Saturday, April 30, 2016

Reconsidering the Superhero


Alan Moore is a fascinating guy. I found myself furrowing my brows several times as we watched Mindscape in class. While he initially seemed very strange to me, he had many poignant things to discuss throughout the documentary. I feel that at some points he came across as a bit pretentious. Sometimes people want to enjoy material for the sake of enjoying it.



Considering that Alan Moore’s graphic novel, Watchmen, is also a parody of the superhero genre, I’m not surprised that he finds superheroes to be a “cultural catastrophe.” Watchmen is a fantastic read, but I don’t think anyone could understand the true value of it until you’ve actively read some comic books. It’s very critical, almost jarringly so. I can’t say that I’m an expert when it comes to the superhero genre as well, so I feel like I missed a lot of points Moore was trying to bring about as I read Watchmen. I think there was a lot more to the graphic novel than what was on the surface; and I realize that there was a lot of critical disdain for the movie for this reason. Interestingly enough, I think most movie adaptations of comic books are getting increasingly better because of its growing popularity with mainstream audiences.  Much to the dismay of Alan Moore, I bet. While I enjoy superhero films, I do think that they follow a very similar formula that has been growing more apparent to me with each new movie they release.


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