Water Motif in Watchman

• dirty water
• tears
• rain
• blue
• sweat
• puddles
• steam
• condensation
• snow
• sea/ocean
• fountain
• hoses/ water cannon
• toilet
• snow globe 
• perfume vase
• mars
• harbor
• dog slobber
• snot
• reflecting
• pool
• beverages
• alec the great
• blood
• jesus
• ketchup
• glaciers
• sewer

hahaha.... I think of the Incredibles when I read Watchman

The Incredibles and Watchman are so completly different, they tend to have a few aspects that are the same. Listed below are some of the similarities and differences I found when reading the book.

Similarities:

• Superheroes are living out in the open
• Are being killed of by someone
• Both have a war type thing that is going on
• While most of the superheroes have retired, they have to come out of retirement to fight 

Differences

• Watchman is ten times darker then the Incredibles
• The problems that are looked at in Watchman are a little more complex then the ones in the Incredibles
• There are a lot more symbols in Watchman then in Incredibles

So yes, the Incredibles is a Disney Movie... and yes I am probably not making any sense. But I really did think of the Incredibles when I read Watchman.

Watchman... and Moby Dick

So I am not going to lie, this book was really dense and a lot to take in. It was still really good, but at the same time it was funny that the last book we read in the class is soo dark and ridiculous. 

I was reading an article somewhere online about Watchman and the creator Alan Moore. There was a quote in the article that kind of made me go "ahhh... that's why the book is so deep." Moore states "a superhero Moby Dick; something that had that sort of weight, that sort of density." So it only made sense that one of the reasons I couldn't get through Watchman was because Moore wanted it to be as dense as Moby Dick. And while both of these books are great, they both carry so much symbolism that its very easy to loose your place while reading.

So let's just say that it took me a while to get through Watchman, because I had to keep reading over and over again.

Top 5 Iconic Superheros

Batman

• Humanity
• Duality
• Emphasis on the bat (echolocation, nocturnal, blind- justice)
• Tragic origins
• intelligence

Captain America

• Patriotism
• Shield
• Morality
• Tragic Turn
• Liberty

Wonder Woman

• Lasso of Truth
• Supernatural origin
• Morality
• Feminism

Spiderman

• Responsibility
• Webs
• Problems
• Tragic Origins
• Spider Symbol
• Youth

Superman

• Hope
• Strength
• The Big "S"
• Cape and tights
• Messiah situation
• Tragic origin (death of the planet)

Colors and Shapes

Everywhere you look you can find an icon. With every color and shape that you encounter you can somehow match it with an important icon in today's society. While some of these shapes and colors may not make a huge icon, they still can create something that is really important to someone. To me I can almost always relate a certain color or shape I have seen to an important icon. For instance whenever I see the color pink I automatically think of the breast cancer ribbons. When I look at an apple, my mind wanders to think of the apple company. Sometimes these icons are more important to the world then others. And then there are some that are just important to you. To me it doesn't matter how you look at it... an icon is an icon no matter how big or small.... no matter how important.

Religion Icons and my bowl of cereal

In today's society religion icons are around us 24/7 wither we know it or not. The cross being the most popular is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to just how many of these icons populate our culture. In my British Literature class all we do is talk about the references to religion and how most of the paintings in our book have at least one religious icon woven into it. Wherever you look you can somehow place a religious icon into it. It was funny because just the other day I was eating a bowl of lucky charms. I look down and notice one of the shapes in my bowl is of the "Jesus fish." I inform one of my friends of my discovery and he then proceeds to relate all of the non marshmallow shapes in my bowl to something religious. It was kind of a shock that my once meaningless bowl of cereal could hold so many important icons. They are all around us.... in cereal, paintings, literature, cars, TV etc etc. These icons have survived centuries and centuries only to be put into the most obscure places.

Confessions of a Superhero

So I don't know if anyone has heard of it but there is a pretty recent documentary out called "Confessions of a Superhero." It's about four people who dress up as superhero's and work for tips in the front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Most people believe them to be panhandlers, but to these people it's a way of life. For some they are just trying to make it in the acting business, for others they believe that they are the superhero's they dress up to be. So check it out and learn to love Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the Hulk.

Superman... popularity going down hill

So this week in class we are talking about icons and how sometimes have an impact on who we are as people. I took a close look at superman and realized that his popularity is going down hill. People are talking about how it's kind of hard to relate to a character that has all of these superhuman powers. It's easier to relate to say Batman who has no abnormal power at all. Whats interesting is that people are getting bored with Superman. I mean there is only so much you can do with a man who can't die. Also people are getting sick of his boy scout views on life, it was fine in the good ole days but now it sucks. All and all people are getting bored with the whole superman aspect. While the symbol on his chest will always stand for something, the person who wears it may be fading away into history.

Allison..... Sleeping through life

To me Allison is kind of like sleeping during the whole book. Even when something major happens like when she tells her parents she is a lesbian, it doesn't even phase her. It's like that throughout the story, no matter what she does it is always said with a sad tone. Even the way the story is drawn, they all have these bored looks on there faces. Now I don't know if thats how her life was...boring and sad, but thats how the book is. At certain points during the story she kind of realizes that she is sleeping and that she wakes up just in time to witness something intense. She is sleep walking through a very nonchalant.

More in-depth look that the literary references

Bechdel

• The choice of direction is both the same in the book and the article. While they talk about different parts of the book, the narrator still has the option of what they want to do.... stay awake or go to sleep
• The father being compared to the part in the story about the traveling person, finding excitement due to being in a strange place, to doing unusual things
• The father uses his children as a comfort.... his obsession with he house and the landscape to make comfort for himself, so he always has something to go back to
• The fact that she wants to be called Albert instead of Allison... not only is her father hiding but she is hiding as well

Kenneth Graehame

• Page 146 talks about the parallels of both landscapes, and how they are really close together
• page 116 the very last line "after all...holiday" thinking in terms of the father is always busy and yelling at them to do things, once everyone is busy doing his things he can finally sit down and relax

Ulysses

• Everytime she talks about her dad it seems to reference the language that james joyce uses... page 6 is good example of the dramatic language
• many references to the greek classic world
• the book owes a lot to joyce and proust
• transformations, being stuck in the middle of two things
• Odyssey- fathers and sons

Portrait of the lady

• comparison between the mother and the older character in the book (direct comparison) 

Importance of Being Ernest

• Identity crisis, mask and disguise especially when it comes to relationships... whats appropriate and whats not, building up this image
• masks in regards to relationships, more business like then love like

Literary References in Fun Home

• Icarus/ Daedelus
• Proust: remembrance otp, shadow of a young girl in flowers, Guermante
• Joyce: Ulysses, Portrait
• Albert Camus: Happy Death, myth of Sisyphus
• Kenneth Clark: The Nude
• Fitzgerald: The Far side of paradise, Gatsby
• Anais Nin
• Kenneth Grahame: wind in willows
• Tolstoy: Anna Kaerinia
• Hemingway: The sun also rises
• Dahl: James and the giant peacj
• Charles Addams: Addams family
• collette: earthly paradise
• Esquire, GQ, Vogue Magazines
• Wilde: Importance of being Earnast
• Kate Millett: Taming Hamlet
• Homer: Odyseey
• Ruskin: Sontes of Venice
• Looney Tunes: Wile E Coyote and road runner
• Blind Faith
• Watergate
• Sesame Street
• Tolkein: dies
• James: Portrait Washington sq.
• Radclyffe Hall: Well f loneliness
• Sunbeam Bread
• E.M. Forester: Maurice
• Capra: It's a wonderful life
• Addison: Worm Ouroboros