Watchmen by Zack Snyder - Comparison of the Novel and Its Film Adaptation - Essay Example

Watchmen compare and contrast Allan Moore’s Watchmen, the graphic novel and its film adaptation by Zack Snyder have attracted a wide mass attention. The high standard of the aesthetic appreciation that the comic book provided has helped it much to be named as one of the 100 greatest novels of the past century by Time Magazine (Absolute Watchmen Review). The publication of this comic book for adults has paved the way for many essays and serious literary discussions during the past 20 years. As a comic book “for adults,” many regard it as one among the thought-provoking and intelligent comics in the main stream. This is quite notable that the book maintains its popularity even after its publication in the year 1986-87. Watchmen can aptly be regarded as different from other comic books or writings that proved to be a failure when adapted as films. Regarding the film adaptation of Watchmen, one can see that the director has endeavoured his best to justify the real story and has succeeded in sketching the characters as exactly as illustrated in the novel. However, a comparative study of the comics and its film adaptation will enable one to understand the dominant disparities between them. Watchmen unveils the superhero concept existed in America during the 1980s. The superheroes exerted predominant influence in altering the real world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. The superheroes in the novel are presented as costumed crime fighters who would help the government in exploring certain criminal deeds. The story of Watchmen is revolving around six main characters; the Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, the Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Rorschach, and the Silk Spectre. Doctor Manhattan is the real superhuman character presented in the novel. Watchman has often been regarded as a part of political mystery or a part of political drama. The story of the novel focuses on the character of Manhattan, the god-like figure. The receding of the Manhattan from the earth provides Russians the opportunity to make bold moves to America. The main story of the novel is concerned with the superheroes or the watchmen who were in service of the government during the Vietnam War. While they were leading a peaceful life after their retirement, they are united again to fight for the crime. This time it was for investigating the murder of one among them, Edward Blake. As the police were not initialising or showing interest in the investigation, the superheroes take charge by themselves and find out the reasons for the murder. The accusations against Manhattan force him to exile to Mars which later helps the Russians to invade the land of America. The comparison of the novel with the film will unveil certain similarities as well as disparities. As it is well evident that one cannot portray each and every aspects mentioned in the novel when adapting it as a film, it is certain that there will be differences. However, one can find that the theme and the content of the film, comparing with the novel are the same. But still there remains something as ‘unfilmable.’ The director of the film agrees that he has made some additions and deductions in the main story. Regarding the unflimably in the Watchmen, one can see that one of the main problems is adapting core plot. Another grave issues is concerned with the fact that watchmen as a comic was rejoicing in its medium and as such reproducing it for the film was really a hard task. Comics are normally following particular types of narrative techniques that are not easily replicable in films. The author of this comic novel himself has agreed this fact when he remarked that Watchmen was unfilmable (McMillan). While watching the movie one can clearly observe that the film could not recreate the entire trickery and content used in the book. Another complicacy regarding the adaptation of the book was the recreation of the flashbacks, subplots and obscure strands of narratives. There are many who disagree with the film adaptation of the book. They put forward the argument that “by treating the original text as a sacred document, the movie is laughably pretentious, too” (The Washington post). This is identifiable when listening to the words of its director while he shared the main differences between the book and the film. One example can be seen when Dr. Manhattan facing the reporters. “In the novel, he makes them all vanish and reappear outside. In the movie, he makes himself vanish and reappear in the Mars” (Carroll). One can cite some other examples also for proving the differences of the novel and the film. However, one cannot regard it as a drastic change from the plot but they are the minor changes adopted by the director intended to increase the aesthetic appreciation of the audience. Some of the scenes were subtracted from the novel and one example being the exclusion of the scene Laurie confronting Edward Blake and throwing a drink in his face (Carroll). As the films have to be limited in a stipulated time, the director had to disregard many subplots of the novel which he thought as irrelevant. Another departure from the novel is seen when the director make Nite owl and Rorschach walk a few hundred feet after they crash their ship in Antarctica. But Moore had presented them as riding Segway-like hovercrafts over several freezing miles to Adrian Veidts lair. Furthermore, the portrayal of Manhattan in the news talk show brings out the adaptations of the novel crystal clear. Analyzing the novel one can find that the author has attempted to bring to light the fact that the world has gone completely mad. To make it clear he resorts to, not only the infatuation of man to weapons and wars, but also the element of madness found in every individual. That is why Moore presented his characters as touched with madness. The film, like the novel, well expresses the nature of his characters. An observation of the nature of the characters will enable one to understand the madness in them. While Nixon’s character is an assortment of power and paranoia, Rorschach’s is that of violence. Rorschach can also be considered as a delusional sociopath. The pragmatic Manhattan also is not free from the manic nature of the human condition. One of the remarkable things concerned with the film adaptation of the novel is that the director has endeavoured to portray the characters in such a way as exactly coloured by Gibbons. The comparison of the novel and its film adaptation exposes the similarities in theme, characters and the plot structure. The director has, to a certain extent, won in his attempt to present the characters as quite similar to the novel. But one has also keep in mind the fact that adapting the core plot is not quite possible for anyone. Another limitation that the director had to face was the sole peculiarity of the comics to rejoice its readers. Films cannot easily adopt the narrative techniques of comics. This difficulty is crystal clear in the film adaptation of the novel. This feature leaves many portions of the novel as ‘unfilmable.’ The trickery and content adopted in graphic novels are entirely different from the one used in films. This factor also may prevent the directors from fully extracting the contents and minute features of the characters. A further disparity lies in the recreation of the flash backs, subplots and obscure narration that could really enhance a particular scene or the whole scenes. Above all, one can see that the film has added and subtracted subplots so as to modify and suite cinema. Works Cited: Absolute Watchmen Review. IGN Entertainment, Inc., 1996-2010. Web. 4 November 2010. Carroll, Larry. Watchmen Director Reveals Key Differences Between Graphic Novel, Film. MTV Networks. 2010. Web. 4 November 2010. McMillan, Graeme. Why Was Watchmen Supposed To Be Unfilmable?. 109. com. Web. 4 November 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen http://comics.ign.com/articles/666/666025p1.html http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1605765/20090224/story.jhtml Philip Kennicott, March 5, 2009 he Washington post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/04/AR2009030403970.html Read More