(CW: Racism/Antisemitism) Alan Moore Predicted Ben Garrison and Stan Kelly - a page from Watchmen Graphic Novel (1985)
this is satirical for anyone unfamiliar. It's a page from the right wing newspaper that the character Rorschach reads devotedly. It's got everything. Excessive labels. :liberty-weeping:, the works
Not only did Zac Snyder not understand that Rorschach was meant as a satire of grimdark law and order takes on Batman like Year One, no, his Rorschach and his Batman are the exact same character.
Snyder's Watchmen lifts so much of its cinematography and script directly from Moore's book that they gave him a writer's credit. honestly its impressive how, despite that, Snyder managed to turn Rorschach into the main POV and sideline the actual main character Night Owl just through which scenes were given more screentime and how the editing framed the characters.
Nearly the exact same outfit, nearly identical philosophy
But where Mr. A is a principled newspaper reporter who moonlights as a vigilante, Rorschach is a greasy weirdo who only reads the greasy right-wing tabloids
He's ugly, he doesn't bathe and moreover he's short and drives a psychologist to the brink with his depravity
Nobody should like Rorschach and yet, for some reason, he's the most popular character
Also it doesn’t help that he gets the most badass ending out of all the characters in the comic. He refuses to help cover up the mass murder of innocents and chooses to be executed rather than compromise his morals. Meanwhile Night Owl and Silk Spectre just pathetically accept defeat and retire and Dr. Manhattan tells Ozimandias all his plans are ultimately futile before fucking off into space forever. When I first read Watchmen as a teen I thought Rorschach was the only actual hero in it, mostly because of this scene.
I wouldn't say he's likeable, but he does have virtues. Which, depending on how you feel about Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia, is a good thing or a bad thing.