Today was the opening ofWatchmen. I didn't get to go see it, which was my big disappointment of the week. We've all seen the commercials for this major motion picture before: the haunting music, the 300-tastic visual effects, the line that appears in every single trailer: "The world will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll whisper...no." Our televisions have been a bit overloaded byWatchmen, not that I'm complaining.
It's gotten to the point where even people who aren't familiar with the graphic novel will see that Comedian's badge, the yellow smiley face with the blood spatter that looks like an arrow, and immediately recognize its reference. In this regard, the Comedian's badge has become a logo for theWatchmen franchise. It's taking a symbol that is generally distinguishable to mostly everyone in our culture, the "Walmart smile" so to speak, and tweaking it just a little bit to make it something entirely its own. The blood spatter in the top left-hand corner is small and diminished by the garish yellow, so much so that if you squint it's barely noticeable. But its presence signals a darker, more morbid twist to the happy yellow smile. I find it to be a highly effective logo for the series, as in just a short time it's become one of the most recognizable symbols in movies today.
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