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Watchmen
Among the many motifs of Watchmen, the most prolific is the Hiroshima lovers. We first see it in Chapter 5: "Fearful Symmetry"; Rorschach sits in a diner and writes, "Out in street, inspected defaced building: silhouette picture in doorway, man and woman, possibly indulging in sexual foreplay. Didn't like it. Makes doorway look haunted" (Moore 155). The next panel jumps to Laurie and Dan leaving lunch together, with Rorschach watching them exit without their knowledge, wondering if the two were having an affair. The next appearance of the Hiroshima lovers is in Rorschach's psych evaluation. Dr. Malcolm Long gives him the Rorschach blot test, and one echoes the shadowed figures of his mother and one of her clients. Then, in Chapter 8: "A Brother to Dragons", Dan has a dream where he and Laurie are caught in a nuclear explosion: Moore depicts the Hiroshima lovers again on page 387--one of the pages that depicts the large-scale effects of Veidt's attack on New York City; they are the only ones left standing in a city full of corpses. This echoes how Dan and Laurie are also the only ones left standing after the massacre. Then, when Dan and Laurie reconcile, they cast a shadow on the wall. The next panel jumps to Rorschach, whose mask blots have shifted to mimic the cast shadow: The name "Hiroshima Lovers" exists to foreshadow Veidt's mimicking of the atomic bomb drop of 1945, and the consistent connection to Dan and Laurie establishes a parallel of them being the only ones left standing, as Rorschach, Hollis, and the Comedian are dead, Manhattan is gone, and Veidt has isolated himself in his fortress.
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Moore positions Walter Kovacs (alias Rorschach) as the Christ figure. His "crucifixion" (seen above) occurs in response to Veidt's decimation of 3 million people. Jon, Laurie, and Dan agree to keep Veidt's involvement a secret to keep the peace, but Rorschach can't stand idly by and watch peace occur at the cost of sin. He refuses to stay silent, and Jon, who is positioned as God, kills him. Rorschach also dies with his arms outstretched. He "resurrects" in the form of his journal. He's disgusted by sex and often calls it "rank". Kovacs lives in poverty, among thieves, prostitutes, and alcoholics. Often, he tells stories to demonstrate points, as he did to demonstrate the Comedian's struggles before his death: Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor...I am Pagliacci." Well, that's not quite true. Dr. Manhattan, aka Jon Osterman, could be positioned as many different characters, philosophies, or theological beings. Jon Osterman as albert einsteinThe title of Chapter 4: "Watchmaker", comes from an Albert Einstein quote. "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." Jon's flashbacks reveal that he was on the way to becoming a watchmaker like his father, until "the release of atom power...changed everything". His father says, "These are no times for a repairer of watches...This changes everything! There will be more bombs. They are the future. Shall my son follow me into an obsolete trade?" (Moore 113). Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the President with a desire to explore atom power in fear of Germany accessing it first. Then the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and he immediately regretted his encouragement. In the comic, Jon has enthusiastically worked his way up to a plant at Gila Flats, Arizona, but then his body is obliterated by nuclear power, and he becomes Dr. Manhattan. Jon and Einstein also studied at Princeton. Jon Osterman as the decline of science from healer to executioner
JOn Osterman as GodThe most vital element to understanding Jon Osterman is to understand his position as God. Chapter 3 is titled "The Judge of All the Earth", and it comes from a quote in Genesis: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis chapter 18, verse 25). Jon also has a Christ-like scene of death and resurrection; the nuclear power "takes him to pieces", and he dies with his arms outstretched. He appears again in the same position as Jesus on the cross. Later after his rebirth, he tells Janey, "I don't think there is a god, Janey. If there is, I'm not him," but he admits that he lied to her while rethinking his life in the present. Jon is also omnipresent in his sense of time. He has the ability to see all of eternity at once. Jon uses present-tense verbs to discuss his past, and he says that in 1959, "as [he] lie(s), [he] hears her shouting at [him] in 1963; sobbing in 1966" (Moore 121). Professor Milton Glass, Jon's old boss, puts it best: "I never said ["The superman exists and he's American"], although I do recall saying something similar to a persistent reporter who would not leave without a quote. I presume the remark was edited or toned down so as not to offend public sensibilities; in any event, I never said 'The superman exists and he's American'. What I said was 'God exists and he's American'" (Moore 141). The Combined Effect of These positioningsMy interpretation of Dr. Manhattan is heavily dependent on the multiple translations of his character. Watchmen is a religious novel if he is God, and a scientific commentary if he is Einstein. No--my interpretation leads to a criticism of the U.S. government's willingness to play God with the weapons at their disposal. In Watchmen, America has a god-like being under their control, and he is used to terrorize other countries into staying out of America's way. It uses science to inspire fear rather that awe, and it is successful.
My philosophy of "Tales of the Black Freighter" is that it is demonstrative of the powers of perception and fallibility of man. The essence of the story is that a man is corrupted by circumstance and blindly fights against innocents he blindly perceives to be his mortal enemies. In achieving victory against his supposed enemies he joins the ranks of his actual enemies.
