In their graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons establish their story during the Cold War period, when a group of superheroes tackle the task to save humanity from a potential World War III caused by tensions among governmental powers. Managed by the intelligence of Adrian Veidt, the worst was avoided after the attack of alien forces causes the death of millions of New Yorkers that leads to a temporary world peace. The representations of the Watchmen superheroes of Moore and Gibbons, particularly Rorschach, display the concept of heroism being a part of the real world, among the regular public of our society.
Towards the end of the chapters in Watchmen, the reader is introduced to journal entries, revealing the ordinary human-like representations of the superhero characters. The representations suggest that these superheroes have chosen to serve society for mundane reasons, such as fame, power or to promote an ideology. This belief is confirmed when the graphic novel presents an in-depth look at the character of Sally Jupiter. During an interview, Sally says: “Well, let me say this, for me, it was never a sex thing. It was a money thing” (Moore and Gibbons IX, 32). This quote ultimately points out Sally Jupiter’s true motive of becoming a superhero. She chooses to fight crime in hopes of furthering her modeling career and making a fortune out of it. Additionally, when Dr. Malcolm Long is questioning Walter Kovacs, the reader is introduced to the origins of Rorschach. It is then revealed the story of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who gets raped, tortured and then killed while all of her neighbors just watched, not even thinking of alerting the authorities. Kovacs then shares his feelings towards humanity saying: “I kn...
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...ort the same element that this graphic novel supports. These people rushing to the aid of the woman (Moore and Gibbons XI, 25, panel 7) suggest that a true hero is not always in a costume, and does not always cover his/her face, however heroes are ordinary citizens that put their own issues aside just to help others.
To conclude, the graphic novel Watchmen presents the non-fantastic representation of a superhero, implying that not all heroes are like Superman. This notion is explored within the novel by mentioning the realistic motives of the characters choosing to become superheroes, by Rorschach’s representation and through the heroic reactions of the New Yorkers to a street crime. These elements all contribute to Watchmen’s uniqueness and complexity as a superhero comic.
Works Cited
Moore, Alan and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. New York: DC Comics, 1986. Print.
“A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended.” Behind all the action in The Dark Knight Rises is an important portrayal of crime and deviance in society. The superficial analysis of the plot makes The Dark Knight Rises seem like a simple hero and villain story and nothing more. However, the film expresses concepts of justice and provides an important depiction of strain theory and the labeling theory.
To your average white American kid, a comic book is cheap entertainment— a leisure, a novelty. Your run of the mill issue of "Superman," perhaps the most generic superhero of all, is something to be read once, maybe even merely skimmed, while in the bathroom or the doctors' office. When finished with it gets thrown away mindlessly or tossed aside to join a mounting stack of similarly abandoned stories of fantastical heroism. However in the eyes of the young Indian boy, Sherman Alexie, as depicted in his essay, "Superman and Me," a tattered comic found in a donation bin was much more than that— it was a life line.
Through the character Rorshach, The Watchmen explores the issues of nature verses nurture for him. Moore adds that a super hero, can be a psychological argument. A super hero is neither born nor shaped by environment, it is the creation of an alter ego to suppress childhood conflicting inner issues. Rorshach dealt with issues as a young child that rationalized in his mind to hide behind a costume and a mask in order to live.
Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” focuses on several characters throughout the novel making the idea of a main character moot. However, one character can be described as the most influential to the plot of the graphic novel. Rorschach can be seen as such due to the fact that he narrates a large portion of the novel, and his heroic code that he follows. Not only does he influence the plot by those two reasons, but also by uniting the characters after a long silence. The Comedian is the only character that almost perfectly fits as the character with the most influence on the plot of “Watchmen.” The death of his character allows for the plot to be set in motion. He has not only has he shaped every other character in the novel, but the symbol that represents his character can be found throughout the graphic novel. Although Rorschach can be interpreted as the most influential character of “Watchmen,” The Comedian influenced more aspects of the plot than any other character of the graphic novel.
Everyone dreams of being a hero however the path is narrow. The mantle of responsibility is important aspects and the presence of the heroic traits must be shown in some form. However, there will always be outliers and deemed delusional who attempt to be heroes. In Watchmen, Moore creates an omnipotent hero who lacks humanity in the portrayal of the Dr. Manhattan as a psychopathic anti-hero.
