Write reflection for 2 presentations.
kevinca2013
WatchmenHistory.pptxWatchmen & History Presentation
April Lopez
&
David Steemke
Alan Moore injects his Watchmen characters into major turning points of American and world history, such as the introduction of masked superheroes during WWII, the U.S. using the Comedian and Dr. Manhattan in the Vietnam War; which directly results in Nixon being elected for 5 terms, and the creation of Dr. Manhattan accelerating the advancement of global technology. Moore’s creation of an alternate timeline reshapes the narratives which determine how the reader perceives the world around them and blurs the lines between fiction and reality.
Oct 13 1938 – Hooded Justice stops a supermarket robbery, and inspires Hollis Mason to become the first Nite Owl. The first divergence from our history and the Watchmen universe; Hooded Justices’ appearance is the earliest known historical event that didn't occur in our world, and caused the appearance of other costumed heroes.
Aug 20 1958 -Jon Osterman is accidentally locked in the Intrinsic Field Test Chamber before an experiment. He is disintegrated. The second divergence from our history and the Watchmen universe; The transformation of Jon Osterman to Dr. Manhattan changes the political landscape and science advances more rapidly than in our own world.
“Technological concerns were prominent throughout these decades,were heightened during the ColdWar” (Rutherford 292) Technology “is an integral and celebrated aspect of the American identity, embodied by such exalted figures as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, yet it has also played a central role in some of the most devastating and shameful events in the nation’s history, such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Tuskegee syphilis study, and the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.” (Rutherford 290-1)
“Meanwhile, expensive arsenals meant less cash to spend upon their old; their sick and homeless; on their children’s education. As stockpiles grew, as computers reduced human involvement, the spectre of accidental apocalypse stalked ever closer” – Ozymandias (Moore XI, p.21)
“It doesn’t take a genius to see that America has problems that need tackling…” – Ozymandias (Moore II, p.10)
“There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.” - Dr. Manhattan (Moore VIII, p.6)
“We do what we have to do. Others bury their heads between the swollen teats of indulgence and gratification , piglets squirming beneath a sow for shelter… but there is no shelter… and the future is bearing down like an express train.” – Rorschach’s Journal October 16, 1985 (Moore II, p.26)
“Here in the limbo of the gutter, human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea. It allows us to connect these moments and to mentally construct a continuous unified reality.” (Barnes 66-7)
“In comics both past and the future are real and visible. Unlike in other media, in comics the past is more than just memories of what occurred on the screen moments before and the future is more than just possibilities. In comics you can physically flip back and forth in time.” (Barnes 67-8)
Past events are given meaning, not existence, by their representation in history" (Hutcheon 2002, 78, italic original). Giving meaning is part and parcel of the process of interpretation, and the revisionary graphic novels of the 1980s and 1990s radically reinterpreted the conventions of their genre, forming artistic investigations into the question: How can history be represented in all its complexity? (Boge, 2)
"As the doomsday clock strikes midnight at the beginning of the apocalyptic chapter XII, many carefully interwoven strands of (hi)story are starting to reveal an intricate picture: The scene visualizes the outcome of the extremist politics of former Watchman Adrian Veidt who, drawing conclusions from utilitarian premises, kills millions to save billions“ (Boge,3)
“We in this country, in this generation are by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.” - JFK’s intended speech (Moore XI, p.11)
Works Cited Moore, Alan, and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. New York: Warner Books, 1987. Print. Rutherford,,Alexandra. "B. F. Skinner and Technology’s Nation: Technocracy, Social Engineering, and the Good Life in 20Th- Century America." History of Psychology, vol. 20, no. 3, Aug. 2017, pp. 290-312. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/hop0000062. Barnes, David. "Time in the Gutter: Temporal Structures in Watchmen." Kronoscope, vol. 9, no. 1/2, May 2009, pp. 58. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/156771509X12638154745427. Chris, Boge. "Visualizing Histories and Stories." Medienimpulse, Iss 3/2013 (2013), no. 3/2013, 2013. EBSCOhost, libraryproxy.sdmesa.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.89 355c9ec1134c41ae3f5e7a17aebb31&site=eds-live.
