Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #1
by deerinthexenonarclights
1-0. So far so good, but so far still yet to go.
Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was the last time this special series was touched in a bad place and, in a lot of ways the last bit of news that prompted such primal controversy amongst comic fans; there weren’t many people pleased by the production taking place, to say the least. Though for a brief period during the casting the criticism dropped away, allowing hope to shine through for the first time; these weren’t big names but they were good ones and you know they kind of fit ( I daresay the same exact thing happened here when the writer/artist teams were announced for these books).
That newfound enthusiasm was, however, nowhere near enough to get people excited for the news that Malin Ackerman would be playing Silk Spectre, the stripperiffic spin that they put on her outfit certainly not helping matters. “She can’t act!” some said, “She’s just a pretty face” said others and much more – and much meaner things – besides; amongst these cries though came one that I instantly sided with and that call was this: “Well… It’s not like Silk Spectre was any different. She doesn’t so much have a story as she does sex, so what’s the big deal?”
That was my basic attitude towards the issue too and the film, Ackerman and all, didn’t do too much to change my mind; to me Silk Spectre, hell both Silk Spectre’s are some of the books least interesting characters, falling victim to that exact thing they were there to satirize, the attack hitting too close to the mark. They’re empty outfits, tits in a brasserie that occasionally bang one of our male leads and even more occasionally give consent for it. Though while this made me blasé about her as a character in the cinema version – an inherently abridged medium – it is exactly what got me excited for this book. So many people have banged out tweets and tumblr posts about how there is no point for this series and to them I point no further than SS and say “This… This is the big deal. This is why we’re here.”
So does it live up to those highest of expectations? Not at all, but that’s not to say that it’s all that bad either. The biggest problem with this book is that it fails to make either SS any more interesting than they used to be, to fails to make these heroes super; they’re average and expected characters in a world of amazing extremes. This issue, in direct contrast to last week’s Minutemen, focuses on filling out one straight story; that of the second Silk Spectre struggling against and then succumbing to her role like her mother famously did the Comedian.
We chart her cloistered life as a student of both sixties high school cliques and her mothers scary strength training before she stands up to both and tries to spreads her wings And fly elsewhere. It’s such a standard and oft told tale that there really is no need to dedicate an issue to it; simply say “She was once a teenager” and we can all of us imply the rest. We’ve been teens, we’ve seen Buffy and we’ve read Watchmen; tell us something new.
In lieu of that tell us the old story in an outstandingly strong way, make it the definitive example of the trope. Silk Spectre almost does that, almost. It pays homage to the original text in a number of terrific ways: the circle motif is cleverly utilized in Amanda Connor’s artwork – which breaks with the objectivism of the original with some fictional flashes of female imagination and feelings that are both funny and heartfelt -the chapter ends with an out of context title and the quote from which it was wrestled while the story swings on a number of existing props and plots in an inventive manner.
It just keeps coming back to the story and that sense that Silk Spectre’s simply isn’t a big enough deal to warrant this level of distribution. Maybe if this was an autobiographical comic it would find a small audience somewhere and steadily entertain them, but I struggle to see it standing in the context of a major comic event like Before Watchmen in exactly the same way that I struggled to see the character stand in the superhero teams that spawned the books. Cooke and Conner try valiantly but unlike Jumping’ Jupiter they simply can’t cross that highest hurdle, falling victim to the same apathy that shot down Ackerman’s attempt at the character. I still don’t care, i still don’t love the character; so to continue the sports metaphor:
1 love.
I had the same reaction to the Watchmen film. While Malin Ackerman is a borderline actress, she fitted the part just fine. SS wasnt as deep a character in Watchmen or as iconic as some of the other major characters. It’s not exactly a great female character that better actresses would be clamouring to play. Ackerman’s depiction of SS was okay in my books.
Yeah, Doc Manhattan, Rorschach and the Comedian are all such extraordinary characters, unlike anything we’ve ever seen and so wonderfully written. Even Nite-Owl, the next most normal, is both based on Batman and the protagonist which prevents him from ever feeling boring, but SS? She’s not really subverted or strange, simply set in a world that is; her actual character would fit fine in any number of normal titles and that is why I had such high hopes for this book, because she could easily have been explored in a way that gave her the weight of those other characters but wasn’t.
Are you a comics reader at all? I don’t remember reading either way back in the day.
Not any more than the next person really. I like comics, but I dont really delve deeply into the artform, mainly stick with the classics. In the last few years I’ve read Akira, Y:The Last Man and early issues of Sandman, as well as some other miscellaneous things, and thats about it I think. And I started off with Watchmen as well, back in 2006, a text I still adore today. But sadly I think I’ve moved on from comics a little, despite some cherished memories. I work full-time as well as doing uni on the side, so I dont have as much recreational time as I used to
Regarding superheros (a prominent comic genre), after The Dark Knight, Watchmen and Kick Ass hit cinemas, I felt that the genre had come full circle and been deconstructed, so I havent seen a superhero film or read a superhero comic since, and I really have no interest.
There are many other genres in comics, and it is a fantastic artform
Some of the most progressive and artistic statements appear in comics. I just dont have the artistic curiosity to devour the medium as with some other mediums, and will probably just bandwagon on the unanimous classics. Keep up the great reviews!
