Thursday, September 18, 2008

Does Alan Moore like Hollywood?

Well, let's see what he says: "I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying. It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The 'Watchmen' film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

Then again everybody talks trash about Hollywood but Moore backs it up: he refuses to accept money from any of the film projects.

The odd thing is that Moore himself is something of a recycler since nearly all his major work is based on pre-existing characters: Miracleman, Swamp Thing, Watchmen, From Hell, Lost Girls, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and even his vicious run on WildCATS. The modern American comic book business is built on recycling and branding, the alternative publishers almost as much as the mainstream. Moore mostly embraces that in the same way that, say, Shakespeare didn't struggle against the conventions of Elizabethan theatre.