Adaptation Sources Blog Post (1)

Adaptation Sources

1) Genre

Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1986). Watchmen (The deluxe edition. ed.). New York,
     NY: DC Comics.

This book is the graphic novel, Watchmen, which was written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in 1986, when the Cold War between Russia and the United States was coming to an end and the threat of nuclear war disappeared.  However, Watchmen provides an alternative history of the cold war in which costumed vigilantes exists in order to help the United States during the Cold War.  These masked heroes not only raise more tension during the Cold War, but they also help influence the universe in which they live in other major ways, such as keeping Richard Nixon in office for many consecutive terms.  In addition, nuclear war becomes much more threatening and more real than in the actual real-world Cold War.  This is symbolically represented by a "doomsday clock," a clock that is subtly referenced to throughout the series and makes appearances when one is transitioning between books in this anthology.

Snyder, Z. (Director). (2009). Watchmen [Motion picture].

This is the film adaptation of Watchmen that was made in 2009.  The film is very similar to the graphic novel, however there are some small differences.  For example, the "doomsday clock" is made into an actual physical clock that political scientists (or "experts") have made in the film, and the hands on the clock are turned in accordance to how likely they feel nuclear war is to occur, with midnight representing unavoidable nuclear war.  Also, in the graphic novel, the series main antagonist ends up stopping nuclear war through attacking cities in such a way as to make it look like an anonymous alien invasion has attacked; in the film, it is made to look as though Doctor Manhattan, one of the big heroes in the Watchmen series has turned rogue in order to align Russia and the United States against a common foe and end the nuclear strife between each nation.  Beyond these major differences, however, many other differences are more subtle and the film follows a similar path as the graphic novel.


Carey, E. (2007, January 31). Analyzing "Watchmen" with Peter Sanderson.
     Retrieved February 15, 2015, from Comic Book Resources website:
     http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=9198

This site analyzes the superhero comic and examines the ways in which Watchmen defied the rules of the normal superhero comic.  It also compares Watchmen to many classic comics and comic book characters (i.e. Batman, Superman, etc).  There are also some references to the historical context of Watchmen as well as an examination of the symbolism, narrative, and the moral choices that were made (Veidt, the main antagonists, kills millions in order to avoid nuclear war and saving billions; he gets away with it because most of the other superheroes reluctantly condone his activities; etc) that are covered in the graphic novel.

2) Social History

Wikipedia. (2015, February 14). Cold War (1985-91). Retrieved from Wikipedia
     website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War_%281985%E2%80%9391%29

This Wikipedia article covers the end of the Cold War -- from 1985 to 1991 -- when Watchmen was being published.   It covers everything from the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev and the introduction of liberal reform in the USSR to the collapse of the Soviet Union due to economic turmoil in 1991.

Wikipedia. (2015, February 14). Watchmen (film): Production. Retrieved from
     Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
     Watchmen_%28film%29#Production

This Wikipedia entry covers the production of Watchmen from graphic novel to film.  The production of Watchmen started in 1986, shortly after the graphic novel grew popular.  However, due to a series of events in which many studios had trouble financing the project and directors had problems with adapting it, the film was put off for many years, all the while switching hands between studios and directors.  It wasn't until 2009 that the film was finally made, and even then, many people had mixed feelings about how successful it would be even before it was confirmed to made but before it was actually released.

Hughes, D. (2008). The Greatest Sci-Fi movies Never Made. London: Titan.

This book, in one of its chapters, takes an in-depth look at Watchmen and other big graphic novels (or "comic") of the 1980s (such as The Dark Knight Returns) and how these graphic novels helped to influence people back then and how it helps to influence people now.  The chapter focusing on Watchmen also analyzing comics as an apparatus and how Alan Moore, co-author of Watchmen, helped to transform the idea behind the graphic novel (or comic).