Moviegoing With WD

[browngirl]

I do so love all the details he notices. :)

(I may write a review of Watchmen later, or I may not. I found it was worth seeing, if [appropriately] horrifying in spots.)

ETA : Having now seen this open letter by the co-scriptwriter, where he compares moviegoers to sexual assault victims (in the "you know you enjoyed it" way), maybe I'm sorry I saw it.

Comments

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

YUCK YUCK YUCK. I shouldn't have read the open letter... The part where he declared the movie bends you over a pool table??? *shudder* just, no. really, we didn't need to go there. You like your movie, awesome, but just stop.

I've been thinking about seeing the movie. Maybe I'll wait a few weeks just to be spiteful :)

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

I still haven't seen it, in part because I am (very conflictedly) fond of the source material. That letter... doesn't really help any to put me on the "yes" side of the fence.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

It switched me from the "I suppose I could be dragged to it and might buy the extended DVD someday" camp to this movie being categorically dead to me. If he has decided that my support of the film equates to a vindication of his opinion of me and filmmaking, then so be it. It is made easier in that I'm obviously not on the same page as him about how righteous Rorschach's and The Comedian's missions were that I would somehow enjoy being victimized by them for great justice. I won't even give him the honor of watching his movie for free.

[kshandra]

I LOVED the film. I'm re-reading the graphic novel now, and may go see the film again while it's still in the theatres, to pick up the details I know I missed.

But my GOD, is this letter ever going to backfire.

I want to hurt this man non-consensually.

[libitina]

I was trying to motivate myself to get out to a theater - and look, all motivation gone. I can wait until the library buys the DVD with the extra footage.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

At the same time as I am utterly enraged by the inappropriateness of the metaphor, out of respect for those who have been victimized by sexual assault, I will show David Hayter how fucking resilient I can be. You are nothing to me. You will get nothing from me.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Wow. that letter is just appalling. I feel vaguely guilty now for having liked the movie, and for having spent money on it. :-/

[rosefox]

There is not enough *facepalm* in the world.

[ilthit.livejournal.com]

Okay, I do want movies to have a real impact on me and to shock me. I do. However, his metaphor was completely out of line and I would like to punch him in the face now, please.

Also I want to tell him this:

I fucking loved that movie, but.

What both you (and sometimes Moore) seem to fail to understand is that no, nobody ever wants to be raped. Not even a little bit. It might be a fantasy, happening in the land of thought where nothing ever hurts, where you're in total control. When it's happening, you're not having fun. When it's over, you're still not having any fun. Nobody looks back on it and forgives it. And it's a flaw in the text that you make your paper doll in the fishnets say she loves the man who did it. Nothing kills the kind of trust love requires than having your power taken from you and then have you treated like a fucking napkin.

It is NOTHING like wanting to experience some hardcore art.

And if you think it is, just wait till it happens to you.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

The first part comes off as very whiny, as in "lots of people worked really hard for this, so think about that before you judge it." I mean, hell, Legally Blonde and Clueless also have many layers, and many people worked really hard on them, but I doubt the author of this piece would defend those movies.

You have to understand, everyone is watching to see how the film will do in its second week. If you care about movies that have a brain, or balls, (and this film's got both, literally), or true adaptations -- And if you're thinking of seeing it again anyway, please go back this weekend, Friday or Saturday night. Demonstrate the power of the fans, because it'll help let the people who pay for these movies know what we'd like to see. Because if it drops off the radar after the first weekend, they will never allow a film like this to be made again.

"You have to understand" = more whining. As for "they will never allow a film like this to be made again", that's complete bullshit. How many "true to comic book" adaptations have been made prior to this movie only to fail in the second week? And yet, Watchmen was still made.

I'm not sure about the sexual assault reference (maybe "Sally" is a victim of sexual assault in the movie?) but if that's the case, to me it smacks of "geek trying to make a point, wrongly." I think he's trying to make the point that "disturbing people and making them think is ultimately a good thing," kind of how tikva says her job is to "comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

He's just a geek and saying it really, really wrong.

(Not trying to say it's *not* offensive, because it is, but I think I understand his original meaning, which wasn't intended to be offensive.)

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Just to explain who Sally is (and this is pretty serious spoilers, so I'll write it in rot-13 (http://www.rot13.com/):

Bar bs gur rneyl eriryngvbaf bs gur fgbel vf gung Fnyyl Whcvgre, gur svefg Fvyx Fcrpgre, jnf gur ivpgvz bs na nggrzcgrq encr ol Rqqvr Oynxr, Gur Pbzrqvna. Gbjneqf gur raq bs gur fgbel, vg vf erirnyrq gung gurl frpergyl unq pbafrafhny frk n srj lrnef yngre, naq Fnyyl Whcvgre'f qnhtugre, gur zbqrea Fvyx Fcrpgre, vf gur cebqhpg bs gung havba.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Gotcha, thanx!

[awfief.livejournal.com]

BTW, not to turn this into a whole huge discussion, but this is why I have a problem with being a "survivor" of sexual violence -- Yes, I understand the reasons people choose to use "survivor" rather than "victim" but there's also the feeling to me that there's an air of "I'm more in tune with myself, I understand things better, etc. because of the bad things that have happened to me."

I'm firmly in the "No, really, I never wanted this to happen to me, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd change my path to not involve sexual violence." Perhaps I'm in denial, or whatever, but to me being a "proud survivor" doesn't feel right *to me, for me*.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

Agreed. If someone is on that road, I will respect whatever description they choose for themselves, but I'm not inclined to believe that bad shit is a good thing just because it forced us to endure it. Maybe that's true of the chicken pox or my high school chemistry class, but I don't owe shit to someone who violently assaulted me.

Specifically in the case of this graphic novel (which was written over twenty years ago by a very uncuddly man for a predominately geeky male audience, just to be clear that it is not a particularly well-informed treatment of the subject matter), I am lead to conclude that Sally was victimized, and spent a lifetime grappling with how to perceive herself and treat those around her.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Honestly I didn't read the letter that way at all. I'm sure someone who's been a victim of violence will be affected differently, but I read it as "this movie is disturbing, and it's supposed to be." Nobody should really enjoy watching people blown to bits, after all.