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.
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.
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.
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.
True heroes come in all shapes and sizes. When people think of heroes, they think of The Superman or Spiderman because of their superhuman powers, yet in the real world, heroes are determined base of their courage and their bravery. Although, Harrison from the story of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and Sammy from “A&P” by John Updike have their difference, both characters provide a remarkable similarity in their stories. Each character categorizes as heroes because they disobey and confront their superior. Harrison when he attempted to overthrow the government and Sammy when he confronts the store manager. Despite, they share some similarities experience, the differences between Harrison and Sammy are
...e characters all lead to humanity’s inescapable doom. Additionally, Veidt’s Nostalgia perfume bottle adds to Moore’s representation of the out-of-date ‘costumed’ heroes and how their delusional recounting of events is what leads to the dangers of misrepresenting that which makes a person the sum of their experiences. Lastly, Dr. Manhattan is a symbol to explore how fate and time exist simultaneously and since he is an un-aging immortal with an ‘exterior’ perception of time neither applies to him, causing his mortality to diminish. Yet, it is suggested through Dr. Manhattan that time and fate are unavoidable-even a real ‘superhero’ is unable to save humanity, let alone the aged ‘costumed’ heroes. All in all, Watchmen successfully suggests through the use of explicit symbols that time is simultaneous whilst also being intricately connected and intertwined with fate.
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
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.
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.
Superheroes are no longer god-like figures, and they become more relatable. The heroes in this novel must suffer what us humans suffer. For instance, this is embodied in one of the “hero” characters of the novel, Sue Dibny. Sue Dibny was raped in the past and she later gets murdered in the present day (Meltzer, 35). But she is not a superhero. She never gets characterized in the novel, all she stands for is to be the spark plug of an identity crisis for superheroes. She also changes the the whole superhero genre. When the novel reveals Dr. Light’s mind wipe, this transforms the general background of superheroes. Super heroes for decades before this were represented as flawless, powered people. Super heroes might have had one flaw, but it wasn’t an ordinary flaw. For example, Kryptonite to
The Watchmen is a comic book that describes how vigilante crime fighters helped in stopping the nuclear war in 1985. The vigilante crime fighters worked in organized groups, whereby they formed the first organized group in 1939, named the Minutemen. The first group of watchmen retired, and in 1966, a new generation of Watchmen formed to help in fighting crimes. The new generation vigilantes sometimes interacted with the older generation vigilantes, with the Comedian belonging to the both groups of vigilantes. Despite the great role that the watchmen played in combating crime in America, their activities started becoming unpopular with the police, the citizens, and the media. The unpopularity led to the anti-vigilante riots, making the vigilantes respond with increased brutality. In 1977, the government outlawed vigilante activities, and some vigilantes quit the vigilante activities while others continued seeking justice through the vigilante activities. In 1985, nuclear war raised international tensions and it seems unavoidable. At the time, the Watchmen included the Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, who had supernatural abilities following an accident at a government research laboratory, Ozymandias, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre II, and Rorschach (Moore and Dave 2). At the time, the Comedian and Dr. Manhattan worked for the
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.
“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.
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.
: 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.