ipl-logo

1986-87 Watchmen Series: The Comedian By Alan Moore

537 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: U.s. propaganda of the vietnam war

This image is from the 1986-87 Watchmen series from DC Comics, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The artwork depicts the superhero-slash-vigilante Edward Blake, otherwise known as “The Comedian,” delightfully using a flamethrower in Vietnam. Blake was deployed during the Vietnam War as an agent of the United States government, acting directly on their behalf. The devastation he caused, therefore, is a product of the nationalism and militant drive fostered by the US government during the war, which fueled the anti-war movement. The text boxes—from the perspective of another US superhero, the god-like Dr. Manhattan—convey the following:
He suits the climate here: the madness, the pointless butchery… As I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit …show more content…

This panel, therefore, reflects the foundation of the anti-war movement. Protesters were driven to oppose the Vietnam War because of its extremity and, again, “pointless butchery.” The conflict was heavily featured in news and media, which allowed the American public to follow events from the comfort, or discomfort, of their homes. Because of this exposure, the war was given the name “the living room war” (Hill & Helmers Ed., 2004, p. 4). The role of the media is applied to this panel, as the Watchmen comics represent a continued critique of American participation in the Vietnam War and its lasting effects, as well as a general anti-war sentiment embodied in the characterization of Blake as a superhero. As symbols, superheroes represent sociocultural values, particularly ethnocentric ones, that are distilled into a caricature. The Comedian is a parody of American heroism, for he embodies militant extremism and indifference toward global policy. His characterization, therefore, critiques the US as an agitator during the Vietnam

Show More
Related
389 Words | 2 Pages

295). Although Gurganus’ use of metaphors is evident throughout the article, it appears that he intends to provoke thought by illustrating a comparison rather than using symbolism as a stylistic attempt to portray resistance (Blum, 2003, p.295). Gurganus’ (2003) article “Captive Audience” is a continual comparison between his personal experience in the Vietnam War and that of the Iraq War (p. 299). While Blum accurately portrays many of the possible meanings of the metaphors, his interpretations appear to be dramatized. His use of “Larry”, “Al”, “Uncle Sam”, and “the old guys” as symbols for, the average soldier, the father of the average soldier, the draft board, and the generals and politicians, respectively, may be accurate, but Blum’s (2003) interpretation of them as “individuals with whom we shall never become intimate” is overstated (p. 296).

Read More
1905 Words | 8 Pages

These stories show the harsh realities of the Vietnam War communicated by Tim O’Brien’s memory. O’Brien does not shy away from the importance of friendship during the war. Soldiers are

Read More
1241 Words | 5 Pages

This represents the collided piteousness of two men that had fought on the same side before. Around him, hysteria is shown by death and destruction. Warren’s heroism dawned upon America and the art world. So much so that about 10 years after

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

Tim O’Brien writes us a wonderful fictional tale of a platoon of men in vietnam during the vietnam war, The Things They Carried shows the reader that when the men are over in this distant and strange land, not only do they carry physical objects, but emotional baggage and ideas that truly make, or break a man in war. Tim and his men show several signs of stress and turmoil while fighting the war, and while they survive they begin to understand what is really means to live, die, and what is right, and wrong. While over in vietnam the men are in a war, not a simple skirmish or fight, but a full on war against an enemy that they were not sure they are the enemy. The men would walk from location from location seeing what there is to do and trying

Read More
1065 Words | 5 Pages

1) A spate of anti-war activism occurred across the Le Moyne campus during the years of the Vietnam War from the late 1960s into the early 1970s. Such activism included protests against the Kent State shooting and against President Nixon and anti-draft demonstrations. Still, the Le Moyne community wasn’t entire unified behind the anti-war movement. There is a tendency to caricature college campuses during the Vietnam War as having a unified, passionate anti-war movement across the entire campus. In reality, however, not everybody in the Le Moyne community supported the anti-war activism; some viewed the protests as un-patriotic and unnecessarily subversive.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

War, Belief and Emotion People comprehend war very differently; they either hate it, understand it, or love it; there are many literary works with stories depicting these points of view. In 1990, author Tim O’Brien described his view of war with his “work of fiction” The Things They Carried, a book supposedly based on his experiences in the Vietnam War. His descriptive and emotional work richly depicts the feelings and activities of several drafted soldiers in the Vietnam War. Twenty-two years later and based on an entirely different war, came American Sniper, the memoir of a sniper in the Iraq War, by Chris Kyle. Kyle’s proud and rhapsodizing work depicts his strong supportive feelings for the war and what he did there.

