HBO's 'Watchmen' faces backlash from viewers accusing it of being 'woke SJW propaganda'
HBO's 'Watchmen' series has received some intense backlash online for its reinterpretation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel.
Despite receiving rave reviews from critics, the show has less than 50% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with some viewers complaining that the show is "SJW [Social Justice Warrior] propaganda" because it features a black woman (Regina King's Sister Night) as its lead character and an army of white supremacist terrorists as the primary villains.
"You will be sorely disappointed," a user wrote on Twitter. "This isn’t Moore's 'Watchmen'.It is a sick example of collectivist propaganda — Goebbels filtered through Ezra Pound. It pretends to be liberalism but is thoroughly a homily to totalitarian collectivism at the core. I'm disgusted."
Not all the response has been so dismissive though. Some viewers have come out in defense of the show and of the writers' decision to show Rorshach's ideas twisted into the ideology of a terrorist organization.
"#WatchmenHBO has a 51% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes because it made the right-leaning racists very mad," one Twitter user wrote. "Also people were upset that Rorschach inspired a white supremacist group. How is that surprising? Anyway, Watchmen is great and f*** these racist pricks"
However, replying to the same post, another user pointed out that not all the criticism is coming from a place of racism. "Nah it sucks," the user wrote.
"Watchmen was great because of the character interactions, the different ideologies in the group and the fact that the heroes would be comparable to the villains, now it's just political propaganda," added the user.
Other users were more hopeful that the show will improve as it develops. After all, only one episode is out as of now and the show does do a pretty good job of portraying abuse of power and police brutality, building a binary between the racist extremists and the fascist police.
"dunno how so many dips**** are calling the #Watchmen series - after a single pilot - 'woke SJW propaganda'," one fan wrote in a thread.
"They seem to have missed the depiction of a corrupt, liberal authoritarian police force abusing their power in their effort to investigate right-wing extremists. but whatever," the fan shared.
"The show hasn't made Rorschach a white supremacist, but Alan Moore made him the equivalent of today's ultraconservative right-wing conspiracy theorist in the book he wrote. The show just made a bunch of white supremacists latch onto his journal & twisted it to suit their agenda," the user added.
'Watchmen' Episode 2 'Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship' will air on HBO on October 27.