Watchmen

I'm new to the comic world, and I absolutely love it! After I started Watchmen I couldn't put it down. I was constantly talking to my friends who had already read it and I kept telling others that haven't read it that they need to.  I couldn't believe how captivated I was, sometimes too much so that I would try to examine each detail to the extreme.  The one symbol that really stuck out to me was the Nostalgia perfume. In class we discussed that nostalgia is a word that means longing for the past, and I find it a very fitting name for this perfume.  Every time it is shown in a picture with a character that person is always thinking about the past, or a figure from their past comes back.  In the first few chapters Dan reminisces about being the Nite Owl because Rorshach comes and reminds him that he chose to quit.  In chapter 3 Rorshach comes back to Dan's apartment and we see him taking a bottle of Nostalgia perfume with him.  After the bottle of perfume is removed, Dan thinks only of the present and future. Instead of longing for the past, Dan then is not afraid to establish a closer relationship with Laurie and then is not scared to jump back in his Nite Owl costume in order to spring Rorshach from jail.  In chapter 8, Sally Jupiter's phone rings and on the other end is Hollis Mason.  In the very scene where Sally realizes that it is Hollis, there is a picture of a Nostalgia perfume bottle with almost a spark coming out of it as to say that it will then cause Sally to reminisce on the past.  Hollis tells Sally of her daughter and the new Nite Owl had saved the people from the burning building. Hollis then says "Takes you back huh?" Sally responds with telling him of how she had been thinking of the past a lot lately, the effects of the Nostalgia perfume.  The last example I can think of, though I know there is plenty more, is when Laurie is at Dan's and Dr. Manhattan shows up.  Right before he shows up, Laurie had a bottle of Nostalgia perfume in her hand.  Then engage in a conversations where Laurie says that she was just thinking of Jon and how she wanted to talk to him.  From here he teleports them to Mars where they can converse alone.  All of these instances are obviously not coincidences, they are connected with Vedit's perfume.  My questions is since he is planning to take away the Nostalgia perfume and replace it with Millenium line of perfume.  How would this have a symbolic reference to someone's life?

I'll Get You My Pretty AHAHAHAHA

First off I'd like to say that I haven't seen The Wizard of Oz in years, and watching it now I have a completely different view of it.  This is not the nice little kid movie I remember at all.  In fact the some parts in the movie seem to be more for an adult than for a kid at all.  I always realized that Dorothy's dream had transported her to a new world, but never understood what that world meant to her.  After watching it this time around I can see the bigger picture rather than a children's movie.

Since it was produced around the time of the Great Depression, I feel that the Emerald City was a sign of hope for America's cities in the future.  I felt that the yellow brick road could have been symbolism of actual gold, which during this time could have been rather disheartening.  On the other hand, it could have also shown that the road to success and bettering of the economy is a long one, but in the end (once you reach the Emerald city) it is all worth it.  These two symbols both had to so with economic strain on America, but what we focused on in class was more of the social aspects of America during the time and what this movie meant for those people.  First off, I did not remember the three friends Dorothy encounters as being so feminine.  This, as said in class, does make it much less creepy for a young girl to be walking about with three older men.  I'm very curious to read the book though.  I'm wondering if the message that is sent so strongly to gay culture is rooted in the book at all.  I thought the book was made to be more of a political standpoint rather than social.  Another point that was brought up in class was that the movie ends by going back to black and white, Dorothy happy to be home, and all the same as it was when she left.  This ending definitely shows no growth within Dorothy, but I'm left questioning that the movie meant for there to be no growth, since in reality how many people really do become enlightened by their dreams and change their life because of it?  Since Oz was a real place in the book, I'm sure it ended much differently than the movie had, and there probably was some growth in Dorothy that we were not able to see in the film.

I found some very interesting points in the article that also touch upon our discussions in class.  It said that many people are often troubled by the fact that Dorothy can go back to the same life she was trying to escape from, accepting the limitations put on her by her patronizing family and the place in which she lives.  If Dorothy was so eager to leave that place, why was she so comfortable with going back and living in the same way she had been all along?  One part that bothered me was, "her companions learned what they already have must and will suffice, Dorothy learns to embrace the comfortable enclosure of the picket fence."  I feel that the "comfortable enclosure" is not one that is comfortable at all, rather is tightening its grip on Dorothy so she might not ever escape, so much so that she explains at the end that she never wishes to leave that place again.  If Dorothy is an icon for the gay community, then why would she want to go back to the place that held restraints on her and didn't allow room for her to be herself? One thing I do agree with the article about is Dorothy's need for guidance.  She is stuck within the internal adolescent conflict of wanting to gain independence, but still requires guidance from every adult figure she meets.  This point makes me want to read the book too; since Dorothy is a child in the book I feel that she would not seek out independence, so what would be her internal conflict?

I have come to many realizations from watching this film and attempting to analyze certain aspects of it rather than idly sitting by as the images on the screen pass by and I am fascinated to read the book and learn even more, hopefully answering the questions I have posed.