Comments on: Watchmen: Stuck in the Uncanny Valley

By: Michael Arnzen

Michael Arnzen — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:15:03 +0000

Your observation about the uncanny trickery at work in Watchmen is quite brilliant. Thanks for this thorough discussion of the depth of this film adaptation. You’ve given me a new way to think of Dr. Manhattan, too, when I revisit the film!

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:29:28 +0000

I agree, Tim: the filmmakers’ decision to jettison the squid is supremely odd, if only because of the rest of the enterprise’s relentless fidelity. (Viewed in this light, maybe all the detail is a guilty overcompensation?) I chose not to tackle this key elision of the film, not because it isn’t interesting, but just the opposite — it’s a huge symptom of something, I’m just not sure what.

If pressed, I’d suggest (glibly) that New York’s destruction by manufactured psychic squid becomes “unsayable” in the aftermath of 9/11 — itself a catastrophe that seemed, at least in America’s immediate characterization of it, beyond comprehension, as illegible as an staged alien invasion. Sadly funny that, in Moore’s forecast, such an event would unify the planet rather than triggering more scorched-earth foreign policy. And a logical but disappointingly conservative decision by Snyder and screenwriters Hayter and Tse to substitute Dr. Manhattan as the supposed external threat.

I suspect we’ll be seeing a “fan edit” sometime soon that restores the squid to its rightful place — perhaps this is already the case with the motion comics, which I haven’t had a chance to check out.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:48:02 +0000

Of course one of the big points in the fan debate out there is the decision to NOT use CGI to represent the giant Cthuhluoid-squid-vagina of the original graphic novel, and change the conclusion rather substantively. Ok for blue penises, not for alien vagina monsters. Hm.

Anyway, great essay, one of your best here.

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:53:40 +0000

Dan: I don't know of any other specifically digital augmentations of the male anatomy -- though Mark Wahlberg did wear a latex, uh, prosthesis in Boogie Nights. (Hmm. There's got to be a paper in here somewhere.) John: thanks so much! I liked your Watchmen review a great deal as well ...

By: John McDaid

John McDaid — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:39:31 +0000

Hi, Bob…
Love this review, esp. the speculations on emulation. Good stuff.

Cheers.
-j

By: Dan North

Dan North — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:38:34 +0000

Now that’s what we call a “man-shaped vessel”, Bob. The first CGI willy in a Hollywood movie? (I think Irreversible has that honour in Europe, though I’ve not done much research on the matter)

By: Bob Rehak

Bob Rehak — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:00:19 +0000

On the contrary — this knowledge made my day.

By: Rich W

Rich W — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:46:05 +0000

I guess you don’t want to know that I read to the end just to see the blue penis.