This week senior writer Zeba Blay revisited the brilliant HBO series “Watchmen.” In her piece about her re-watch, she interrogated whether the series is “copaganda” or if it builds a case for abolishing the police. Must Reads talked to Blay about what led her back to the series.
What made you decide to return to “Watchmen”?
The show is so richly layered; it felt necessary and worth it to come back to it and consider its themes and approach to race in light of the surge in protests against racism and police brutality around the country. There’s been a lot of talk about how white people need to “do the work” and get more comfortable with talking about race head on. I felt that “Watchmen” was an example in pop culture of how to have the conversation through the medium of television.
There’s been a lot of talk about defunding the police in recent weeks. How does “Watchmen” speak to some of the problems with policing?
I think the series does a stellar job of exploring and expanding upon one of the central questions/themes of the original comic, “Who watches the watchmen?” In the world of the show, all the Tulsa cops wear masks as a form of protection. But the masks are also symbolic — if all cops are masked, how can you truly tell the difference between the “good” cops and the “bad” cops? At the end of the day, how can “good” cops actually make a difference if they are actively participating in a racist and oppressive system?
Are there other series or movies that you have revisited recently that you think other people should watch too?
I mention “Mad Men” in the article, which is one of those shows that I think has taken on even deeper significance the older it has gotten, especially when it comes to race and gender. I’ve also recently revisited Steven Soderbergh’s short-lived medical drama “The Knick,” about the lives of surgeons in New York at the turn of the 20th century. The show is imperfect, but I really appreciate that it doesn’t tip-toe around the blatant and subtle forms of racism that existed in America at that time, even among white, northern, so-called progressives.
I know you tried to talk to showrunner Damon Lindelof. What would you want to ask if you finally get to talk to him about “Watchmen”?
I’d love to talk with him about his thoughts on how he, as a white man, approached telling a story that dealt so frankly with racial trauma in America. I know there were Black writers on the show (including Cord Jefferson, who wrote the amazing sixth episode of the series), and I’d like to talk to him about the importance of Black writers, showrunners, producers, directors, etc. in telling these kinds of stories.
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