The Marvel Of The Movie ' Watchmen '

More than 70 years ago, the very first superheroes debuted in the dire times of the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. Their names became legend Superman and Batman or as he was then known, the Bat-Man), Wonder Woman, Captain America and they 're still with us today. A new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles celebrates these icons from the Golden Age of Comic Books. Through a collection of rare original artwork and comics, the exhibit explores how a group of mostly Jewish artists created the costumed heroes who came to symbolize the hopes of a beleaguered nation."ln the 1930s, the American Dream had become a nightmare, and I think comic books and superheroes in particular provided an escapist form of entertainment that allowed the American public to go into a fantasy world where all the ills of the world were righted by these larger­ than-life heroes," says Erin Clancy, a curator at the Skirball. Guest curator Jerry Robinson not only organized the exhibit, he 's a part of it. The comic book pioneer created Batman 's arch-enemy, The Joker, and named the caped crusader 's sidekick Robin.

Watchmen is a revolutionary piece of literature. It is technically a comic book, some prefer to call it a graphic novel. There is a negative connotation that goes along with that. Graphic novels are frequently presumed too childish and fantastic to actually teach any insightful lessons or even make you ponder them at all. Watchmen is a graphic novel that transcends this undue criticism of comic books. It is, “One of the first instances ... of [a] new kind of comic book ... a first phase of development, the transition of the superhero from fantasy to literature." (Klock, pgs. 25-26)

Watchmen written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons utilizes the literary tool of symbols to connect ideas and themes. Time is a major theme throughout the comic and plays a significant part in the structure and outcome of the story. This theme is successfully coupled to the theme of destiny by the use of the clock and other symbols that are present throughout the comic. Symbols such as clocks, the smiley pin, and the graffiti are utilized to efficiently connect the themes of time, justice and the loss of innocence and morality throughout Watchmen. The combination of all of these themes ultimately allude to Ozymandias’ decision to unleash chaos on Manhattan by foreshadowing his betrayal and explaining how impossible it is to entrench the peace that he has manufactured by unleashing this chaos.

The 1940s were known as the golden age of comics. Many superheroes recognizable in mainstream popular culture today originated during this time, becoming favorites of the young and old alike. Unsurprisingly, superheroes usually experience their greatest success during times of transition and uncertainty, such as America moving from economic crisis into armed conflict (Bainbridge 746). While this essay will be focusing on the overall influence of all American Superheroes on society during the 1940s, a specific focus will be placed on two of the most well known created heroes: Superman and Captain America. Both Superman and Captain America first emerged as the nation was coming out of the Great Depression and headed into World War II (Bainbridge 746).

The graphic novel of Watchmen by Alan Moore depicts an alternate reality of the 1980s, in which superheroes and villains exist and have changed the outcomes of several historical events, including the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon's presidency. In the story, the plotline revolves heavily around the growing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union that have the potential to cause a third World War, a dangerous and life-threatening nuclear battle. A large cause of this conflict was the opposing set of beliefs and values held by each country, which fueled their animosity towards one another. However, the climax of the novel involves a collision of cultures in which these nations must overcome their differences in order to unite

Vigilantes exist to fight for the suppressed and weak individuals in society. Many vigilantes’ purpose is sparked by the tragic events that leads to the crusade of justice. It is rather the inadequacy law enforcement that leads for vigilantes to exist. Both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, deconstruct the traditional superhero through the theme of vigilantism, Alan Moore’s text offers the realistic interpretation of vigilantes, while Frank Miller emphasizes the dark side of the masculine hero through the rebirth of Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight.

In Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s gives us a peak of what a world would be like with costumed heroes. The story questions the definition of a hero and their limitations. The graphic novel breaks down the genre by focusing on characters who only appear as heroes. The idea of vigilantism, violence, sense of justice, and gender are all examined in the lens of this apocalyptic and utopian world.

In the modern world, a lot of people love to read books about heroes. Many people love a superhero, but they do not know who is the author of their favorite hero and who created their hero. One of the famous authors who created a lot of heroes is Alan Moore. Alan Moore wrote many interesting stories and created a very questionable hero V whom we know from the book "V for Vendetta". Moore story is sometimes difficult to understand what is the main idea of the book.

This film takes the typical story line of a superheroes tale and mixes in creative themes that go against the typical assumptions of the genre. This film shows us how it is a better choice to choose non-violence over violence, how even the ones who have hurt us so bad

Superhero’s are represented a strong, bold, smart people but the director has portrayed them as unintelligent human being as they had been captured and fallen into the supervillains trap. The director had showed the supervillains are mean, angry people who are very strategic as they had managed to capture the superheros and nearly take-over the world. It had been shown that sidekicks shouldn’t have been underestimated as they were the ones who participated in saving the day. The director had shown the bullies as mean, annoying, immature people as they had been the ones who started all the dilemmas throughout the

Masked vigilantes like Batman, Spiderman and Superman are iconic crime fighters recognized throughout the world for their heroic escapades. Superhero personalities, comic strips, and blockbuster films have flourished since the early 1900s (Cohen, n.d.), and their influence on pop culture is a testament to their transcending popularity. The quintessence of any superhero storyline is an evil villain that plagues society until the vigilante inevitably saves the day. In the real world of

The Watchmen additionally features the genre convention of having extraordinary superpowers, equipment or skills. This consists of a wide selection of superpowers commonly includes flying, super strength, x-ray vision to name a few. However a person does not need superpowers to be a superhero. Instead they could have special items or equipment such as Kick-Asses batons or just be incredibly skilled like The Watchmen’s Rorschach physical strength and Kick-Asses Hit-Girl in her highly skilled martial art and proficient in using different weaponry, including guns, knives, spears, and grenades. In The Watchmen the only character that truly has a superhero power is Dr. Manhattan. The rest have expensive equipment, specialized weaponry and costumes.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes; tall, dark, handsome, ugly, astute, or mentally handicapped, and Shane is no exception. He rode into their lives with temperance and vigor, and left a legacy behind. How does one deal with a shady business man who is hell bent on wanted and willful destruction of freedom? Brute force has always been the heroes approach. Shane rode into a small town in Wyoming and met a family, who with all their respect needed a hero. Both of the stories that I will tell, including Shane’s and the story of Tombstone had their similarities, and also had their differences. What is it about the dark clothed eerie figures that instill so much fear in the hearts of vigilantes? Perhaps it is their silence that speaks such

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has tackled a lot of famous Marvel storylines and this week the show tried something very bold. Marvel comic’s “What If?” series takes famous stories and characters and asked the question of “What if instead of this happening, this happened instead?”. Instead of tackling famous questions like, “What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four?” or “What if Captain America hasn’t vanished during World War 2?”, Agents of SHIELD asks, “What if the world was taken over by Hydra?” The answer results in a thrilling episode and a fresh take on some of our favorite characters.

Late 1980’s saw the emergence of two fundamental comic mini series: The Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Dark Night Returns. Both texts were created independently, but serve as similar yet juxtaposing monuments in post-modernism literature. They two comics favor in their gritty undertones and dark storylines entrenched in compelling political engagement.