‘Watchmen’ perceived incorrectly

To the author of “‘Watchmen’ supports rape,” Joshua Hamilton, I don’t understand how you could see that movie and think that it supported rape. You apparently missed all the lines about how the Comedian was a twisted person with a screwed up sense of humor. You also apparently weren’t watching the scene where he shot the Vietnamese woman he impregnated and the scene where he was wearing a big smile as he was lighting Vietcong on fire with a flamethrower and the scene where he talked about how fun it was to beat up civilians. The point is the Comedian is not your typical hero, he is not Batman or Superman or even someone like the Punisher. He is more like The Joker, a demented person that enjoys the ironies of the world. He was a person that understood if you did things the right way, you could get away with whatever you wanted, all in the name of peace. The whole movie was about dual logics, conflicting natures of logic and humanity and how even horrible atrocities such as rape can have silver linings. Without her rape Sally never would have had her daughter, not saying this justifies the actions at all. I’m just saying that the ends can be better than the product of their means.

I salute Watchmen for taking a bold position and portraying rape in a realistic manner, not as something glamorous or amusing, but as something done by disturbed individuals.

Jesse Ellington

senior, aerospace engineering

‘Playboy’ has its place among all other ads

For those of you that have never worked for a paper before, generating ad revenue to cover the price of production is not an easy task. Determining if that is ad is appropriate to run is also not easy. But to criticize the Technician for running an ad about Playboy when it is protected by the First Amendment right is appalling.  

Playboy is a company that was built on the idea of promoting the power of female sexuality and independence and to show a unique expression of art. Playboy was also an instrumental part of both the Female Civil Rights Movement and the African-American Civil Rights Movement.  

If you are against the fact that Playboy includes photos of nude women, you are justified in the right to your opinion. Technician, however, should not be condemned for its decision to use its First Amendment right to run the ad. It should not be deemed disrespectful to any woman on campus that a magazine like Playboy would want to include them in their long history of artful expression. Saying that it infringes on the independence of women and their right to choose to express themselves in any way that they can. Women have fought to hard to be able to be free to express themselves sexually, and no one should be able to take away that right.  College is designed to provide freedom of thought and expression for those that attended.

Ricci Kearney

senior, communication

‘Schindler’s List’ Supports Genocide

Several students responded to Joshua Hamilton’s [March 19 forum letter saying] Watchmen supports rape. While they were well intentioned, I’m afraid explaining the subtleties of Watchmen’s plot isn’t going to help Hamilton much.

It boggles my mind that anyone, anyone old enough to see this R rated movie by themselves, can think a film condones or supports every action in its plot. Passion of the Christ supports torturing messiahs. Schindler’s List supports mass genocide and makes it look cool for kids, too! The Dark Knight must support psychotic acts of terrorism because one of its main characters has a name which, as Hamilton would surely say, “implies that the things he does are meant to be funny or evoke laughter.” Let me remind you that The Dark Knight is rated PG-13, not R.

I am most disturbed by what’s not in his letter. If Watchmen really supports every act committed by its “super hero” characters, then by exclusion Hamilton must be just fine with the following: shooting pregnant women and their unborn children, pouring boiling hot oil onto people’s faces, setting police officers on fire and intentionally killing millions of people at once. Killing millions must be fine; let’s not bother to stop and discuss that. Instead, a depiction of one (attempted) rape (in which the attempted rapist immediately has his face beat in for it) is the true crime here.

If the people Hamilton is dissuading from seeing Watchmen can’t distinguish fiction from a Public Service Announcement, then I applaud him. In fact, I don’t want these 100 ticking time bombs to consume any fiction at all.

Jeremiah Reid,

2008 alumnus