Huckleberries Online

‘Watchman’ More Than Blue Phallus

Posted by DFO

March 17, 2009 10:35 a.m. • 15 comments

The nudity versus violence battle raged on in America last weekend with the opening of the brutal superhero epic/soft-core porno “Watchmen.” Teenage boys and their unsuspecting girlfriends showed up in droves to the film’s opening, oblivious to what they were about to see – and folks, this ain’t no “X-Men.” So began the “Watchmen” blue penis scandal. The film, based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, takes place in an alternate 1985 America where superheroes, called Watchmen, have mostly retired. But when one of the Watchmen is violently killed, a plot is exposed to kill them one-by-one to ensure nuclear war. The only Watchman with superpowers, Dr. Manhattan, is a glowing blue Godlike being with unstoppable and impenetrable abilities. He also coincidentally appears nude in about 80 percent of his scenes/Alex Gratzer, WSU Evergreen. More here.

Question: Evergreen columnist Alex Gratzer contends brutal, soft-porn “Watchmen” is a bold addition to the rising maturity of American culture.” Do you agree?

15 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Arch_Druid on March 17 at 10:49 a.m.
I figure that those teenage boys with the “unsuspecting girlfriends” probably got quite a “thrill.” Geeze, the actor was “dressed,” in blue paint! LOL! I haven’t seen this yet. I just may yet.
toadman on March 17 at 10:53 a.m.
Americans are too uptight about this sort of thing. It’s a non-issue.
Katrina on March 17 at 12:27 p.m.
Heh…I guess I’m one of the “uptight” Americans Toadman is referring to. I’m thankful that my husband and I (we love superhero movies) thought to check out the writeup on this movie at PluggedInOnline.com before we decided whether to go see this the other night.

We really enjoy movies, but I am increasingly uncomfortable with the slow slide of our national entertainment tastes towards the lowest common denominators of human behavior. We (and I’m talking about myself here, too, I’m afraid) have become increasingly anaesthetized to seeing levels of violence, cruelty, and public sexual behavior that would have shocked the generation before us.

Purity of mind and heart may be considered by many to be an archaic, narrow-minded notion, but it’s something I think is worth cultivating, worth protecting. I’m still working on it, myself, and I have a ways to go. But for that reason, I was glad to give this movie a miss.

(Flame on! LOL…)
Liz on March 17 at 12:53 p.m.
I’m with you Katrina. I haven’t seen the movie; all I needed to hear about was the copious amounts of blood and severed limbs to give it a wide berth. But I have since heard a couple of people (both MEN, btw) state how extremely uncomfortable they were with the almost porno quality of the film..

No flames from me.
Cindy_H on March 17 at 1:08 p.m.
Katrina’s comment reminded me a recent trip to the video store. It’s really difficult to find a movie the whole family can watch. Nine-year-old Sam came up to me and said, “Can we get this one? Please? Please?” It was “The Rocker” with Rainn WIlson.
I asked him what the movie was rated. “PG13,” he replied.
“How old are you?” I asked. “Nine,” he said and slumped off, muttering to himself.
Here’s the shocker. A lady who looked to be in her 50’s came up to me and said, “Good job! It’s so nice to see a mom saying, ‘no’ for a change.”
Wow.
JohnA on March 17 at 1:20 p.m.
Cindy: “It’s so nice to see a mom saying, ‘no’ for a change.”

Depends on when and to whom she is saying it. :)
Rosalind on March 17 at 2:08 p.m.
The soft-porn aspects of this movie were some of the actually more entertaining parts involving some of the more boring characters. And guess what? Those “scenes” were in the graphic novel. I don’t see what the problem is.

I’m an adult. I can handle it. And I can be guilt-free about enjoying it.
florined on March 18 at 12:59 a.m.
Cindy, you need a thread for good family movies! I’d recommend (for older kids, probably not 6yearolds) The Triplets of Belleville. I love that film.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.