Watchmen has just premiered yesterday. From the first episode, I can say that it’s far from my expectations. Despite showing action, mystery, the series begins with a real-life American tragedy.
You may haven’t heard about Tulsa Race Massacre, but it’s a real attack, which occurred back in 1921. In the event, hundreds of black people were killed, involving bombs. Let’s learn more about the event and how its depiction in the Watchmen opening scene.
Watchmen is set in an alternate reality, but the opening scene was taken straight out of real history. The scene follows a black boy, whose family is trying to get him to safety in the middle of street chaos. It feels like Superman’s backstory, but unlike Krypton destruction, it’s really happened. Here’s a video from Vox that explains the history in detail.
Damon Lindelof, the author of Watchmen original graphic novel, first heard about this event from this article from Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic called “The Case for Reparations.” because it’s not covered in schools. In fact, as of this year, the massacre is still not being taught in Oklahoma classrooms.
Nicole Kassell, who directed the pilot, did an interview about the opening scene. She stated that as horrific as the imagery was, they filmed some other things based on real life which didn’t make the cut. “There was a dog that ran by with its tail on fire. There were white spectators just watching. You know, white women just came to see the show.” That’s horrible, and it looks like the plan to cover this up largely worked. Who knows, when thousands of people learned about this tragedy from this website you found on the internet.
Do you like an article like this? You may also check out this list of best dystopian movies you may never heard.
