Two of a Kind
Rorschach, the New York-residing, vigilante-minded renegade who is one of the Watchmen (and who is being played by Jackie Earl Haley in the '09 Warner Bros. film), is quoted as follows on a new WB poster: "I wish all the scum of the earth had one throat, and I had my hands about it." A furious loner, you bet, and yet he is not alone. In the Year of Our Lord 1976 Rorschach has a spiritual brother wandering the same fetid New York Streets -- a little more than kin, a little less than kind.
Travis Bickle, the New York-residing, vigilante-minded taxi driver whose life peaked in '76 when be blew away some bad guys in a Lower East Side tenement, is famed for having said that "someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets."
Rorschach and Bickle were born in 1940.
During the day, Rorschach walks around New York as a vagrant with a sign reading "the end is nigh." During the night Bickle drives around the city, gaping at the perverts on the streets and consumed with disgust.
Politically, Rorschach is "an anti-communist, anti-liberal, reactionary, and strong nationalist," per Wikipedia. He's also been described as an "extremely right-wing character" by Watchmen author Alan Moore. Bickle supports the liberal Sen. Palatine but not really -- he's actually a radical conservative purist looking to bring the wrath of God down upon the Philistines.
Rorschach and Bickle are truly one spirit, one cockroach, one karate-chopping hand. If only they'd gotten together for a coffee one evening at the Belmore cafeteria to talk about Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford and CBGBs and Patti Smith and all the movies playing at all the New York repertory cinemas back then...gone now but what a time
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 2, 2008 at 9:39 AM
comment #1
MilkMan says ...
Great post.
Posted by MilkMan at August 2, 2008 10:47 AM
comment #2
Ponderer says ...
Seconded. Fantastic observation.
Posted by Ponderer at August 2, 2008 11:21 AM
comment #3
cjKennedy says ...
I think you're politicizing Bickle too much, but yeah, they're cut from the same antisocial vigilante loner cloth.
The poster is even almost a reverse of the one for Taxi Driver.
Posted by cjKennedy at August 2, 2008 11:31 AM
comment #4
lazarus says ...
This poster, and the other "character" ones that just debuted at Comicon, are reworkings of the original promo posters, which were in black and white. But the poses are the same, as are the quotes used. I think the Sally Jupiter/Original Silk Spectre one may be new, though.
http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/watchmen-merchandise-promo-items.php
If you scroll down to "Watchmen Portfolio" and click on the right picture you can see the collected posters together. The Rorshach one that Jeff posted is only partially visible.
That they're using these images is tonally the best thing I've seen yet from this project; hopefully the film will be along these lines.
Posted by lazarus at August 2, 2008 12:07 PM
comment #5
MPNeeb says ...
Want to take the connection further?
David Thomson links Travis Bickle to George Bailey (It's a Wonderful Life) in the book, Suspects.
Posted by MPNeeb at August 2, 2008 12:58 PM
comment #6
supertaster says ...
Seconded. Fantastic observation.
Wells doesn't overtly imply he came up with this on his own, but since some seem to presume so ....
Google "Rorshach" and "Bickle" and you'll find there's nothing original here, just some guy pretending like he's hip and up on the latest graphic novel-cum-film.
Posted by supertaster at August 2, 2008 1:48 PM
comment #7
d manhattan says ...
so I guess this means you've read the thing? :)
Posted by d manhattan at August 2, 2008 1:53 PM
comment #8
DarthCorleone says ...
I see the connection, although I've always found Rorschach much more relatable and noble, and certainly more intelligent.
Posted by DarthCorleone at August 2, 2008 1:56 PM
comment #9
Nicanor says ...
supertaster says ...
Google "Rorshach" and "Bickle" and you'll find there's nothing original here, just some guy pretending like he's hip and up on the latest graphic novel-cum-film.
You're wrong in what you thought was your point blank observation. Wells stated several days ago that he needed to re-read the graphic novel again. If you read the first issue of the Watchmen and do not immediately think of Travis Bickle then you have not seen Taxi Driver. Wells states in this post that Rorschach and Bickle are similar. At no point did Wells write it was an original observation.
supertaster, I hope you enjoy your premature ejaculation this evening. Hopefully your real doll will not mind.
Posted by Nicanor at August 2, 2008 2:37 PM
comment #10
gruver1 says ...
Wells to supertaster: I just thought of Bickle when I read that quote about the scum of the earth. Nothing more to it. I don't care if you don't believe me. You're going to piss on what I write no matter what.
Posted by gruver1 at August 2, 2008 5:21 PM
comment #11
Ogami Itto says ...
SPOILER!
Insane though he may be, at the end of the story Rorshach is the only character willing to die for his philosophical principles.
Posted by Ogami Itto at August 2, 2008 8:13 PM
comment #12
diesel says ...
"You're going to piss on what I write no matter what."
Who pisses on the supertaster?
Posted by diesel at August 3, 2008 6:46 AM
comment #13
Josh says ...
why is Rorshach insane? because he is committed and believes in something?
Posted by Josh at August 4, 2008 11:57 AM
comment #14
dd
says ...
You're wrong in what you thought was your point blank observation. Wells stated several days ago that he needed to re-read the graphic novel again. If you read the first issue of the Watchmen and do not immediately think of Travis Bickle then you have not seen Taxi Driver. Wells states in this post that Rorschach and Bickle are similar. At no point did Wells write it was an original observation.
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