David Godwin - Watchmen - (In-class Movie #3)

Before going to see this movie, I had a conversation with my roommate. He heard that it was supposed to be an analogy, and that the superheroes were symbols representing God. He believes in one good and true God, so He was somewhat offended by the idea. “Why have a movie that contemplates God as corrupt, selfish, and evil? God is clearly good. It’s the only way that makes sense. Why think about other possibilities?” I had not seen the movie, so I did not know if it was worth defending at the time. Now that I have seen it, I understand why there’s value in its portrayal.
I do not think that any one clear “message” was really meant to be taken away from this film (except perhaps, that we are all helpless and subservient to time). But the symbolism that I saw was very close to the one my roommates friend saw. I thought of the superheroes as incomplete fragments of the whole of God. Each of these characters had flaws, revealing that the one aspect of Divinity they represented failed when it was isolated from the whole identity. For instance, the Comedian, I thought, represented the “might” of God. The Medieval concept of “absolutia potential” says that because God holds infinite power, He can reasonably do whatever He wants. Medieval theologians used this idea to explain the fickleness of God’s destructive power in the Old Testament. The Comedian is similarly fickle. He gives (by saving innocent people in war and at home) and he takes away (by raping and killing innocents). The problem with the Comedian, though, is that He does not represent the fullness of God. Where is the Compassion, the sense of Justice, the Omniscience? Without any of these things, he fails as a concept of God.
These qualities that were missing in the Comedian I saw scattered among the other Watchmen. Jupiter represented Compassion (when she entreats Dr. Manhattan to come save earth); Rorschach represented Justice; and Dr. Manhattan represents the metaphysical “holiness” and Omniscience of God. Each of these heroes is too extreme in their one godly characteristic, and therefore turn it into an unhealthy extreme. Separately, these superheroes are unable to save the world from its sin. Even when they do band together at the end, they all have different agendas, and are essentially divided. The lesson here is that one cannot take an extreme aspect of God and make that a god itself. Inevitably, that fragment of God which has become an idol will come across a need it cannot fill. This realization is why I think the movie makes an important message, especially for those of us who believe in one whole and complete God. The movie shows that if we do not accept God as a whole, deciding instead to pick apart his characteristics, we are making him into an idol that will not live up to the reality of who He is.