Alan Moore’s comic book Watchmen was a phenomenal breakthrough in the production of the comic. It was unexpected but a negative story about superheroes who, at the same time, reject the typical superhero canons and touch readers’ hearts. Many critics rightly consider Watchmen as an independent graphic novel, not a full-fledged comic strip in the ordinary sense. Despite conflicting reviews from critics, sales and enduring interest in the story show that the author has managed to reach strong emotions in readers. It is primarily due to stylistic features and the artistic work of Dave Gibbons, who managed to convey in colors the atmosphere of a city mired in crime.
The authors worked hard on the cover and character design so that every detail, whenever possible, depicts a particular symbol. Even then, the surface with the inscription on the left stood out from some other comic book covers for teens and young people. Still, many years after the comic’s release in 1986, many literary critics and cultural analysts agree that the stylistic features of the novel have had a significant impact on most people’s perception of it. Nowadays, critics highlight specific gothic elements, emphasized in artistic performance by Dave Gibbons, when considering Alan Moore’s writing style and the rhetorical symbols of the Watchmen. In addition, critics have repeatedly noted the unique style of the remarks of Doctor Manhattan, Rorschach, descriptions of the day-to-day urban life, and its ethics.
Gothic Elements
Without going directly to the main characters and their cues, it is crucial to note the general atmosphere of the comic that envelops each story. A notable feature is the negative urban space saturated with dark colors. Such a stylistic move strangely hints that superheroes should not save this city; this city did not deserve it. The novel is full of gothic elements in the description of buildings, weather, and the main characters often express a pessimistic attitude towards what is happening (Wu). The reader rightly associates these gothic elements with burden, murder, crime, and, in general, death as a huge existential problem. The reader realizes over time that, immersed in history, thanks to such stylistic constructs, they acquire a melancholic mood.
This gothic atmosphere does not take readers into the fantasy world of superheroes and their magical abilities. Through such descriptions, readers understand that they are left alone with the reality they usually do not make films or write books. The novel is filled with impartial reports of the main characters’ actions; thus, “Watchmen presents an uncomfortable scenario, a too-real reflection” (Abad-Santos para 1). It remains a mystery why people needed, important and exciting to read such unpleasant and even vile details. Typically, literature, especially mass literature, is focused on relaxation, spending time, and disconnecting from reality by going into dreams, nostalgia, memories, or other moments that have nothing to do with reality.
However, not everything is so simple, and the psychological aspects of art can tell the reader’s peculiarities. Indeed, the atmosphere of the described city looks like darkness and total hell, and what is happening in the city is terrifying and reminiscent of bullying, perversion, and sadism. An essential aspect of a famous work of art is associating with the main characters or attracting stories. The complicated plot and descriptions fade into the background, and attractive characters with a fascinating past and exciting motivation appear on the stage. Readers want to associate or compare such heroes with themselves, asking themselves difficult ethical questions. Interesting stylistic constructs are hidden in the speech of these heroes, which makes it possible to understand their true motives and essence.
Doctor Manhattan’s Personality
Doctor Manhattan is controversial among some but has generally received a one-sided review in his address at one time or another. Critics and viewers unequivocally noted the atmosphere of his remarks, the unusualness of his past. His ethical paradigm took a special place in the audience’s hearts (Abad-Santos). In the center of his ethics are the rule of the majority and their happiness.
A Sense of Time
Doctor Manhattan is an unusual person destined to come to this world twice. It was the first time it was expected, but the second time after the experiments, it recreated his body from particles. It reminds readers, perhaps, of how artisans assemble furniture or create other objects. Therefore, Doctor Manhattan was precisely designed in the truest sense of the word. Maybe this explains the unusual perception of time in this superhero.
Alan Moore’s stylistic feature is non-timeline storytelling; comics are constructed from gluing; no straightforward linear plot logically and stepwise explains what is happening. What happened in the present time is easily intertwined with what happened, for example, 20 years ago. Such rhetorical techniques allow Alan Moore to emotionally and vividly explain the characters’ motivation, referring to their childhood (recreating explicit scenes) or youth. These scenes raise issues of childhood cruelty, first love, and parenting.
