"You know, mankind has been trying to kill each other off since the dawn of time, and now that we have the means...we can finally do it." ~ Edward Blake/The ComedianRoger Ebert review of Watchmen
It's been a few weeks now since I last saw Watchmen, and I think I'm ready to have a go at a few thoughts. Please forgive me if I ramble or drift into sophistry. First of all let me say that this movie is not for the kids. It's violent, contains sex scenes, nudity, and most of all is simply brutal about it's subject matter--which is us. And secondly, don't read this if you haven't seen it because I won't be keeping secrets and spoilers will abound.
I know that some people find this movie depressing and cynical, but I only saw it as realistic. I won't delve into the characters and make this a standard movie review, but rather a commentary on what the movie was saying. I've now seen this film three times with the last viewing being a few weeks ago. This blog post has been several weeks in the making so please forgive the tardiness of this post. But since this is more about the subject matter than a review to convince you to go see the movie, I feel it's relevance is timeless. But still, you should go see this film. So let's get into it...
Of all the crime fighters in the film only Dr. Manhattan could be said to be superhuman, and the rest were just highly skilled human beings that chose to fight crime; only these crime fighters were less than perfect and had no trouble dispatching the bad guys with extreme prejudice. It would be hard to nail down just exactly what the director was trying to convey to the audience. But I like that a movie leaves me with something to ponder. While I certainly enjoy more straightforward films, I am rarely left with something to think about after I've left the theatre. Mind you the past year or so has been a banner year in that regard, and for that I am thankful.
Having said that, I will attempt to sum up what I think are the main points of the movie, or at least what I took from it. First, we better pull our collective heads out of our asses and we better do it quick, before our only option to avoid nuclear destruction is to fight another devastating war which may be just as bad. Second, no one is truly good. We are all full of contradictions and both good and evil exist in us. And third, there may not be hope for us or a painless solution to our penchant for violence and our human condition. In this film the one superhero that is considered the smartest takes vigilantism to an extreme by developing a device that mirrors the powers of Dr. Manhattan and then uses that power to level several cities, thereby scaring the two countries that are about to go nuclear into living in peace by the end of the film.
Yes, it is a brutal way to prevent what would have been a devastating nuclear war. But is this our future? Of course this is a fantasy, and no one knows the future with certainty. Maybe in that reality, or even in ours, the result would have been a conventional war--but that is not the point. We will kill each other. Whether we annihilate each other with nuclear weapons or with conventional weapons, war seems to be unavoidable for us. The way I saw it this movie was a commentary on humanity. There was going to be a war because that's what we do. To relieve the pressure when it becomes too great for whatever reason, we kill each other. Whether it's done through a limited nuclear engagement that levels several cities, a full engagement, or a conventional war, it was going to happen.
This movie will be seen by some as saying it's okay to kill millions to prevent a war--that it's trying to justified the slaughter of people for a greater good. They will say the movie is saying murder is justified and that we should accept the inevitable. But that's not it at all. The movie is making the point that this is what happens when you appeal to war. One way or another people are going to die. The solution for Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, was to fool humanity by making the nations of the world frightened of an outside power. But they weren't less inclined to kill each other through an organic process or evolving of the human mind, they were simply turned into scared children of a god. But even that god, Dr. Manhattan, knew that while you can trick mankind you cannot change the nature of mankind. And he knew that in it's current state, this was the only hope for mankind. A false hope to be sure, but the only one that would be effective. It wasn't a matter of saying that murdering millions was the solution, this movie is saying that murdering millions all too often is our solution. Who can deny this as we look back at the wars throughout history? Mankind needs no assistance from a movie to reveal the evil that we are capable of.
There are parallels in our world today. So many people believe in a higher power and only do good, or at least don't hurt others, because they fear their god. They are no less capable of killing than the unbeliever is, and will never evolve to a higher plane of existence as long as they only do good out of fear or for a reward. This film makes the point that in a world that has devolved into this state, the only solution is an unimaginably horrible one that would only be a solution in such a violent and hopeless world. In this world the one person that would show the world the true nature of humanity and the lie that their new "utopia" is built on, must die for his beliefs. In this world and in ours, humanity is not yet ready to rise above petty differences and embrace each other, so the only means to obtain peace is violence. In this world telling the truth is no longer a virtue and is instead an inconvenience when it doesn't serve the new utopia, and is a commodity when it does. Look at how we vilify people that threaten our comfy bubble by telling us the stark truth. For us the martyr isn't a crime fighter, it's truth itself.
One way or the other, there was going to be violence, and only the fear of annihilation will make us what we should be. But because it took that fear to change them (and us), we haven't achieved a lasting peace. We will bring ourselves to the brink again; it's only a matter of time until we do. And I think the message that the movie leaves us with as the journal of Rorschach (the murdered martyr who would reveal all) is shown in the office of a journalist, is will we be able to maintain this false peace for real when we once again have the freedom to entertain our darkest thoughts without fear of annihilation from above?
To me this movie spoke to me as an allegory of religion in it's most distilled form. So many of us need religion and the threat of eternal damnation, or at least the promise of eternal bliss, to do what we should do without reservation if we would refuse to be controlled by our lowly origins and instead strove for a higher existence. And saddest of all, just like the plan of Ozymandias, it doesn't make us better at all; it only hides our true nature and in fact often makes us more effective agents of hate and will continue to retard our growth as human beings.
I think Rorschach had it right-- tell the truth, consequences be damned. If we are to survive and prosper then it will be through trial by fire; but at least it will be because we will have learned the futility of hate and war. Maybe then we will appeal to our higher natures. And if we fail then it was our future anyway, because no false peace can last and only delays the inevitable. Let's not kid ourselves, how long would we last without laws and the fear of punishment? I'll let you be the judge about whether or not this false peace, this manufactured sense of security, is worth maintaining or offers any hope for our future.
Are we just putting off the inevitable, or are we buying ourselves precious time at the cost of our present sufferings?
Copyright ©2009 Rum Tickled Humanist
No comments:
Post a Comment