In Watchmen the divide between art/time/memory and reality is so blurred the notion of “life imitating art” is visible on nearly every page.  On page 14 of Chapter 7 when Dan and Laurie first make love an ad for “Nostalgia” perfume is on the television in the background (“Unforgettable you”. Even the slogan is a line from a song about memory- Nat Cole “Unforgettable”). “Nostalgia” perfume is featured in several panels thereafter, page 25 in Chapter 7 a large billboard is visible in the background that reads “Oh, how the ghost of you clings….Nostalgia”. In Chapter 8 “Nostalgia” appears again on the cover page of Chapter 9 and on page 24 Laurie breaks a bottle “Nostalgia” destroying the complex structure that Jon built on Mars.  It’s interesting that this product appears throughout the novel as a piece of the reality of their world, along with The Black Freighter. The reoccurence of these images ties in the emotional and violent turmoil of the characters. The Black Freighter, the ship of death, seems to parallel the nuclear holocaust lurking on the horizon. Memories also play a vivid role in Watchmen. Laurie realizes who her real father is in Chapter 9 as she re-lives a moment with a snow globe in her childhood.  Memories have a real, however, abstract root in reality. On page 6 of Chapter 9 Jon explains that: “There is no future. There is no past. 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.”  The memories of the past still exist in their own tiny worlds, like time capsules that re-play at the first suggestion of nostalgia.

Chapters 7 through 9 really delve into Laurie’s emotions and push her to the limit and expose some of her grittiest character flaws.

In chapter 7, she practically throws herself at Dan because… he looks good without glasses?

In chapter 9, she is visiting/being held captive by Jon on Mars, and fails again and again to understand a damn word that he is saying. This bothers me because I understood what he was saying, and so did pretty much every other woman who has ever read it… so how does that represent “real” women?

It just made her seem unintelligent and completely irrational to me. She also failed to realize the point she herself had proven to Jon at the end of their conversation that convinced him to return to earth.

I completely lost touch with the character at that point.

I have two takes on her disposition —

1 (my initial reaction):

Alan Moore is sexist and wrote only weak, annoying, stupid, slutty female characters into The Watchmen. >.<

2 (my conclusion after a little more reflection):

As I stated in a previous post, The Watchmen seems to be an analysis of what would happen if real people were to try to be superheroes. In doing this, it explores various character types and their defects. For example, on the male side, you have an overly aggressive character (Rorschach), a cynical character (Comedian) , a self-doubting character (Nite Owl 2), a power hungry character (Ozymandias), and an indifferent character (Dr. Manhattan). This stretches into the Minutemen as well with insanity, etc.

The primary female flaws are shown through the fewer female characters. Three dangerous/tragic paths and faults that women are often accused of are: becoming whores (Silhouette), having illegitimate children and losing careers as a result (Sally), and making decisions based on wild, random, and unchecked emotions (Laurie).

So, considering Laurie's annoying character flaws alongside the other characters' flaws, she is a little easier for me to swallow. I do maintain, however, that such a woman – as well as the type of woman that Sally was – would not have been drawn to being superheroes in real life. Perhaps the fact that Laurie was “forced” into it has something to do with her disposition?

I also wonder what kind of social experiment the book would have been if a woman had been thrust into Jon's omnipotent superhero position rather than a man.

When reading The Watchmen, the thing that jumped out at me was that Laurie (the Silk Spectre) was everywhere, both physically and emotionally. In the physical sense she was in various places. She was in New York, then she went to Mars with Jon (Mr. Manhattan). Emotionally, she could not keep herself together. She had just left Jon and she goes to Dan (Nite Owl) and sleeps with him then goes to Mars with Jon as soon as he shows up again. All the while trying to figure out what she wants. I think a reason why she is everywhere is because when she was growing up she could not be herself. She was groomed to follow her mother’s footsteps even though she did not want to.

Since Laurie was unable to choose want she wanted to do when she was growing up, she does almost anything she wants now that the Keene Act forced her to retire. She choose to stay with Jon. She choose to break up with him. She choose to go to Dan and many more choices thereafter. Even though she makes all these choices, they seem to lead her to trouble. To me it almost seems as if she can’t make a decision on her own without getting into some sort of emotional trouble. She’s a thirty-five year old woman and I see a teenager that thinks she can do anything but pays the price for it. As I said before I think the fact that she could not make her own decisions when she was younger effects the way she is now. Now she can make those decisions but they are immature decisions.

-Kimberly Stokes

Reading through Chapter Nine, I found myself particularly interested in the developments of the Comedian as a character. Since it is his death that starts the book and his image (the smiling pin) that graces the cover, we know right off the bat that he’s obviously of paramount importance to the story, though he is dead in the comic’s active plotline–a fact that is mostly negated by the prevalence of flashbacks throughout the book anyway. Chapter Nine, however, reveals a side of him you haven’t gotten to see before this point.

Early in Watchmen we encounter Edward Blake as a symbol of a lot of the things that are frightening about superheroes: a power-hungry, forced-based individual with little qualms doing things that make him seem far more like a super villain than a hero. Now, though, we get a chance to see another side of him. He’s capable of what appears to be at least rudimentary fondness towards his daughter, and even perhaps the woman he tried to rape earlier in the story. His repeating of the “you’re beautiful… like your mother” line gives the sense that he holds Sally in some regard still, though their actual interactions are always rough in the books. Sally herself defends him some to her husband, saying that he was capable of gentleness towards her.

Edward Blake is not a sympathetic character. His insistence that he tried to rape a woman “only once” cements this again in the moment you might be tempted to waver a little and forget his horrific crimes. He is, however, a complicated one and an interesting one, striking a chord of reality that is a bit disconcerting. There are levels to him that his chapter makes you explore that make him less comfortable to hate him, and that just goes along with the genuine theme in Watchmen of nothing being entirely black and white… as much as Rorschach may see otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FddtfNWJ0E

Sorry I’m not really sure how to post youtube videos as videos,  just copy and past the first 2 urls.

Basically, these are videos from conventions ( I suppose)  and this artist is amazing! He is creating a watchmen mural in chalk. His attention to detail is amazing. Anyway, that’s just something I wanted to share.

This however, is my related pick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zPIJhtYo8k

This is clips of panels set in soundtrack to a Bob Dylan’s song. It’s relevant because the lyrics correspond with some of the panels and our book does have little panels with lyrics “at midnight all the agents”, etc.  There is a parallel between the song and the graphic novel, and I think the story’s progress is shown through the song.

-laura kelly