“Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons: A Presentation of Moral Dimension in Popular Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/analiff.2017.29.1.14Keywords:
popular culture, comic book, Watchmen, moral consequentialism, moral non-consequentialism, authority, responsibility, moral judgement, politics and ideology, scienceAbstract
This paper examines the presentation of moral dimension in the comic book Watchmen by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons. It argues that Watchmen engages this issue through juxtaposition of different philosophical views on morality, most notably that of moral consequentialism and moral non-consequentialism. The varying views are examined in relation to ethical principles of authority, responsibility and moral judgement and the way they inform the individual characters’ moral choices, but also in terms of how they inform politics, ideology, and science. Instead of formulating a critique or affirmation of any view, Watchmen perceives them as a means of rationalising the use and/or abuse of power and offers a tentative warning about the dangers of ossification inherent to any value system. This paper aims to show how the refusal to side with any particular view actually indicates that Watchmen purposes for the readers to engage these issues themselves. Furthermore, it aims to affirm the literary and cultural relevancy of the graphic novel as a popular art form.
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