Salty, regarding your quote “after The Dark Knight, Watchmen and Kick Ass hit cinemas, I felt that the genre had come full circle and been deconstructed, so I havent seen a superhero film or read a superhero comic since, and I really have no interest”.
What about The Avengers, man? I was a lot more nitpicky of that film than a lot of people were, but it’s still a pretty damn good watch! I think it proves that even now that the genre has been deconstructed, quality film-makers like Whedon can still make more conventional versions of the superhero story that are actually pretty satisfying!
By the way, I still love the Watchmen movie as much as I ever did, even though it seems to increasingly have grown firmly into the reputation of being a misfire. I still reckon it’s great.
Vig, if you like I might put a big shiny Brave review in this “thread” sometime this weekend and you can make a separate post for it?
BRAVE- FILTHSPOSITION
(I won’t be spoiling the plot development at the start of the 2nd act which drives the remainder of the narrative- It’s not exactly a huge twist, but still)
I loved this movie. LOVED IT. It was rough around the edges in some ways, which I suspect will gain it a reputation as a lesser Pixar effort- a notion I disagree with. I disagree because the emotional impact that the film had on me was so extraordinary that I am willing to overlook a bunch of minor flaws. I’m writing this the morning after seeing it and I’m still getting teary-eyed just thinking about certain scenes from it. Brave was easily my favorite movie of the year so far, and I’m desperate to see it again (an opinion which I suspect will end up confusing some people just as much as it confuses me whenever anyone praises Prometheus).
Let’s start with the flaws. The movie begins and ends with an unnecessary voice-over. The word ‘Fate’ is said WAY too many times in this movie. The movie tends to be a bit more obvious in its meaning at times than other Pixar movies. Eg. A visual shot will communicate something perfectly, then a character will explain it out loud, just to make sure we get it. I found the first act a little shaky- The arguments with Merida and her Mother got tiresome (particularly a scene where they’re both pacing through the castle reciting what to say to each other- that scene really fell flat for me). There are times when the movie just gets noisy rather than good or funny. Mainly in the scenes showcasing the various clans of the Kingdom, which I felt were at times just noisy and irritating rather than funny. There is another scene which I felt would’ve benefited from being quiet-er, but I don’t want to spoil it. There are a lot of great laughs in this movie, but also a few that don’t work. So yes, it is a flawed film. I did get the sense that with a bit more work it would’ve become a real masterpiece, rather than just being very good. But unlike a LOT of other movies over the past few years the flaws here did not overwhelm or break the movie for me. Not by a long shot. For me there was much more good in this film than bad.
So onto the good- Merida is absolutely a brilliant protagonist. Second only to Wall-E for me on my list of favorite Pixar lead roles. She is a bit annoying at the start, but she has to be, because that’s part of her arc in the film. Even in that first act the film still makes you understand and care about the character. That created an emotional connection with me that sucked me into the film completely, which made me forgive a few problems and made me cry like a baby when the movie wanted me to. Sure, the movie does pretty blatantly try to pull the heartstrings, but generally I don’t really care how obvious emotional manipulation is as long as I think it is effective (which was why I loved War Horse, for example). There were certain moments of this movie where I was really choked up with tears. The movie made me care.
The visuals in this film are just phenomenal. I thought that Merida’s Mother seemed to have the “dead-eyes” syndrome in Act 1. But almost everything else in this movie looked amazing. While visuals alone can’t save a bad movie (which is what the detractors of this film will no doubt say), for me amazing visuals can elevate a pretty good film to being ‘VERY good’. Merida’s red hair just looked incredible (I’ve always had a passion for red hair, but even putting that aside- the animation is amazing). The evil bear looked phenomenal. So many shots in this movie just blew my mind, shots which I’d love to have hanging on my wall.
Onto the supporting cast- while the various clans the film introduces generally fell flat for me, Merida and her family generally worked very well (with some small exception). The three mischievous little brothers that Merida has were fantastic. I have read a review which complained that those three were too one-dimensional and didn’t have enough to do with the plot. But I disagree completely. I think sometimes it’s okay to have one-dimensional characters who exist only to be funny. Here it worked for me completely because the three little kids ARE very funny. They are one-note, sure (their one note is to be mischievous, relentlessly, in every scene they’re in), and you can’t tell them apart from each other. But they were damn cute and damn funny. Moments with them made my audience laugh almost as much as some of the Hulk gags in The Avengers. I think in terms of effective comic relief, Pixar deserves a bravo for these three little f*ckers.
My mind wants to crack down on this movie for the minor issues, but my heart was so thoroughly won over by it that I can’t. I think creating an emotional connection with the viewer is the best thing a movie can do (even more important than an intellectual connection, though I know that is very debatable). This movie told a simple story, but told it with excellent heart and soul, a few great characters, incredible visuals, good humor (more often than not, anyway), etc.
Sigh. What a freaking’ great movie. Judging from the less enthusiastic tone of the early reviews, I’ve got a long road ahead of me in defending it. But I loved the hell out of this. Again, my favorite film of the year so far.
9/10