Watchmen

This article contains spoilers, so don't readit unless you've seen the movie.

The central question of Watchmen might be mental masturbation, but it's a fun wank. Basically, the film boils the comic down to the dilemma between doing what's right and doing what's best. The central character, a paranoid psycho named Rorschach, epitomizes mankind in all his flawed glory, while his primary antagonists- the personification of the Universe in Dr. Manhattan, and the epitome of human arrogance in Ozymandias, comprise beautiful straw men that are perhaps a bit too simplistic, but maybe not. Any model demands some approximations, and the overall experience is a visceral reaffirmation of the power of the human spirit.

In many ways, the story is really a reckoning of the war in Vietnam. Perhaps as more time has gone by, the wound has lost its freshness, but for this film it must be understood as a huge recent devastation of the American worldview. The Comedian says that defeat, "would have driven the country crazy." Of course, our world is so much more sane than that presented in the movie. One's only logical conclusion is that defeat was a wonderful thing. Maybe this has lost its stark power with the lapsing of so much time, but it still hits home for me. We were wrong, and it was good that we lost.

The true point of the film is to connect the actions of the country with those of the individuals. Rorschach's magnetism stems from his uncompromising integrity. He knows the difference between right and wrong, on an utterly intuitive level. Like everybody else in the film, he is brutal and crazy, but there is a certain detachment in the excess of gore. In a way, the bloodletting is almost a statement in itself- an acknowledgment of the reality of death and an entreaty to value higher ideals than simply having a good time while you're here. So, within the world of the movie, the viewer is, I think, given choices about which character he or she may come to love. By the end, there is only Rorschach. The point is that America's loss in Vietnam allowed her to regain some of the integrity she might have once had, thus elevating her to the level of Rorschach or at least preventing her from turning into an insane supermonster of a nation.

Rorschach is obviously a little crazy. However, Dr. Manhattan is amoral, and that can feel something like insanity to emotional beings. As R. D. Laing said, "Insanity is a perfectly rational response to an insane world." The alternative is massive insanity, personified by Ozy, or Hitler, or Mao or Stalin. So in the end, although the movie acknowledges the positive outcome which was defeat in Vietnam, it sides with American-style capitalism as the less horrible of bad choices. It is interesting that Dr. Manhattan sides with Ozy at the end. Of course, Ozy is given a temporary victory, but the truth will out. The dark ending perhaps once again points to what the world would have been like if America had won in Vietnam- the forces of totalitarianism are vivid and tangible and terrifying in Moore's work, and the murder of Rorschach represents the true tragedy. This is perhaps the greatest moment in the film- contrasting the murder of millions of people by Ozy with the murder of a single character by Dr. Manhattan. We can almost see the banality of evil, how such terrible things can be done. The only thing we need to do is lose our integrity, Rorschach's defining feature.

Laurie and Dan represent the world worth saving, one filled with love and decency and good old-fashioned values. The other stories- of the Comedian, Sally, etc. all have great points. If I have any gripes with the film, it's that it seemed a bit too simplistic for me, but that's what I thought after watching Spiderman the first time, and now I think there is a certain pleasure in these basic morality tales. Complexity has its time and place, but perhaps not in comics, where the central issues are always cosmic and metaphysical in nature. Could a character like Ozy really exist? Probably not, but he's not really the point anyways. The point is to meditate and elevate and simply pose provocative questions. The only problem is that these questions about Vietnam are pretty much settled now. Should the movie have been adjusted to our new questions? Now, we face issues like the Iraq War and environmental devastation. I don't think so. A story is either timeless, or it's not. Watchmen is a brilliant work of genius, to be humbly admired and loved. I have to say it's a litmus test for me. I can only hope that one is capable of appreciating this devastating and beautiful work of art.