why are you shocked, first off the movie has an R rating, that shouldve given it away, or at least let people know 10 year old children shouldn’t be viewing the film. if the mpaa said its R , i think they had good reason, i think its the a——- who took his under age child to see an r rated movies fault. not only does each r rating say its restricted, but it also states whats in the movie before you even get to the theater, on the commercials and teasers at the bottom, if you couldn’t see it there you could have got the info at the box office, or checked it on line.

when i see an r rating i have certain expectancies of the film. i expect blood, i expect adult situations, and/or i expect sex….period

a rape is an act of violence. to imply that consensual sex is in any way related to rape in terms of morality is disturbing. segments displaying acts of willing sex should not be compared to segments featuring violence, be the violence bloody gunshots wounds or sexual assaults.

please update the category treatments and thanks for the information!

ljk

It’s really simple,

if you have a mature teenager, sure, let them see the movie if they want to, but don’t be irresponsible and take your young children to see this. It’s rated R for a reason and I hate to hear people complain about how bad a movie was, when it’s really the parent’s fault for not looking into it before deciding to let their kids see an R rated movie.

It is a grave mistake to assume that which displays violence also condones it. 1984 and Brave New World do not condone the all controlling, empty societies depicted in them. Even the bible describes some very horrible acts. With Sodom and Gomorrah we are given accounts of their crimes, but in no way does it condone what is going on there. Sometimes you must show evil so that you can point it out proper and say “No. This is wrong. This is not the way we should act, and this is not what we should strive for.”

And yes, it does end on a very dark note. And it should, because it must be pointed out what happens when we try and place these kinds of people, or any one at all, above the rest of humanity.

Wow. Ronda, you should be proud of your kids willing to walk out of a movie theater on their own initiative because they thought the content was bad. I sure would be! Very hard to find anyone, let alone younger teens willing to do such a thing. Hopefully this would be a great learning experience for them to do some research before going to watch a film.

Thanks for sharing!

Media Influence

As for the poor role models statement, I think you might have missed the point. Watchmen is a deconstruction of super heroes and hero worship, that they are in reality flawed. That they are humans, not ubermensch. While the sex scene was overdone, its existence was necessary as the solidification of Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre’s relationship, of the end of her relationship with Manhattan and his ultimate fate.

The almost rape scene was also necessary, both to display the inhumanity of the Comedian (And a very important part of his character is just how monstrous he really is) as well as, in a round about way, Manhattan’s motivations towards the end of the movie.

I think the worst thing this film did is it didn’t quite properly display the important message of Watchmen. The elevation of the nuclear war plot from background to secondary plot was probably partly responsible for this. The heroes in Watchmen aren’t heroic. They’re not meant to be. They’re a deconstruction of common Super Hero archetypes, the all powerful super man, the gruff private investigator, the hero following in the family business, the rich boy living his dreams, the super genius, the super agent, and how these people would interact with the world if they were really humans and not just archetypes, how they would react to dealing with the stress of some of the things they have to deal with in their life (Rorschach and the Comedian in particular).

Though it is good that you are reminding people that this isn’t a child’s movies. There’s a lot of people who get the impression comic books are all sound effects and Superman beating up those wacky nazis, and a lot of people who aren’t aware that comic books/graphic novels/whatever you want to call them are a medium. Not a genre.

To Scott, I think maybe you should reread the comics. Rorschach wouldn’t be some one Christians could relate to. Rorschach sees the world as empty, meaningless, a canvas which to express his own moral system. If anything Rorschach is much like Manhattan in that both of something of a “A God Am I” type thinking, just Rorschach’s mentality is heavily based on his absolute moral system. Though again, the movie is a bit at fault here in that they don’t go in depth with just how utterly broken Rorschach is, such as the scene where he nearly kills a woman in front of her kids for insulting him.

Again, while it’s good some one is pointing out that Watchmen isn’t a bring the family super hero action romp fun yay heroes win type movie, but I think you might be a little confused about the purpose of the story. That me be the fault of the director and less the story itself, however.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I think it helps really validate my observations that lot of families are going to this movie only to be quite shocked at what they see. The trailers and marketing only highlights the intense action making the movie seem like a spectacular superhero action film in the lines of Xmen or Spiderman. The intense violence and constant nudity? Who knew? Not the parents who are taking their children and teens apparently.

Yes many will say it is the responsibilities of the parents to do some research on the film! But lets not forget also the people who insert such things into the film so it “sells” and the careful way it is marketed.

Thanks for your contribution!

Media Influence

I appreciate the thoughtful and long response.
I tried to reciprocate on your on your blog but it seems like it isn’t setup for public commenting. My guess is that it wasn’t intentional…

Below is most of what I would have posted.

I do want to clarify that the content of the post above was mainly snapshots and quotes of the type of discussion and reviews going on around the web. I was merely hoping to bring more awareness of the heavy content of the movie as most viewers (as they are unfamiliar with watchmen), seem to be going with their families thinking it’s just another superhero movie like spiderman and batman, only to be horrified at what they (and their children) see. There is a general lack of awareness about the movie.

Though i do not work in hollywood (though I certainly wish I did!), I do a lot of local videos work for different occasions and I definitely appreciate the art and beauty of many movies despite the content. I do appreciate it when movies show hard truths about life without sugarcoating the details however I do believe that lot of the messages of movies can be done in much more classy and cleaner way (as I am sure you would agree). I too am upset hollywood is so focused on the money and what “sells” that they don’t think about the type of impact they are having in our society. I also am a firm believer that images and messages from mainstream media has a very strong effect on our worldview, no matter how firm or strong people may feel. I think it is human nature to underestimate our capacity to sin and be influenced by external things. Having said that I agree that some people are able to handle more than others, I just prefer to stay on the safe side.

Again I appreciate your thoughts and glad to get a viewpoint from someone who works in the field. Come comment again!