The Eyes Have It: WATCHMEN

Watchmen is a heavily visual work in any medium; we took hours examining just a few in the adaptations from page to screens in this episode of Draft Zero.

The story also attaches great importance to eyes — literally or metaphorically, you need them to fulfil its tagline “Who watches the watchmen?”

Not-Eyes

Watchmen (2019) also uses eggs as symbols throughout, and near the start combines these in a cooking scene where eggs (in conjunction with kitchen implements) make the eyes of faces.

One is a riff on the classic Watchmen smiley-face (including a small dash of blood). The other uses a whisk and bowls to make the eggs look like the pupils in the eyes of Nite Owl as well as his Owlship — a character and vehicle from the novel and film who is referenced but not reprised in the miniseries.

Match Transition

We did a whole separate post on how just this episode shoots eyes, so we’ll just note this match cut is staggering; setting up a closeup of Angela (Regina King) before cutting back to an ultra-closeup which transitions into stained-glass eye windows.

Takeaways

Westworld highlights eyes, while Watchmen centres and makes symbols of them. But crucially, neither rely on your having read their source material.

Though understanding the symbolism adds meaningful layers, it’s not necessary to know the Nite Owl reference or even the importance the story places on eyes to appreciate the careful framing and imagery deployed here.