Perceptions of the superhero and supervillain are mainly based on subjective definitions of each concept. These observations often lead to a definitive dichotomy that precisely splits characters into two impermeable divisions. However, this stringent separation is unable to account for the characters that are not at the extreme ends of their respective side. Neither is this rift capable of classifying characters that flirt with both sides of the superhero-supervillain dichotomy. Therefore it is imperative to analyze the established criteria for both superhero and supervillain to derive a more adequate explanation. Most superheroes are not easily characterized, but rather fall somewhere between Superman, the bastion of moral purity, and Doctor Doom, the display of indubitable corruption. This solicits genesis of an entirely new notion about the differences between superheroes and supervillains. A more precise idea is that superheroes and supervillains are lined on a spectrum that spans from pure good to pure evil. Disparities between superheroes and supervillains are not black and white, but rather these characters are on a spectrum that radically changes based on individual cases.
Although not every hero shouts “Avengers Assemble” before a worthy deed, heroism is shown in all aspects of the everyday world. Webster Dictionary has exactly 5 definitions under the word hero and still no two people explain heroism the same. Superman and Captain America are a glimpse of the fictional characters society titles a hero. Firefighters and Military portray heroism each day in the lives of every civilian. As Sullivan and Venter stated “individuals are referred to as ‘heroes’ for seemingly different reasons” and even through endless studies the adjectives referring heroes is ever changing. Among the various ideas of what it means to be a hero, boldness and valiance capture the essence of heroism.
In the World of Watchmen people in the United States have been digging into their sense of paranoia due to the possibility of World War III happening with Russia. This sense of paranoia even caused them to unnecessarily ban the activities of masked vigilantes by way of the 1977 “Keene Act” requiring all masked supers either begin working for the government or retire immediately. There is no difference in a masked criminal and a criminal without a mask on. One is only hiding their identity until they are caught. Turning this into a black and white problem is an issue of public safety when the masked villains in the same places as before will do the opposite of the heroes and begin committing even more crimes of their choice due to nobody being there to protect the city from harm. The Keene Act screams paranoia from the
Watchmen, while originally published as a limited series comic book, is a highly regarded graphic novel that has been praised for its plot, characters, and political statements. While the two works may not seem to be similar they have much more in common than meets the eye. For example, both works are based around a crime in
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel Watchmen, is about showing the human flaws in being a superhero. The story follows a couple of different characters from a second generation of masked crime fighters called the minutemen. Alan Moore takes the superhero persona and gives it to normal people with bleak life outlooks. Through flash backs of the early days of both generations of you can see how much more cheerful and eneev the masked crime fighters. Then as the book gets on the reader sees how the masked crime fighters end up either died or crazy.
“But the life of a superhero is fraught with stress: Saving the city (or planet) from nefarious plots of evil-do-ers; and the hassles of daily life…” (deLusé 187). Superheroes are known to save mankind and defend the Earth, but what most people do not consider is the amount of stress these heroes deal with on a daily basis. The obstacles they must overcome include coping with their alter ego and superhero stress, keeping a secret identity and surpassing the expectations set for them.
Alan Moore’s story offers an immersive and complex plot that raises all sorts of moral questions. It is an extraordinary work of literature that occupies a well deserved spot on TIME’s list of 100 Greatest Novels. Since Watchmen’s publication, many more authors involved in the comic book medium have created similarly respectable works, inspired by Moore’s down-to-earth story-telling.
: In Watchmen by Alan Moore, there are two anti heroes that many readers are seem to like and consider different from other superheroes. These two characters are Rorschach and The Comedian. Rorschach is a detective who tries to solve his mask killer theory on who killed Edward Blake aka The Comedian throughout the novel. Throughout the novel, we begin to get flashbacks that introduce The Comedian and his personality. The Comedian is a government war hero, but he does things what an antagonist.
Have you ever known what being heroic is like? Well if you don't, you’ll want to find out, If you’ve ever watched a movie with a hero in it you should have a good idea of what being heroic should be but there are a lot more characteristics to a hero. Superman flies and saves people with his super strength but his weakness is kryptonite, Superman is kind, brave, and fearless. If you know spiderman he is fearless to so it is a thing that is pretty common with heroes and that's why ordinary people are heroes to it's just that they don't get noticed as they should. Although many acts of heroism don’t always have a happy ending and most heroic deeds go unnoticed, a hero is selfless for the protection of others and doesn’t
These heroes are not the equivalents to the Lone Ranger or Superman; they might even flee instead of fight a dangerous situation. However, when they do fight, they fight with flesh and bone. They fight with emotions and tears. They fight with anger and fears. They fight with confusion. They fight for their country. They fight to avoid the shame and embarrassment. They fight because of obligations to the family, to the country, and to themselves. The heroes that come to mind through these descriptions are the ones fighting in uniforms. They are fighting in lands unknown. They are captured and tortured. They are young and naïve but they are obligated to perform their patriotic duties. They are the soldiers of my country, your country, and our country. They are the protagonists and characters of The Things They Carried, The Sorrow of War, and Crossing ...