Watchmen the Novel

Look at pictures from the first chapter and examine the positioning of figures and objects in the frames and comment about what that positioning signifies.

In the comic the frames of the images contain a very basic structure; firstly, it opens up the scene as a location shot. After this the shot get in more in depth, showing more details in the face, and using objects in the room as the centre point of the picture.

          

The object in clear view of the third shot shows a tin of beans, the juice coming out of the tin signifies the meaning of the human blood on the joker badge. This brings an understanding to the next conversation held ‘this little stain, is that beam juice or..?’ ‘That’s right. Human bean juice. Ha ha’. The badge creates a symbolic connation of the smile faces representing the Comedian, as the badge was a part of his costume to retain some kind of humour amongst all the death; the blood slashed on the badge represents his death.

Many of the frames shown in Watchmen holds a hidden meaning, such as the Rorschach’s mask clearly displayed in the frames of the comics, the mask is constantly morphing inkblots that is based on the ambiguous designs.  The ink blot test is a method of psychological evaluation.  The test is used to determine the personal characteristics and to judge a person’s emotional functioning.

Examine the use of colour in this chapter - In what way is colour connected with meaning?

Blue is not used in the story as much as the other colours, this could be that the usage of the blue in the comic is only used for one of the main characters, Doctor Manhattan, this shows his power in the story as he is represented as the only person of his type, using the only blue in the story and the only person who has a real power.

Red in the comic and other films of its genre is associated with death, just like the blood splashed on the Comedians badge. Red is connected with death due to its deep connection with the connotation of blood. Red is used quite a lot in this comic as a sign of evil, ‘the colour of the devil’.

Purple is used quite a lot in the comics; this colour signifies the meaning of magic and mystery. This is shown in the comics due to the way when the colour is shown; it is in a position where you don’t understand what is happening. The other time the colour is shown is in the form of clothing, the understanding that the character was once a member in the group of watchmen.

White is included in the novel to show reflections of objects and people, it help brings some peace to the comic and gives the reader an idea that some of the characters may be good ones, set out to help people in need.

Brown is used to represent traditional values, the story tells this as it is used on clothing in a form of a jacket and hat, the clothing of a gentleman. The other situations you would see brown in the comic is on old buildings, still standing from the destruction of the war and the public worry of the dooms day clock.

Green usage in the comic is only shown in the form of nature, showing the peace still live in the world. The calm effect of green is used in many situations such as in restaurants and the park outside, shown how some normality still stays in the city.

Black is used as shading in the shots to add more detail to the character, the shade is also to outline the characters to make them stand out more than others, showing their importance in the plot.

Yellow is used in Watchman as a glimmer of hope; it is used in the title of the comic and the usage of highlighting characters in the scenes using street lighting and light in the background. This connotes is that the characters can solve the problems in the story, they could save mainly lives if the embrace their ‘powers’ once again.

Ideas concerning use of colour

-          Gives a more in depth detail concerning the mood of the scene

-          Helps you understand the separation between the good characters and bad. Use of purple.

-          Helps with the importance of the characters, blue=power

-          Gives the idea of what type of character can help with the different situation, yellow

Theme of "Disguises”

Why?

-          Hiding their facial expressions

-          Hiding injury’s (Rorschach’s scars from passed fights)

-          Identity, wanting to keep it hidden 

-          Escaping from reality – dressing up, being a hero

Real Life

-          Hiding personalities to fit in

-          Escaping from the past – changing looks and names

-          Hiding believes to escape violence

Characterisation in literature

Doctor Manhattan – This character is a rounded character, but some people may not see him as you would expect, he realises how he has reasonability as a super natural power to maintain balance in society by makings sure disasters happen to make humans realise they path in life.

Silk Spectre II – This character has change in a positive way, in the comic she changes to a rounded character. She learns how she can change and shape the world around her by helping people in need. This is a change from the beginning of the comic as instead of helping she would be doing nothing and complaining about it the world around her.

Rorschach – he is a flat character, some may argue he is rounded due to him changing in the past, but now as he is set in his ways, he believes his original persona has gone for good. Right up to his death he used killing as a form of revenge and a sign of his power, he did not change his view in the slightest.

The World of Watchmen

Watchmen the novel set in the U.S is arguably base of the society of America, in the novel it highlights different factors, evil, fight for power and the individuality of the characters. Many of these such as the fight for power can be place on the idea that America had in the 1980’s, this program involved lasers being put on in space to be aimed and fired anywhere round the world. The U.S president used this as a threat to other countries to stop the nuclear war and the development of any rival countries. Evil represented in the novel using Ozymandias is also based around power, being greedy. This can be bought back to America due to the rising conflict to control the power a president has over the country, such as Saddam Husain. The war started due to his violent manner to his country, demanding more money from them to create more weapons to show his power. Even though these weapons were never found, his greed still showed through due to sickly rich life style he lead. Other factors of the comics such as the individual characters, making sure the American’s know they can be themselves, this comes as a time where the U.S were trying to fight for the freedom of embracing their sexuality. Embracing individuality can be turned onto other issues such as religion and the freedom to dress the way you feel, standing up for who you are to stop bulling.