The remarks and statements of Doctor Manhattan are demonstratively devoid of past and present verbs. Usually, people use them in everyday speech; this allows them to quickly express a thought without additional expressions. It is the structure and even the habit of the English language, but Alan Moore breaks it. Doctor Manhattan directly uses nouns those name periods: the future and the past to tell time. In addition, he specifies the date of the event up to a month, “It’s February, 1960, and everything is frozen. I am starting to accept that I shall never feel cold or warm again.” For him, every possibility exists here and now; he remembers it and does not let go of the past. It is also impossible not to notice that such rhetorical techniques make it easier for readers to perceive a complex world. Sometimes, suppose the authors do not deliberately use explanations in the absence of a logical timeline. In that case, it is easy for readers to get confused about which events preceded others. Due to the constant reminder from Doctor Manhattan, readers clearly understand what events preceded the present situations, can trace their influence on the characters.
People can quickly put themselves in their place by understanding the characters’ motivation and sympathizing with them. Unsurprisingly, in some way, Doctor Manhattan is a powerful fatalist throughout the story. He already knows the past, the present, and the future; as it were, he has a whole picture of what is happening; therefore, he can only state the facts. He does not attach his attitude, hopes, or aspirations to these facts.
Divine Powerlessness
Doctor Manhattan is presented as the most powerful superhero with divine powers. Many critics note this paradox, but possessing such strength, almost not being human, this character shows indifference, fatalism, and apathy (Wu). Doctor Manhattan is constantly skeptical of himself and his powers, even though other superheroes see his skills, fear, and respect. The statements of Doctor Manhattan are filled with regrets; he uses derogatory words concerning people and himself: dolls, puppets, strings. This rhetoric demonstrates that even the most influential people know their helplessness in certain situations. They tend to consider themselves helpless in the face of danger; they are sometimes afraid and do not want to take risks.
Perhaps Doctor Manhattan likes to feel like a puppet for the American government. This kind of pleasure is hidden in the masochistic psyche. Despite his lethargy, in the end, Doctor Manhattan is willing to take risks to save the world from destructive war and the use of nuclear weapons. He attacks pride and honor, realizing that ordinary people, billions of ordinary people, did not deserve a vicious battle. This vital decision shows that in his role as a puppet, Doctor Manhattan is most likely consciously and happily acting by the rules of the game.
Rorschach’s Personality
Rorschach grabbed a lot of attention from the comic book audience and got critics to analyze his motivation actively. Cold, cruel, cynical – he was never in love; he did not know mother’s love from childhood and lived in an atmosphere of filth. He started fighting early and tried to show strength; he did not fit social norms; in some cases, his essence is similar to Joker. However, Rorschach is deprived of such a bright development as an independent character.
Feral Gut and Cruelty
Alan Moore departs from the sterile superhero model when describing Rorschach’s actions. Rorschach pours boiling oil on enemies, bites them, scratches them. It is not a blow from Superman, in which cruelty is expressed as if it is absent, but there is only its surrogate, the lowest part necessary to defeat evil. Rorschach, through his statements, manifests itself as a disgusting and selfish nihilist (Abad-Santos). Rorschach constantly puts himself above the law, above tradition, and established norms. He and the reader have the impression that this is necessary to maintain the unique justice in the world.
Through the fragmentation of Rorschach’s lines, Alan Moore deprives him of his humanity. Rorschach, speaking abruptly, is like a beast since he does not use human English, “First visit of evening fruitless. Nobody knew anything. Feel slightly depressed.” He does not seek to make his speech understandable; he shoots with emotions and the most superficial sensations: frustration, resentment, anger. Nevertheless, some readers rightly believe that Rorschach’s cruelty and anger, which is taken out in sadistic and perverse forms, should be perceived not through the prism of aggression but the prism of sympathy. Perhaps this is precisely what Alan Moore sought, creating Rorschach and other characters.
