There’s a reason Watchmen is largely considered the greatest graphic novels of all time. It’s plot is epic and symbolism is multi-layered. Nuances in the story play into the overall theme of the novel. The Watchmen movie was a pretty fair adaptation, however some of the changes alter the overall theme of the story.
One of the most pivotal scenes in Watchmen is when Dr. Manhattan, and Silk Spectre have a conversation on Mars debating weather Dr. Manhattan should intervene in the coming nuclear war. Though Silk Spectre argues that life should continue and emotionally tries to reach Dr Manhattan, he only cares to see a thermodynamic miracle. To him a thermodynamic miracle is an occurrence with such a low probability of happening its practically impossible. During the course of their conversation Silk Spectre realizes her father is the Comedian, a man who previously tried to rape her mother. Dr. Manhattan understands life is a miracle. They have the following exchange:
The movie however leaves this line out “My birth, if that’s a thermodynamic miracle… I mean, you could say that about anybody in the world!” By omitting, this the implication is that Silk Spectre is the only reason Dr. Manhattan returned. Life isn’t the miracle, just one hot superhero chick is. Instead of reclaiming his humanity and realizing life has value, Dr. Manhattan returns because of the power of love. It’s more romantic, but fails to grasp anything deeper. Love is a powerful human emotion but if that’s only one emotion. Dr. Manhattan should return because he appreciates all life.
The other change that I feel alters the movie seriously is a much larger:
Yes, I’m talking about the giant squid alien. Adrian Veidt’s master plan is scare the world into peace by creating a tragedy and a threat to unite against. The graphic novel has him fake an over the top alien invasion. He teleports a giant genetically engineered monster into Manhattan. When it appears it sends out psychic imagery of a horrifying alien world. The psychic wave and the teleporter’s shock wave kill a million people. Its the threat of an alien invasion which lets the US and the USSR to focus their aggression on a third party rather than each other. The movie simplifies and expands upon this attack. Instead of a fake alien invasion Veidt frames Dr. Manhattan for the destruction of multiple cities around the world. I miss it the squid. It fits perfectly with the deconstruction of comic book fantasy. On a deeper level the squid represents a more human centric point of view. It’s can be symbolic for the Nietzschean maxim “God is dead.” This idea means that a god cannot be looked to for an absolute moral authority anylonger. As human beings we recognize there is no absolute cosmic order to the universe. We need to become greater and understand the universe through our own understanding not simply though a myth. The god in this scenario is Dr. Manhattan. He is dead because, he is no longer on Earth to protect it. To survive people need to become greater. In the movie the implication of Veidt’s deception is, Dr. Manhattan punishing the world for its wicked ways. Instead of humanity moving above and beyond its pettiness, the world has to behave itself lest it be destroyed by its wrathful god Dr. Manhattan. Rather than forcing humanity to evolve Veidt has replayed the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nietzsche had a term for this “be good or else” thought process, slave morality.
These liberties taken in Watchmen were to add an air of realism to the fantasy. I will always argue that symbolism is more important than realism. By cutting out these two elements I can’t shake the feeling that a masterpiece was diluted. Its a shame for the movie to be so loyal and yet still change an enormous statement the graphic novel was trying to make.
