The Watchmen
The Watchmen is an American super-hero movie that was created in 2009 and is directed by Zack Snyder. The Watchmen was based off of the comic “The Watchmen” which was created in 1986 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. (Wikia, p.1.) The story takes place in an alternate 1985, when the murder of a former colleague forces the group of former super-heroes to come back together to solve the missing murder. As they uncover the truth they find out a lot of information that reveals that what happened in their past might have drastic consequences for the future. The story follows 6 main characters Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian, Nite Owl and Rorschach.
The Watchmen has various themes that are discovered throughout the movie; self-identity, politics, ethics and human nature. When analyzing these themes, we can uncover a lot of truth that relates back to why the characters act the way they do. Self-identity is portrayed in this
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story by showing us who each character is and what super-hero they were before they got banned. Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian, Nite Owl and Rorschach are the main characters. Ozymandias also known as Adrian Veidt, was born in 1939 and is found to be extremely intelligent. One of his traits is that he can catch bullets and predict actions before they happen. Silk Spectre, also known as Laurie Juspeczuk is an extreme liberal feminist. She began to be a feminist after figuring out her mother was raped. Doctor Manhattan, also known as Jon Osterman, is the only character that has superpowers. Among his powers, the most important one is his ability to see time. He is able to see his past and future. He has several different powers including; control over matter, strength, telekinesis, teleportation and perception of time. The Comedian, also known as Eddy Blake, is steered by living the “American dream” and firmly believes in Justice. The Nite Owl, also known as Dan Dreiberg, became depressed after his superhero costume was banned. Throughout the movie he had very little interest in finding his life. One positive aspect about The Nite Owl is that he is not afraid to risk his life in order to save others. Unlike many other violent/super-hero movies, God is portrayed in this story in few scenes,when the characters speak of him, but not extensively.
Dr. Manhattan is the only character that can be compared to God. Once Dr. Manhattan revealed his true identity, a man who used to work with him states that “God exists and he’s American.” Dr. Manhattan doesn’t believe that he is anything like God and he denies any comparison. However, Dr. Manhattan can be seen as God-like because of his superpowers and wisdom, he wouldn’t spend any of his time trying to save the world, instead he wants to work to escape it and build his own community elsewhere. Rorschach is another character that brings up God, he states that, “God doesn’t make the world this way, we do.” This statement dismisses the idea of god, and further creationism as an answer to the question “how did we get here?” Overall, god is used as a metaphor for some of the super-heroes, and mentioned by the super-heroes themselves but not portrayed in physical
form. Rorschach is one character that discusses human nature. Rorschach uses methods that are disturbing and constant. He is determined to pursue what he sees as “justice.” He believes that God didn’t turn this world into what it is. He believes that humans are the ones who made the world how it is and he puts the moral blame on the humans and how they make their ethical choices. He also sees the world as black and white. Ozymandias is another character that discusses human nature. He is a Utilitarian and he believes that sacrificing millions of lives is worth it in order to save billions. Dr. Manhattan also believes that human nature will not change because humans do not want it to, he quotes, “I can change almost anything, but I can’t change human nature.” Dr. Manhattan thinks that escaping earth and creating life on a new planet is going to solve all of his issues about human nature, he considers moving to Mars and starting new. What makes us human is how we decide what we’re going to do with our lives. In this movie, human nature is based on the decisions that people make and how those decisions will affect the world and everyone in it. Ethics is another theme that can be looked at. Ozymandias, Silk Spectre and Rorschach are three characters that represent different ethical theories. Ozymandias represents Utilitarianism because he believes that by sacrificing millions of people you will be able to save billions in the end, if you kill the million that are starting a war. Ozymandias kills off millions of people by setting off a bomb in New York City, he did this because he thought that by killing half of New York it would lower the crime rate, since New York’s crime rate and hatred level was so high. He also thought by killing millions he would be able to save billions in the end. Ozymandias wouldn’t represent Kantianism because, he believes in hurting people in order to save