"Rorschach, a little old place where..."
Jun. 26th, 2005 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_ultharusWell, I'm past my minimum number of pages for my essay. I'm at 21. Now I'm beginning to worry I have more material than I can develop in a mere 24 maximum.
The Watchmen really is wonderful. Everyone comments about how the plot is brilliantly put together -- with all the same kind of twists of lateral thinking that make the Harry Potter books such a pleasure. But what rarely gets brought up is the genius of the artist, Dave Gibbons. His style may not be my favourite, but his use of subtle visual metaphors and clues is brilliant.
I had to have pointed out to me that Chapter V -- entitled "Fearful Symmetry" -- is symmetrical in layout. The panels are laid out the same way on pages 1 and 28, 2 and 27, etc. Corresponding panels always include corresponding characters and often images. Frequently there's a reversal between the two panels -- an attacker in one becomes victim in another or vice versa -- or one panel foreshadows the other.
Along with all the other repeating visual information -- the face with the right eye covered shows up in a milion different forms, even as a jack o'lantern and bunny slippers -- and the constant appearance of mirrors, watches, and bottles of Nostalgia perfume, the images are as tightly woven together as the plot, and the two are locked to each other.
It's truly a work of genius.
The Watchmen really is wonderful. Everyone comments about how the plot is brilliantly put together -- with all the same kind of twists of lateral thinking that make the Harry Potter books such a pleasure. But what rarely gets brought up is the genius of the artist, Dave Gibbons. His style may not be my favourite, but his use of subtle visual metaphors and clues is brilliant.
I had to have pointed out to me that Chapter V -- entitled "Fearful Symmetry" -- is symmetrical in layout. The panels are laid out the same way on pages 1 and 28, 2 and 27, etc. Corresponding panels always include corresponding characters and often images. Frequently there's a reversal between the two panels -- an attacker in one becomes victim in another or vice versa -- or one panel foreshadows the other.
Along with all the other repeating visual information -- the face with the right eye covered shows up in a milion different forms, even as a jack o'lantern and bunny slippers -- and the constant appearance of mirrors, watches, and bottles of Nostalgia perfume, the images are as tightly woven together as the plot, and the two are locked to each other.
It's truly a work of genius.
