Postmodernism postulates that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs and are therefore subject to change. It claims that there is no absolute truth and that the way people perceive the world is subjective and emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations in the formation of ideas and beliefs. In particular, it attacks the use of sharp binary classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial; it holds realities to be plural and relative, and to be dependent on who the interested parties are and what the nature of these interests are. Postmodernist approaches therefore often consider the ways in which social dynamics, such as power and hierarchy, affect human conceptualizations of the world to have important effects on the way knowledge is constructed and used. Postmodernist thought often emphasizes constructivism, idealism, pluralism, relativism, and skepticism in its approaches to knowledge and understanding.
(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism)
The Text:
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In October 1985, New York City police are investigating the murder of Edward Blake. With the police having no leads, costumed vigilante Rorschach decides to probe further. Discovering Blake to be the face behind The Comedian, a costumed hero employed by the United States government, Rorschach believes he has discovered a plot to terminate costumed adventurers and sets about warning four of his retired comrades: Dan Dreiberg (formerly the second Nite Owl), the superpowered and emotionally detached Doctor Manhattan and his lover Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre), and Adrian Veidt (once the hero Ozymandias, and now a successful businessman).
After Blake's funeral, Doctor Manhattan is accused on national television of being the cause of cancer in friends and former colleagues. When the U.S. government takes the accusations seriously, Manhattan exiles himself to Mars. In doing so, he throws humanity into political turmoil, with the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan to capitalize on the perceived American weakness. Rorschach's paranoid beliefs appear vindicated when Adrian Veidt narrowly survives an assassination attempt, and Rorschach himself is framed for murdering Moloch, a former supervillain.
Neglected in her relationship with Manhattan, and no longer kept on retainer by the government, Juspeczyk stays with Dreiberg; they don their costumes and resume vigilante work as they grow closer together. With Dreiberg starting to believe some aspects of Rorschach's conspiracy theory, the pair take it upon themselves to break him out of prison. Doctor Manhattan, after looking back on his own personal history, places the fate of his involvement with human affairs in Juspeczyk's hands. He teleports her to Mars to make the case for emotional investment. During the course of the argument, Juspeczyk is forced to come to terms with the fact that Blake, who once attempted to rape her mother, was in fact her biological father following a second, consensual relationship. This discovery, reflecting the complexity of human emotions and relationships, re-sparks Doctor Manhattan's interest in humanity.
On Earth, Nite Owl and Rorschach continue to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the death of The Comedian and the accusations that drove Doctor Manhattan into exile. They discover evidence that Adrian Veidt may be behind the plan. Rorschach writes his suspicions about Veidt in his journal, and mails it to New Frontiersman, a small, right-wing newspaper in New York. The pair then confront Veidt at his Antarctic retreat. Veidt explains his underlying plan is to save humanity from impending Atomic war between the United States and Soviet Union by faking an alien invasion in New York City, which will annihilate half the city's population. He hopes this will unite the nations against a perceived common enemy. He also reveals that he had murdered The Comedian, arranged for Dr. Manhattan's past associates to contract cancer, staged the attempt on his own life in order to place himself above suspicion, and eventually staged Moloch's death to frame Rorschach. This was all done in an attempt to prevent his plan from being exposed. Dreiberg and Rorschach find Veidt's logic callous and abhorrent, but Veidt has already enacted his plan.
When Doctor Manhattan and Juspeczyk arrive back on Earth, they are confronted by mass destruction and wide scale death in New York City. Doctor Manhattan notices his abilities are limited by tachyons emanating from the Antarctic, and the pair teleport there. They discover Veidt's involvement and confront him. Veidt shows everyone news broadcasts confirming the cessation of global hostilities and cooperation against a new threat; this leads almost all present to agree that concealing Veidt's truth from the public is in the best interests of the world to keep it united. Rorschach refuses to compromise and leaves, intent on revealing the truth. As he is making his way back, he is confronted by Manhattan. Rorschach tells him that Manhattan will have to kill him to stop him from exposing Veidt and his actions, and Manhattan responds by vaporizing him. Manhattan then wanders through the base and finds Veidt, who asks Manhattan if he did the right thing in the end. In response, Manhattan states that "Nothing ever ends" before leaving the Earth for a different galaxy. Dreiberg and Juspeczyk go into hiding under new identities and continue their romance. Back in New York, the editor at New Frontiersman complains about having to pull a two page column about Russia due to the new political climate. He asks his assistant to find some filler material from the crank file, a collection of rejected submissions to the paper, many of which had not even been reviewed. The series ends with the young man reaching towards the pile of discarded submissions, near the top of which is Rorschach's journal.
(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen)
The Criticism:
"Watchmen" follows a costumed vigilante who discovers a plot to assassinate all of his kind. While trying to save his other masked alliances and them trying to uncover the one behind the plot, the world is plunged into political and social turmoil.
The comic series will always fall into the modern category no matter what time era it might have been released. Political issues and terrorism have always been problems the world cannot fully eliminate or so much as even control. "Watchmen" depicts a world thrown into chaos, with different countries threatening each other. At one point, there is even an atomic war between The United States and The Soviet Union mentioned as part of Veidt's plan. The comic speaks so much of the present society in the sense that people really are helpless when we are confronted with threats that nobody can control. The plan to make humanity come together against a common threat signifies the need for a common cause for which people all over the globe can come together as one, for whatever reason that opportunity and the circumstances may present. The modern times have been troubled with so much storms, and the thought of a collapsing civilization seems to top it all off. "Watchmen" actually works both as a comic series AND as a commentary on current political and social issues that the majority of countries face. It uses such colorful and vivid costumed vigilantes and seemingly implausible situations such as trips to Mars and back to speak about the real-life unrest everyday citizens face. The comic series is a timeless classic, and the fact that it appeals to the entirety of human history AND the future events that may occur after this very day by bringing a world of dark imaginings closer to a life of harsh reality cements its current status.
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