HBO Max’s new limited series DMZ changed its main character, transforming the entire theme of the series.
When the DMZ HBO Max limited series was announced, fans were ecstatic to hear the the near future dystopia was coming to their TV screens. But as more news started coming out, those feelings were tempered by the announcement that the series would veer away significantly from its source material. The most notable change being its main character journalist Matty Roth would be changed for medic Alma Ortega. This radical main character change completely transformed the comic’s main theme, almost flipping it on its head.
While the main character’s changed, the setting of both are relatively the same. Caught between the Second American Civil war between the United States of America and the secessionist Free States of America, Manhattan became a demilitarized zone. With hundreds of thousands of people who were either unable to leave or unwilling, the DMZ essentially became its own autonomous territory. While there’s multiple changes made to the setting, the most prominent changes are in the different characters. Created by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, DC Comics’ 2005 DMZ comic follows young journalist Matty Roth as he journeys through the city and documents everything that he can. Meanwhile, HBO’s DMZ follows NYC medic Alma Ortega as she returns to city to find the son she lost during the evacuation and stumbles onto a political power play between the city’s two prominent leaders.
Matty Roth, who at the beginning of the comic was a relatively naive journalist, found himself trapped in the DMZ after his helicopter was shot down by insurgents. After experiencing the real city, not the one presented by the media, he decided to stay in the city and document everything he could. His journey through the DMZ essentially places him as as a fish out of water in a huge pond. As Matty makes his way through the city, he has to make connections, pick sides, and bear witness. But he was always an outsider regardless of how much street cred he gained and lost throughout the comic. For Matty, going into the DMZ was like entering an entirely new world.
In contrast, Alma Ortega is a New Yorker through and through. She’s clearly based off of the DMZ comics deuteragonist and Matty’s on-and-off girlfriend Zee Hernandez with a few key differences. They’re both New York medics willing to help anyone who needs its regardless of their political or insurgent affiliation inside the DMZ. But Zee did not have a child in the comic book. Instead, she stayed in the city because she knew it and the people inside it needed her help. Alma only returned because she needed to find her son. If it were not for him, she would have never returned to the city. Unlike both Zee and Matty though, Alma has pre-established connections with most political insurgents in the DMZ. For example, its clear that she had a connection with Hoon Lee, who is the series’ replacement for Wilson. For Alma, entering the DMZ is like returning to a home that’s been irreparably changed.
Ultimately, the change from Matty to Alma shifted the theme of the story from one of an outsider entering an entirely new world and destroying himself as he fell prey to the horrors of the war from one of a mother frantically trying to reunite the only family connection she has left inside a war zone. DMZ’s changed from a journey of discovery to a journey of family.
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