people. Ozymandias doesn’t think about the meaning behind his actions he only thinks about the outcome. He didn’t think about how bombing New York would affect people he only thought about how it could save a lot more people, if he were to think about the meaning behind his actions and truly think about how his actions will hurt people then he would represent Kantianism. Silk Spectre represents care ethics. Silk Spectre puts her relationships before anything in her life. She believes that it’s important to work on relationships and to take time to build them and focuses all of her attention on maintaining those relationships and strengthening them. In the movie, Silk Spectre became involved with Dr. Manhattan, which her mother didn’t approve of and didn’t want her to continue seeing him, but she continued seeing him. Silk and Dr. Manhattan started working on some assignments with him, one of the assignments was the suppression riot during the officer strike that happened in 1977. Silk always put her relationships first, even if those around her didn’t agree with her choices. No matter what risks it put her at being with Dr. Manhattan, she stuck around and worked on their relationship through everything. Silk Spectre wouldn’t be considered a utilitarian because she doesn’t believe in risking lives in order to save more people. Since she values the relationships of the people around her she wouldn’t risk their lives just to save a larger group of people. The politics in The Watchmen are completely unrealistic and different from how politics are in the normal world. The world events that had occurred in the movie had a major affect on the watchmen’s existence. When Dr. Manhattan used his super powers to help the U.S. win the Vietnam War, which also resulted in Richard Nixon winning the election again. When the super-heroes were banned from fighting, Dr. Manhattan The Comedian and Rorschach all started working as government agents. Rorschach is the only one that works illegally. This just shows how unrealistic the political part of the movie is, considering the government hired someone who has superpowers to help the U.S. win wars. The politics in the movie never become ideal because the former Watchmen characters are the ones that decide to take over the world and they make all of the political choices instead of the government. In the movie, Ozymandias has a plan that will save the world from the issues that it’s facing, he also discusses what his idea world looks like. Ozymandias has a plan to help earth towards utopia, his plan is to end international wars and he plans to get rid of anyone who disagrees and tries to get in his way. He believes that by getting rid of millions of people, that he will be able to save billions in the end. Ozymandias wants to bomb New York City and other countries because he knows that there’s a lot of war and hatred going on in New York and he thinks by bombing it, it will get rid of the toxic people and in the end he will save all of the positive people. His ideal world would be one that doesn’t have any problems and one where countries stop fighting against each other and everyone believes in peace among each other.
If you were to complete an Ironman, a triathlon in which you swim for 2.4 miles, bike for 112 miles and then run a marathon right after would you feel proud of yourself? The theme of the article “An Irongirl’s Story” is to finish is to win. This is shown various times throughout the story. The meaning behind “to finish is to win” is that even if you do not come in first place, you still win just for completing a grueling task such as an Ironman race. This theme also means that you should be more focused on accomplishing your goals than beating someone else's.
These three major themes which were appearance vs reality, the importance of free thought, and man vs. society were revealed throughout the book in many different scenes, and through many different characters. These major themes gave us a better understanding of the book and the characters of the book, and what some of them wanted to achieve.
The Holocaust was a genocide that happened in Germany throughout the years of 1933-1945. The Germans and their supporters massively murdered many Jews to protect and reach their goal of having an Aryan race. The novel We Are Witnesses by Jacob Boas is a collection of four diaries written by the four children that were victims of the Holocaust. In this novel the themes found are fear, humanity, appreciation, and survival. A running story throughout the novel is the idea of people being good or evil. Humans are capable of being good but choose to follow evil and make the good suffer.
“The Trusty” is a work of fiction, written by Ron Rash, that tells the story of a man and a woman who try to escape their lives. In this short story, Sinkler is depicted as a scandalous but also as a distressed character. Many painted events lead to the illustration of a peculiar setting in which Sinkler is experiencing some abnormal instances. Sinkler is not dead, and his characterization has lead the audience to believe his flawed mental state is the reason why.
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.
