Watchmen vs Batman

Recently I saw, then subsequently read Watchmen. Short history, its the most acclaimed graphic novel in the history of the US, one of Times 100 best, and was recently crafted into an excellent film.

As I'm waiting for my chance to spring this movie upon my mother, whom I'm very sure will appreciate it, I'm rewatching the trailers. Oh, those delicious trailers, even those are finely crafted. I was reading through a few comments, and found myself.... again appalled by some people.

Watchmen vs The Dark Knight seems to be a common battle on the internet these days. The main battle consists of which film is more enjoyable, on varying levels. I loved both films, so I decided to state my opinion on which one I think would win in this little battle...

Easily. Watchmen.

Then again, both films are different from each other. Oh, but they're both superhero flicks, aren't they? That's part of them, but they are still two very different types of film.

The Dark Knight is pure Batman, obviously. Not just the character, but the concept. That dark vigilante avenger... but still with a very cut and dry showing of good versus evil. I believe they did a fine job in making the characters more ambiguous with their desires, more grey than black and white, but it is still a very basic good vs evil.

Watchmen is pure... something else. It has a stronger HUMAN feeling to it. It's purpose was to explore a possibility (Superheros in our world) and I think it did very well with that. No character is purely good or purely evil, or even that light grey that appears in Batman. In fact, many actions of the good guys can be considered horribly appalling. While I believe that extremes were shown in this film quite often (The novel showed more subtle aspects) I do believe it paints a fine picture of human nature, and how people respond to certain social stimulus.

The two films are simply incomparable. We will naturally be drawn to The Dark Knight, as its more of a fantasy. Batman has swooped in and saved the day. Some people hate him, but the majority love him for all he does for Gotham. Watchmen causes us to balk, and turn our eyes away, as we are unwilling to see the dirt of our own society, even within a fantasy world. Movies are meant to take us away from those terrible things, and give us a world as it should be, where the good guy always win. Its why we watch them, to break away.

Movies such as Watchmen instead show us the things we despise the most about ourselves and our society. It presents to us things that could happen in such a raw, painful manner. In short, I think it makes us ashamed, so we choose to hate it.

You simply cannot compare human society of fantasy with human society of reality. Not everyone will understand, or appreciate it, for a variety of reasons, but both of these films will remain as two of my favorites, fanciful stories reflecting human nature at its finest and at its worst. Watchmen will simply fall higher on that list than The Dark Knight.