Psychopathy
On the other hand, the fragmentation of Rorschach’s lines is not like an animal rudiment of speech but a demonstration of psychopathy. Wu assumes that “Rorschach’s short, concise train of thought, hardly legible and without pronouns, provides deep insight into the true motives behind his actions” (Abad-Santos para 2). Rorschach often manifests himself as a paranoid and sadist at the level of pathology and not at the level of ordinary dirty tricks. He behaves like an unworthy extremist but interests people; he is a pervert whose possible illnesses would fit well into the modern concept of dissocial personality disorder.
That is why his speech is so illogical and abrupt; it catches the eyes of readers who seem to be listening to the address of an unhealthy person. He is drowning in his thoughts and feelings, which revolve in his head like chaos. He tries to think and sputter because he constantly feels in danger and does not trust anyone. Rorschach’s speech seemed to be squeezed out of his throat but in no way sounded at his request.
Urban Everyday Life
The distinctive feature of Alan Moore’s writing was a non-linear story. His story “relied on extensive world – building and flashbacks to flesh out its cast as well as the topics that it addressed head-on” (Lab para 7). This plot is a bizarre gluing of events broken up in time and space. They are not logically connected between characters but give a complete picture of their motivation and past. This splicing in an exciting way reflects, interspersed with superhero plots, absolutely ordinary city life. There are children, ordinary workers, dirty bums, and criminals in this city life, “At the end of each issue are several pages dedicated to extraneous materials” (Lab para 8). Robbery, disputes, quarrels also fill the world, saying that superheroes live in just such an everyday world.
Alan Moore, through this technique, debunked the myth of the noble origin of superheroes. In this context, some critics state that “the point is not that superheroes can be human, but that humans can be superheroes” (Wu para 4). They are not intellectuals, not a higher caste, nor do they live in a world of complex laws and exceptionally lofty problems. Alan Moore competently mixes these plots, not allowing readers to get away from reality but insisting that it is in this reality that Rorschach and Doctor Manhattan arrange their showdowns.
Ethical Issues and Deep Meanings
The above clarifies that they are facing a work of fiction, competently filled with complex ethical problems. These problems can be seen through and through in Rorschach’s remarks: cruelty in the name of justice, the uniqueness of the choice of moral norms, revenge, social problems. Wu states, that “Throughout its story, Watchmen presents several takes on the morality of murder, the ultimate judgment of death, and its implications in the grand scheme of the world” (para 4). In addition, Doctor Manhattan, in his remarks, reveals a number of his ethical issues: fatalism, indifference to the future, the death of a minority for the happiness of the majority, powerlessness before the face of death.
Alan Moore demonstrates the ethical aspects of cruelty and insanity with the help of rhetorical methods of fragmentation of the text. With gluing plots, readers are thrown into the everyday life of a dirty city. They must realize that it is against the background of dust, dirt, and crime that a large-scale superhero war is unfolding, in which there will be victims in the end. The ethical issues raised differ from canon superheroes and speak more of powerlessness and weakness than strength.
Conclusion
Alan Moore’s writing style has captured the attention of readers for years. In Watchmen, bizarrely, he described an industrial city’s interestingly gothic and gloomy atmosphere. Alan Moore filled the Doctor of Manhattan with the most complex ethical constructs through his lines. Rorschach reflects the social and ethical issues of insanity, cruelty, and justice. In addition, in Watchmen, the author contrasts a superhero story with an urban hell of crime, dirt, and routine. It is pertinent to say that it was precise with their complex ethical issues that Watchmen were able to attract the attention of the masses of readers and remain to this day literary classics.
Works Cited
Abad-Santos, Alex. “Watchmen’s Enduring Appeal, Explained.” Vox, 2019, Web.
Lab, Jesse. “Deep Analysis: Watchmen.” Destructoid, 2018, Web.
Wu, Jeffrey. “The Greater Good: Analyzing Morality in Watchmen | Writing Program.” © 2021 Boston University, 2021, Web.