The comic-based movie Watchmen is one movie not for the action-seeking, Spiderman and Superman fans. And it is definitely not for kids! Some kids may be bugging their parents to bring them to the movie but I warn you that they will be disappointed. Among some of the reasons are, the movie is too deep for the understanding of a child, and there is too much sexual scenes, especially showing the nudity of the male frontal parts by the revered Dr. Manhattan.
This movie is for those who listen intently throughout the movie. If you go there to criticize the nonsense in that movie, you will be disappointed. As I was watching the movie last night I did not understand what was happening (as most western films nowadays are) until the end. And there was a twist at the end.
Read no further unless you plan to watch the movie.
The whole story revolves around The Watchmen taking up the responsibilities to save the world and to make it a better place. The setting was such; America is at the brink of a nuclear war with Russia. Russia has a huge number of nuclear warheads ready to be fed to America. If 99% of the warheads could be stopped, the 1% that is left out can destroy the world as well. America’s only hope was in the god-like being Dr. Manhattan, who became who he is because of a nuclear accident years ago. He is so powerful that people revered him as a god.
To cut the story short, Adrian aka Ozymandias was one of the smartest man on earth and he came up with a devious plan to end the world war and to create peace. But in order to do so, a lot of things have to be sacrificed, including the lives of millions of New-Yorkers.
Adrian, in the beginning, has already mastered the whole plan. He tricked Dr. Manhattan into creating for him a nuclear reactor that can provide free energy to the world. He planned the murder of The Comedian as well as the failed assassination of himself. He also carefully and smartly hurt Dr. Manhattan and made him exile to Mars so that Adrian has time to carry out his plan. Towards the end of the movie we see that Adrian released the nuclear energy to destroy New York and killed millions of people. The attack was made to be seen as tough it was Dr. Manhattan who did it.
Just about the time where we were going to judge Adrian for his wrong and mass murder, we saw something shocking. On international television, president of America, Richard Nixon, was declaring that America is not working hands in hands with Russia and the whole world to fight the new enemy of the world – Dr. Manhattan. Richard Nixon said that America and Russia has put away their past affairs and hatred and now are willing to work together. When I saw that part of the movie, everything started to come into place.
Ozymandias had to kill The Comedian because The Comedian might destroy his plan.
Ozymandias had to toxic Dr. Manhattan’s close friends with cancerous gas so that America would blame Dr. Manhattan for “killing” his own friends. And this will grieve Dr. Manhattan enough to leave the world and do not care about it anymore. (so that Adrian’s plans can succeed without interference from Dr. Manhattan)
Ozymandias had to kill his co-workers because he did not want to risk them revealing the plan to the world.
Ozymandias had to destroy New York City with millions of people in it so that America and Russia would come together peacefully to fight the “new enemy”.
If Ozymandias did not do all these things, America would have been destroyed by Russia's nuclear warheads.
The Watchmen have to sacrifice their lives for a higher purpose, a higher call. One of the Watchmen, Rorschach, did not want to compromise what he believes in – justice. And he threatened to tell the world what actually happened and what Adrian did. If the world were to know that Adrian and the other Watchmen were behind this plan and mass murder, Russia and America would wage war once more and there will not be peace in the world. So Dr. Manhattan had no choice but to kill his friend and crime-fighter, Rorshach.
Dr. Manhattan now is the world's number one enemy even though he did not do any wrong. Dr. Manhattan chooses to keep quiet about it, knowing that he has now lost his friendship with the whole world. He chose to exile himself quietly somewhere in the universe, unseen but not forgotten. What a sacrifice!
So what is your verdict?
In Jeremy Bentham’s theory of Utilitarianism, he states that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility. It is a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. So what is your opinion about this movie judging from the utilitarianism viewpoint? What would you do?
This movie poses a question so easy to answer yet so hard, “What is the right thing to do?”
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2 comments:
This movie, to me, supports the propaganda of 9/11 being staged by the US government itself.
These kinda sacrifices is kinda like the suicide bombers "sacrificing" themselves.
Does that make any sense?
"Dr. Manhattan now is the world's number one enemy even though he did not do any wrong. Dr. Manhattan chooses to keep quiet about it, knowing that he has now lost his friendship with the whole world. He chose to exile himself quietly somewhere in the universe, unseen but not forgotten."
That bit brings to mind the last scene in Dark Knight as follows:
Batman: They'll hunt me. You'll condemn me, set the dogs on me...(Gordon wields the axe destroying the Batman symbol)... because it's what needs to happen. Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough... sometimes, people deserve more.
James (Gordon's son): Batman?! Why's he running, dad?
Gordon: Because we have to chase him.
James: He didn't do anything wrong. Why, Dad? Why?!
Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector ... a dark knight.
(taken from Hwai Tah's blog without permission. =P)
To me, the sacrifices these superheroes make for the good of mankind reflects a certain Christlike quality. Christ was hated, mocked and rejected by the world for the claims he made. He had to be the bad guy on whom the sins of the world were cast upon in order to save all of humanity. True superheroes, in a sense, aren't the ones who are celebrated by the crowd, but they are the ones who dare to take the difficult but necessary step for the greater good.
Basically in utilitarianism, the quality of the end product justifies the means by which it is achieved, right?
So, to answer your question on the utilitarian viewpoint, I think it is a tough call to make, especially if your decision involves taking away the lives of others. Who gives you the right to take away another man's life? And how about result permanence? Is it still justified if the results/effects are only temporary? Is it still worth it? And what if the prediction of the expected consequence or result is wrong? In the context of the movie, who is to stop Russia from demonising and terrorising America again? Their truce might be impermanent as the root cause of their resentment towards one another was not dealt with, was not cut off – once and for all.
If there is an absolute answer to the question: What is the right thing to do?, I doubt many would be able to carry it out, myself included.
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