Read More
428 Words | 2 Pages

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien describes how soldiers physically and emotionally adapted to Vietnam. In the chapters “The Dentist” and “Stockings,” he uses irony to accentuate these adaptations, in order to illustrate that for those who fought in the war coping was as essential as surviving. In “The Dentist,” Curt Lemon’s desire to be perceived as strong highlights his burrowed uncertainty of his courage.

Read More
990 Words | 4 Pages

The war forces people into situations where the pressure is too much and the environment forces a change on how one views himself. Curt Lemon and Norman Bowker held themselves to standards that they couldn’t reach. They let the war determine how they live and who they would become. The war causes the human spirit to change so vastly that it leads to a demise, so quick and drastic, that it is hard to

Read More
1718 Words | 7 Pages

Philip Caputo, a former American Lieutenant, wrote the influential memoir, A Rumor of War, recapping his memories and perspectives serving during the Vietnam War. A Rumor of War was published in 1977, shortly after the US withdrew from Vietnam, and reflects the cultural and political context of that time period. The Vietnam War was one of the most disputed conflicts in United States history due to its extreme controversy and execution during its span. Throughout the story, Caputo’s memoir offers a thoughtful and introspective recollection of his experiences in Vietnam, and addresses instances of good and evil, justice and injustice, and the devastating consequences that come from war.

Read More
1292 Words | 6 Pages

Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

Read More
1589 Words | 7 Pages

The three movies – Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Green Berets – are all movies based on the same historical event – the Vietnam war and US’s involvement in it. Yet, they all presented us with different and narrative point of view and authority figures in order to paint their individual values. The movies’ most obvious differences lie within the choice of their narrative point of view. The Green Beret, the earliest one, was directed by John Wayne and he also starred in the leading role. Wayne’s authority and influence in the 1960s was similar to the influence of Tom Hanks in the 21st Century.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In the chapter when he describes the man he kills, he talks about the state of the dead body by saying, “His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole…the skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly on his chin, his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him” (O’Brien Chapter 11). This brutal and horrifying imagery displays an irrefutable element of truth to O’Brien’s writing. Not only does this imagery highlight the truth to his writing, but it also sheds light on the brutal truth about the war in Vietnam. By using imagery as such a strong rhetorical device in his writing, he gives the average person a taste of just how barbaric and cruel Vietnam felt for the people who experience the war first hand on either side of the fighting. Tim O’Brien gives a very detailed and intense description of his time fighting in Vietnam during their war with America.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

On April 4, 1967 Doctor Martin Luther King Jr gave the speech, “Beyond Vietnam-A time to Break Silence.” In this powerful speech Dr. King addresses his followers, and explains why the same people who are advocating for civil rights, should also protest the war in Vietnam. Dr. King’s main appeal is towards pathos because he is explaining his reasons, most of which are moral in some way. Dr. King develops the central claim of the speech by explaining how the war is taking away resources from the poor, how the soldiers are disproportionately poor people, and lastly how the war is completely against his morals. His central claim of the speech revolves around war being an enemy of the poor.

Read More
1060 Words | 5 Pages

As the war raged on in Vietnam, controversy grew in America. In the years onward from 1950, technology advanced and enabled everyday citizens to be able to own, operate, and observe nationwide news (Kratz 1). Described as “graphic and upsetting,” photos and videos captured on the battlefield were displayed on public news (“American” 1). The government censored all news from the press, and anything the military did not want disclosed to the public was hidden (Kratz 2). As the trial began many Americans began to chant the iconic phrase, “The whole world is watching” (McDowell 2).

Read More

More about 1986-87 Watchmen Series: The Comedian By Alan Moore

Related Topics

Open Document