Tuesday, September 9, 2008
So...turning away from Ghost World...
So I was just wondering, what do you guys think is the best part of Watchmen. The story really doesn't come together until the very end, but I think the most exciting/emotionally satisfying part is when Jon discovers his respect for life, despite his omnipotence. Then the whole novel kind of went downhill. For me at least.COMMENT.
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4 comments:
After reading the rest of the novel I can see where your coming from. It seems to me like that is kind of the high point of "good" in the book and it becomes darker from there on. I personaly liked the ending because it shows how things become darkest just before the light as well as how they can never stay that way forever. I think that the "moral" at the end is a bit more exiting of an idea even though it isnt nessesarily happy or fulfilling.
I think the ending was kind of disappointing, since everyone went along with Veidt, even though he killed so many people. But I liked how the last page made it seem like Rorschach's journal would be discovered, and the world would find out what happened.
@James: At first I thought too, but Rorschach's journal only goes up until he was captured. Once he gets sprung from jail, all he does is get his other costume, go to the bar, go to Veidt's corporate HQ, then go to Antarctica. I can't really see any of the survivors bringing it back from the frigid wastes, so my assumption is that the copy the printers have is the one he writes in toward the beginning of the novel. I vaguely remember those two coming across it around chapter seven or so, actually. So, it seems rather unlikely that the world would find out what happened- but someone might be motivated enough to finish the investigation. Whether or not they would conveniently disappear is another matter entirely... Veidt did a pretty good job of covering his tracks, just not quite good enough to keep Rorschach from following them- though he got pretty close. I doubt that anyone could inspire the kind of raw psychological terror that Rorschach induces to do his interrogations, so the ability to follow the crumbs may have died with him.
Speaking of such, he was too awesome to die. Even though it fit with the character, I felt bad that it had to happen... I mean, the guy comes out of refrigerators for crying out loud. Not to mention "I just broke this man's finger. Who killed Edward Blake?" or a few choice lines from chapters six and seven. Alas.
Or when Rorschach breaks out of prison and goes to a bar; "Oh no!" "Oh yes". That was great.
Rorschach's journal goes up to the time he and Dan leave for Antarctica, and he comments that no matter what happens, Veidt is responsible. While the ending is unclear, there is the possibility Rorschach's journal gets investigated, which might or might not upset Veidt's world.
Just wondering, where did Jon go? Did he shrink down into the miniature world Veidt had in his meditation room, or did he teleport? He left smoke, which he normally does not do.
In answer to the actual first post, I really enjoyed the book, but parts of the end seemed thrown together Deus Ex Machina style. Teleportation technology? Random squid beast thing the size of a stadium? Tachyons? I know Veidt is beastly at hiding his tracts, but seriously, why pull that out of nowhere at the end of the story?
Anyways, I loved the book. If only I could "Power Point" like Jon, or maybe use that "Manhattan Transfer".
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