Its ironic how in the story ‘The Hit Man”, the main character whose name we do not know, was only hired once, that we know of, to do some killing. Throughout the story we get to visualize who he is through his actions rather than the details of his physical appearance besides the black hood he wears. The story makes many references to the way society views him. This story is structured in a chronological format of critical points in his life. Many events take place in which he ends up wasting someone because they wronged him in some way. We can all infer that T.C. Boyle means kills when he says wastes throughout the story. Why does the hitman kill anyone who does him wrong or that he doesn’t like? He doesn’t believe in giving people second
Heroes, the unordinary beings with extravagant abilities, from powers and competence to skills and talents. Heroes are people who are idealized by society for their courage and individuality. Iconic and well recognized heroes like Hercules, Superman, Spiderman and Achilles are some of the few heroes known around. All heroes have a similarity to each other, for example Beowulf and Batman. While both can be considered great heroes, they differ significantly, yet are similar in other ways.
Watchmen takes place during one of our country’s most recent politically intense era’s. The fear of government corruption along with the fear of the Soviet Union and nuclear warfare was very much a real thing. Alan Moore uses political symbols, real and fictional, to represent this rough time and create a realistic setting to an otherwise fictional plot of superheroes. By incorporating mature messages and illustrations it does not only appeal to young adults looking to be entertained by a picture book. It allows Watchmen to stand alone in the category of graphic novels and be looked at as an icon of its time.
The first theme, racism in which the narrator is trying to find out who he is. As the narrator who plays the role of “The Invisible Man” has issues of finding his own identity, he struggles with the fact that he is an African American man living in an extremely racist white society. From the beginning to
They have been called "gods." These almighty, powerful beings that are far too superior for us to understand; or so most of us have been made to believe. Some may say he is a Great Examiner, others could say he is the Creator. Some could even say he doesn't exist. Frankly, what I want to emphasize is how such beliefs could reduce even the bravest and strongest of us all to a whimpering child. Something that we ar...
It is understandable to think that Rorschach is the most influential character in Watchmen, however it is clearly The Comedian due to his incredible influence of all the characters and the fact that his death sets the main plot in motion. Though his heroic code is not as strong and stable as Rorschach’s, The Comedian understands the world perfectly, but “he doesn’t care” (Moore, 4.19). Both of these characters saw the “true face” of this reality, one just fought against it while the other became a parody of it.
Famous Hollywood Director Kathryn Bigelow was furiously working on a project called “Tora Bora,” a film about the failed attempt of capturing Bin Laden. On May 2nd, 2011, the world came to a full stop when President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Immediately, Bigelow shelved “Tora Bora” even though it was only a few weeks away from being filmed. and began working on what would later become to be known as, “Zero Dark Thirty”. The film was released to major praise on December 19th, 2012, racking up 5 Oscar nominations including Best picture and winning one in Sound design. This film analysis will delve into the themes of “Zero Dark Thirty”, and will also discuss film aspects such as script, lighting, characters, and camera
The difference between a superhero, as we know from movies and comics, and a traditional hero is rather unclear for many people.. In modern times, a superhero is often a being with supernatural abilities. For example, the movies depict them as individuals with super strength, night vision, the ability to climb walls, and so on. The majority of audiences have been spoiled with these unrealistic depictions and are unable to recall the real or “traditional” hero. In the texts, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Book of Job, and Bhagavad Gita, heroes are not “as seen on television”, but something more. The heroes in these stories carry great strengths such as wisdom, patience, and pride. To illustrate these characteristics, the protagonists themselves
Within the German Democratic Republic, there was a secret police force known as the Stasi, which was responsible for state surveillance, attempting to permeate every facet of life. Agents within and informants tied to the Stasi were both feared and hated, as there was no true semblance of privacy for most citizens. Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the movie The Lives of Others follows one particular Stasi agent as he carries out his mission to spy on a well-known writer and his lover. As the film progresses, the audience is able to see the moral transformation of Stasi Captain Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler primarily through the director 's use of the script, colors and lighting, and music.
Vigilantism is where individuals take the law into their hands to maintain justice. Which is a controversial subject that can be seen either in a positive or negative perspective in our society. Normally, in a superhero genre we believe it is best if the superheroes take the law into their hands to maintain justice. They tend to make society feel safe and protected. Whereas, Watchmen the superheroes are more imperfect and more humanlike. They either protect for a better place or to gain fame; others rape, kill innocent people and have a changed perspective of their world. Whether it being good or bad.