Watchmen: Deconstructing the Popular Notion o...

Watchmen: Deconstructing the Popular Notion of Super Hero

Author Name : Elizabeth Baby

ABSTRACT

This paper attempts to criticize the idea of the traditional superhero concept and to take a look at how it is being presented in Watchmen. Superheroes are seen as people possessing super human qualities, who are said to teach us values, laws, morality and who are destined to protect the world. Contrary to the conventional idea, this paper focuses on the idea of real people with depressingly human issues attempting to be superheroes. The major comic labels till date like DC and Marvel have represented superheroes as godly beings. A watchman however is a breakthrough in the sense that it deconstructs this popular myth. This comic depicts the superheroes as common men with the same flaws that we have and who rely on brutal methods to fight for the right. The paper seeks answers to certain questions like the validity of the notion of morality; are superheroes real saviors or a threat to the entire humanity.

Keywords: Superheroes, Deconstruction, Death, Savior, Morality, Dystopia, Myth.