Essay on Converting a Comic Into a Film

Introduction

One of the most popular genres in the film industry is that of comics. There has been an unending debate as to whether comics is a genre in itself or a medium through which artists tell their stories through pictures, caricatures, often combined with literal text or other visual impressions. And, while this may appear a simplistic medium, converting a comic into a film results to major changes within the adapted film. A perfect case is that of Zack Snyder's film "Watchmen" adapted from Alan Moore's "Watchmen". There are eminent differences such as the creation of superhuman in the film while those in the comic were just but average citizens don in costumes while fighting injustice and crime in the society.

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The representation of information in multiple panels or frames create a visual impression that allures to the sense of time and space. And, this is well-depicted in comics. Therefore, making comics as a medium through which artists can explore themes such as superheroes and other imaginative characters in multiple panes juxtaposed with various speech cues. When a film director adapts a film from a comic book such as 'Watchmen" there is the element of condensation of the content to help fit within his or her time frame and plot narrative. The case of Snyder's "Watchmen" comic film does that by summing up the various comic strips using a stylized sequence laden with single-slow motion shots that capture much of the information if not all.

Comics have long been considered as works that can only be enjoyed by children. By virtue of the themes they deal with such as superheroes fighting crime and justice in the society, their target audience was majorly children. However, the advent of serious comics such as "Watchmen" by Alan Moore changed the public perception of this genre. It's careful depiction of serious themes interwoven with elements of graphic violence, nudity, and sexual innuendoes. And, this popularized it among the adult audience thus changing the public perception towards comics leading to film adaptations as in the case of Alan Moore's 'Watchmen" by Snyder. While the adaptation of comics such as Watchmen enhances their status as a media for creative expression of ideas through images, adapting it still faces the challenge of running time and brevity in narration leading to confusion in the follow-up of the historical narrative in the multiple frames.

Conclusion

Adapting a film from a comic strip book remains one of the biggest challenge film directors face in their creative work. It entails the task of condensing thousands of multiple panels and frames, each with information of its own within a script with a stringent timeframe and budget. And, in the process, much of the information is lost during the adaptation. A perfect case is that of "Watchmen" a comic strip adapted from Alan Moore. While the adaptation was successful in changing the public perception towards comic strips, its failure to capture most of the information within the original strips due to limited run-time underpins its failure as an emerging genre.

Plus

Tabachnick, Stephen E., ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Graphic Novel. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

The book explores the emergence of comics as a popular genre among both adults and children. It touches on the different ways in which graphic novels such as "Watchmen" have been adapted into popular films. And, while capturing that, it gives some of the limitations of the adaptation of comics into films.