I think the essence of the story is that you have to to temper the battle against evil lest you become the villain. This is a key message from Watchmen. I think it epitomizes the phrase "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who watches the watchmen). People who spend all their time running around attacking people who they perceive to be the villain, making on-the-spot determinations of guilt and enforcing the ultimate sanction (vigilante execution) without any oversight are doomed to make mistakes. And in defending the innocents, becoming justice, how many wrongs can be tolerated? How many innocents can you injure or kill without ultimately becoming the very monster you fight against? I think the authors were really using the Watchmen not as an example of the need for people to take the mantle of justice upon themselves but as a message that vigilantes are ultimately doomed to become the monsters they fight against. The main story is the example of the message contained within the "Tales of the Black Freighter." "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." -Albert Einstein Albert Einstein said this in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the first atomic bomb, which his work inadvertently led to existence (x).
i. The character of Jon Osterman, aka Dr. Manhattan, begins his personal story as an aspiring watchmaker, until said bombings happen at the age of sixteen, when his father throws the cogs out of the window and into the street, saying "Einstein says that time differs from place to place...if time is not true, what purpose have watchmakers, then?" Jon is then pushed into the atomic sciences. He moves to Gila Flats to research, and he meets Janey Slater. They become romantically involved, and he fixes her broken watch, leaving it in the I. F. chamber where he has his fatal radiation accident that destroys his body--but not his consciousness. As a result of the accident, Jon can, among other things, transcend time. While claiming to always want Janey in 1959, he "hear(s) her shouting at (him) in 1963; sobbing in 1966", all while reflecting upon his "past" in 1985 (Moore 121). Additionally, he doesn't experience time. On page 127, he "remembers", "Janey accuses me of chasing jailbait. She bursts into angry tears, asking if it's because she's getting older. It's true. She's aging more noticeably each day...while I'm standing still." The fact that Moore only uses present-tense verbs makes the reader's usual perception on time bend. When Jon's transcendence is placed alongside the popular religious belief that God experiences all of time all at once, this supports the (fictional) Professor Milton Glass (Jon's boss at Gila Flats)'s statement that, "God exists and he's American." ii. The Nuclear Doomsday Clock is a symbolic representation of how close the world is to catastrophic destruction by nuclear war. It is based on the real-world Doomsday Clock, which performs a similar function. The closer the clock stands to midnight, the nearer the world is to Armageddon. In Chapter I of Watchmen, a newspaper on Adrian Veidt's desk has the headline "Nuclear Doomsday Clock Stands At Five To Midnight". Clocks with that same time appear throughout the book--on Rorschach's watch after the Comedian's murder, above the door after the Comedian's attempted rape of Sally Jupiter, on Janey's watch as Jon is blown to bits in the reaction chamber, on Hollis Mason's desk before he is beaten to death with his own award. While the time 11:55 is almost always is correlated to a disastrous event, it is only after the successful massacre of 3 million people in New York City that the clock finally hits midnight. This shows that your personal tragedies are not, to coin a phrase, the end of the world. Desolation Row: A Watchmen Mix i. Virgin Manchester Orchestra "WE Built this house with our hands, and our time, and our blood" II. Seven Nation army The White Stripes "And the stains comin' from my blood, tell me "go back home"" III. The sharpest Lives My Chemical Romance "The sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead" IV. This House is a circus Arctic Monkeys "Struggling with the notion that it's life not film" v. Sell yourself Cage the Elephant "Got this scalpel in my hand, I'm operating on this riddle" vi. Rebellion (Lies) Arcade Fire "People try and hide the night underneath the covers" vii. desolation Row my chemical Romance "At midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew go out and round up everyone that knows more than they do" viii. Do me a Favour Arctic Monkeys "Do me a favor and break my nose" ix. Always Something Cage the Elephant "Around the corner, there's always something waiting for ya'" X. Blue Orchid The White Stripes "You're given a flower, but I guess there's just no pleasing you" XI. The Last of the American Girls Green Day "She wears her overcoat for the coming of the nuclear winter" xii. Come a little Closer Cage the elephant "The world at times will blind you, but still I KNow I'll see you there" xiii. From the Ritz to the rubble Arctic Monkeys "But now the haze has ascended; it don't make no sense anymore" xiv. Sprawl i (flatland) Arcade Fire "The last defender of the sprawl" |
Alan MooreAlan Moore is perhaps the most acclaimed writer in the graphic story medium, having garnered countless awards for such works as V for Vendetta, From Hell, Miraclman, and SWAMP THING. He's also the mastermind behind the America's Best Comics line, through with he has created (along with many talented illustrators) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, Tom Strong, Tommorow Stories, and Top Ten. As one of the medium's most important innovators since the early 1980s, Moore has influenced an entire generation of comics creators, and his work continues to inspire an ever-growing audience. Moore resides in central England. Archives
May 2015
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