English Literature and Film Unit 3: Watchmen Elements of Fiction

1. English Literature and FilmUnit 3: WatchmenElements of Fiction Scott DeWaelsche 10/30/2013

2. Character Morality Consider the statements and actions of each of Watchmen’s heroes. Place the heroes on a scale from one to one hundred, where one represents amorality, or someone who is without morals, and one hundred represents complete morality, or a person whose moral compass is consistent and pure.

3. Themes • Also, as a group, decide what you thought the themes were in Watchmen.

4. Character Morality The heroes are: • Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II, • Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman, • Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, • Walter Kovacs/Rorschach, • Edward Blake/The Comedian and • Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl.

5. Possible Morality Chart 0 Night Owl 75 100 Ozymandias 50 Silk Spectre II 75 Doctor Manhattan 55 Comedian 10 Rorschach 90

6. Characters Author Alan Moore said, "What we wanted to do was show all of these people, warts and all. Show that even the worst of them had something going for them, and even the best of them had their flaws.”

7. Characters Edward Blake / The Comedian: One of two government-paid heroes, he does a lot of bad things. He tries to rape the first Silk Spectre, and he shoots a girl in Vietnam who is pregnant. But he also shows some emotion about his daughter (Silk Spectre II) and when he talks to his arch rival.

8. Characters Dr. Jon Osterman / Doctor Manhattan: Doctor Manhattan seems to be the perfect being, and is even called God in the film, but he too has some flaws. He stops caring about humans since he is no longer human himself. He lets The Comedian kill the pregnant girl, and he agrees with Ozymandias and his plan to blow up a city and sacrifice himself.

9. Characters Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl: He appears to be committed to doing the right thing. He asks “Who are we protecting society from?” The Comedian says, “From themselves.” However, Nite Owl also goes along with Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan.

10. Characters Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias: Ozymandias connects himself to Alexander the Great, and he believes that he can save humanity destruction (nuclear war). Since he is the smartest man in the world, he thinks he knows best, and he has a plan to blow up a city and blame Doctor Manhattan. He also killed The Comedian (since he knew about his plan).

11. Characters Walter Joseph Kovacs / Rorschach: He has strong morals, and separates the world into right and wrong with nothing in the middle. Rorschach refuses to compromise his morals, and he is killed by Doctor Manhattan because of it. Morality is most important to Rorschach. He will not compromise his morals for anything. However, he kills criminals for both small and big crimes.

12. Characters Laurie Juspeczyk / Silk Spectre: She may be the best example of Humanity in the film. Doctor Manhattan actually abandons her (and humanity). Her only flaw seems to be that she goes along with Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias and their idea to sacrifice Doctor Manhattan.

13. Themes • There are several themes in Watchmen. • What themes did you find in the film?

14. Even the best of us have flaws • Doctor Manhattan is called a god, yet he seems to not care about humanity. He lets the Comedian kill the pregnant girl. He also goes along with Ozymandias. • Silk Spectre’s mother says that it “rains on the just and unjust alike, and the Comedian was a little of both. • Even Rorschach has flaws, since he kills all his criminals regardless of their crimes.

15. Conspiracy theories and the threat of nuclear destruction • Apocalypticism and conspiracy theory are elements of both plot and mood in the Film. The threat of nuclear destruction is ever-present throughout the story Ozymandius’ motivation). The plot is driven by a central conspiracy, and Rorschach is obsessed with conspiracy theories.

16. Conspiracy theories and the threat of nuclear destruction • Also, the Comedian says several times that the world is going to destroy itself with nuclear war, and Doctor Manhattan even thinks that his future is blocked by nuclear holocaust.

17. Determinism • Conspiracy theories suggest a lack of control for characters like Rorschach and are connected to other themes in Watchmen, such as determinism. This is the idea that we don’t control our own destiny, or future.

18. Determinism Dr. Manhattan lives his now-immortal life with a perception of time and events as unchangeable. He becomes the symbol of determinism, failing to see that there was a superior intellect that could outsmart even an 'all knowing' being. It is often Dr. Manhattan who discusses issues of determinism and free will, as when he explains to the second Silk Spectre, "We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings."

19. Morality (Moral Relativism) • Moral Relativism is the idea that we each have our own ideas of morality, or of right and wrong. In Watchmen, each character kind of has his or her own moral relativism.

20. Morality • A final theme that is addressed throughout the story is human morality, and each of the heroes seems to have a different idea of how to behave in this regard. At the extreme is Rorschach. Rorschach is an absolutist; he believes that all criminals should be punished for their crimes and often treats radically different types of criminals in very similar ways (for example, he executes both a serial rapist and a common mugger).

21. Morality • At the other extreme in moral relativism is the Comedian. The Comedian's moral code is cast into severe doubt throughout the novel, and Doctor Manhattan describes him as “deliberately amoral” while Rorschach questions his “moral lapses.”

22. Morality • At the finale of the novel, Ozymandias' views on morality are shown, and seem to be justified by their outcomes: Despite requiring the murder of three million New Yorkers and a hundred or so talented artists and scientists from around the globe, the deception of the entire world, and many other highly questionable acts, he has convinced most of the other main characters to accept the outcome of his actions.

23. Morality • In addition, the ambiguous ending, wherein the newspapermay or may not publish Rorschach's journal revealing the conspiracy, leaves the reader wondering whether or not Ozymandias has actually accomplished his goal or merely postponed an inevitable Armageddon. In the end, Moore leaves the morality of the characters open to reader interpretation.

24. Setting The setting of Watchmen is mostly 1985 America, but the story spans from World War II to 1985, during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This Cold War setting is directly related to many of the themes in the film, including the threat of nuclear destruction.

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