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Class Notes for Thursday, September 17

Page history last edited by Nicole Ocran 15 years, 5 months ago
Overview

-After two stellar presentations, we briefly talked about the film industry in relation to the comic industry, the film industry falling short in its adaptations of comics as the films lose much of the depth and nuance that comics possess. Alan Moore especially dislikes the film adaptations of his comics, as he usually writes them in a way so that they cannot be made into films.

-'Watchmen' is not just about superheroes but also about comics in general. We pointed to a few examples of this in the book. On p.29, the end of ch.5, the article makes note of the comic code, mentioning the "brief surge of anti-comic book sentiment in the mid fifties." Another example is p.8 of ch.5 depicting the newsstand guy commenting on the comic books being early and the newspapers being late, an inside joke regarding the comic industry. 

-Professor mentioned the "bin bay" (is that what it's called?) technique, the technique of interweaving stories. In the case of 'watchmen,' it's story in the black  freighter interwoven with the story present in watchmen.

 

Rorschach

A character we talked about for a little bit was Rorschach, one of the more enthralling and psychologically complex characters in watchmen. A large portion of the narrative is dedicated to him, as we get bits and pieces of his tortured past and feel for his personal history. His signature mask, which is a constantly morphing, is based on the ambiguous designs used in the Rorschach inkblot tests. Rorschach is a character who see's everything in black or white. His actions and journal writings display a belief in moral absolutism and moral objectivism, where good and evil are clearly defined and evil must be violently punished. Compared to the other Watchmen though,  Rorschach's philosophies are his own, as he is seen mostly as a detested and vulgar character.  In comparing Rorschach to a character like Dr. Manhattan, we saw how they were exact opposites of each other. Rorschach seems to live by one philosophy and will not compromise in his one philosophy; the notion of good and evil. Dr. Manhattan, however, embodies multiple philosophies and his perspective fluctuates as the story progresses.  Despite his assumed role as "badass vigilante," his character has much more depth. Alan Moore based Rorschach around the idea that if a real vigilante existence, he would probably be a bit of a nutcase. Do we like Rorschach? are we supposed to like him or not? the answers to these questions seem to lie in the perspective of the reader. On a side note, Rorschach was based of a character from charlton comics, in which the psyche profiles on Rorschach indicated he stayed at the Charlton Home when he was young, a play on the "origins" of Rorschach.

 

 

 

Highlights

Days Readings: Watchmen ch. 4-6

 

Class opened with a brief note about next class. The class will be seeing a guest speaker as part of "Fall for the Book." The location for next Tuesday's class will be in the Performing Art's building, in Grand Tier 3.

 

Two presentations were given, one by Alex Heigl.

 

Alex's presentation was a character study of Dr. Manhattan and comparisons to some religions such as Deism, Hinduism, Buddism, and the Taoist philosophy of reality as an illusion. Examining page 28 of chapter 4, he gives comparison of Dr. Manhattan to the Tralfamadorians from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter House 5," beings that exist in all times simultaneously, sort of like Dr. Manhattan. "Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. Perhaps it simply is, has been, will always be there." 

 

The other presentation was given by Seth Williams.

Seth discussed Chapter 5 page 9 and focused how the story line is enhanced and shadowed by the story with in the story. The presentation discussed how "Watchman" is a series of interconnected stories; the series of flashbacks, dreams, and side stories complement and frame the story we read while providing a backdrop to the main story. The inclusion of "Tales of the Black Freighter" trace Moore's medium back to his roots. This is shown by showing a lower budget comic within the story. The quality of "Watchmen" frames are different than the quality of the "Tales of the Black Freighter" frames but the same technique is used.  The color scheme of CMYK is used in the both as well.

 

 

 

 

The day's discussion was about how "Tales of the Black Freighter" and "Watchmen" comment on comic books and the comic book industry in general.

 

As pointed out in Chris Williams' presentation, "Tales of the Black Freighter" serves as the novel's running commentary on traditional comics.  For instance, "Tales of the Black Freighter" is printed with a more traditional and much simpler color scheme and dot pattern.  Viewed closely, the dot pattern in "Tales of the Black Freighter" is noticeably different than the dot pattern used in the rest of the novel.

 

 

How does the Watchmen comment on comics themselves?

 

There are some moments where Alan Moore seems to be criticizing the over commercialization of the comics industry, as in when Ozymandias cancels his toy line.

 

 

It was suggested in class that in the comic-within-a-comic, "Tales of the Black Freighter," perhaps the marooned sailor is representative of Alan Moore himself and the sharks he battles on his journey represent the comic industry, attempting to swallow him alive.

 

 

 

In what is probably an inside joke about the Watchmen's own deadline problems, the News Vendor complains about how the comics arrive earlier than the newspapers.

 

 

With Chapter 6, the class discussed the character Rorschach.  Professor Sample pointed out that there is a running motif of a mutilated dog carcass along with Rorschach's character, beginning on the novel's first page and reappearing in Chapter 6.

 

 

The class seemed to agree that Rorschach's character is dominated by a refusal to compromise, a determination to see the world only in terms of good or evil, black or white.

 

 

Chapter 6 lends the reader some sympathy for the Rorschach character, explaining the origin of his harsh worldview in the abusive circumstances of his youth.

 

 

 

Key Terms

Benday Process: two different stories interweaving with one another

Deism: the belief that a supreme being created the universe; a "Supreme Architect" (stems from Christianity)

Eastern Thought: the belief in reality as an illusion (Taoism, Hinduism)

Story within a story: in which one story is told at the same time as another story

Parallelism: balance of similar images, words, phrases, etc. 

Foreshadowing: repeated references within the story, hinting at what will come at the end or the near future

Comments (1)

Mark Sample said

at 12:09 am on Sep 20, 2009

I think you mean the "benday" process -- it's not a narrative technique, but rather a printing process using dots to form shapes.

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