere I have described my admiration for WATCHMEN, as I watched it descent through the stages of reluctant admiration, mixed feelings, indifference, and then into a distaste deepening into contempt. I do not propose to repeat those observations here, nor perform that autopsy again.
Nor will I rob Alan Moore of the high praise of which his genius is due: he can be credited with inventing an entire genre and inspiring generation of epigones and imitators. This alone makes his name immortal, and elevates it above the crowded pantheon of lesser writers. He shares the empyrean throne along with such names as Thomas More, Edgar Alan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, along with Robert E Howard and JRR Tolkien (who invented the utopian, horror, detective, sword-and-sorcery, high fantasy).
But I will not doff my cap, but rather bite my thumb, at what Alan Moore here wrought. WATCHMAN is act of wanton deconstruction, desecration, and mockery of an entire genre. You have heard of antiheroes. Not until Alan Moore have we heard of antisuperheroes.
Superheroes and Antiheroes Story and Antistory John C. Wright s Journal
Upon a time, my son overheard me critiquing the movie WATCHMEN, and asked what I, supposing I had been hired as an author, would have done to revise the ending, or theme, or character arcs, to make the movie hale and sound?
How would I have filmed WATCHMEN?
It is a good question, worth pondering. My answer is: I would have filmed THE INCREDIBLES instead.
The comparison of the two films highlights the differences instructively.
Elsewhere I have described my admiration for WATCHMEN, as I watched it descent through the stages of reluctant admiration, mixed feelings, indifference, and then into a distaste deepening into contempt. I do not propose to repeat those observations here, nor perform that autopsy again.
Nor will I rob Alan Moore of the high praise of which his genius is due: he can be credited with inventing an entire genre and inspiring generation of epigones and imitators. This alone makes his name immortal, and elevates it above the crowded pantheon of lesser writers. He shares the empyrean throne along with such names as Thomas More, Edgar Alan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, along with Robert E Howard and JRR Tolkien (who invented the utopian, horror, detective, sword-and-sorcery, high fantasy).
But I will not doff my cap, but rather bite my thumb, at what Alan Moore here wrought. WATCHMAN is act of wanton deconstruction, desecration, and mockery of an entire genre. You have heard of antiheroes. Not until Alan Moore have we heard of antisuperheroes.
