Seeing as most of you have probably read Watchmen or watched the movie by now, I wanted to bring up a topic that's been bugging me a bit. Recall Rorschach's journal at the end of the story. The editor of a newspaper was trying to find something to fill in some space in the newspaper and leaves it to his assistant to find something. You can see that the boy is reaching for Rorschach's journal, which was left there (or mailed there depending if you're thinking of the movie or the book) before Rorschach goes with Dan to confront Veidt.
Now, after all the main characters find out about Veidt's plan and realize how this has affected the world, most chose to stay quiet about the truth because the revelation of the truth would destroy any chance of peace, dooming the earth to worse destruction. Do you think this is true? Do you think that Rorschach's journal could possibly cause the world to go into chaos?
Or would his journal have no effect at all? After all, many people regarded him as being crazy. Would people then just ignore his journal?
Mary Quien
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3 comments:
I was a little confused by this part. I did not get the impression that Rorschach knew enough to write in his journal when he sent it. He did not learn the whole story until he got to Alaska with Dan. Even if it had the information about Veidt being behind everything the journal would only cause some interest within the few people who would actually read that section but I believe without all the details the people would soon forget it anyway.
(Kelley Volosin)
I thought the same exact thing that Kelley did. Everything that had happened in Antarctica would have remained untold, since Dr. Manhattan and Veidt were willing to murder a few million people in favor of saving the rest of the world. If Rorschach's journal were to be regarded as some looney account, would Dan have supported his late friend's argument? After all, Rorschach did blame him for always being too willing to compromise. The truth is that these heroes were all, in a way, selfish. It seems that only Rorschach was able to overcome this one part of himself toward the end of the graphic novel/movie, realizing that he, indeed, could not allow such a lie to remain untold. The rest went off living their lives. Dr. Manhattan fleas to Mars, leaving the blue planet behind, and Dan and Laurie skip off happily, with a new love. Okay, well not exactly..but I hope I got my point across.
(Sam Maliha)
Well, actually, if everyone chose to believe his journal, it certainly could have had effect. Perhaps Rorschach wasn't aware of all of the details of Veidt's plan when he sent in his journal, but he did write that if anything odd happened, it was Veidt's fault. That, combined with all of the detective work and background material in his journal, could actually lead a determined reporter to the truth.
Disregarding whether the journal actually contained enough information about Veidt's plans, was it morally right for Rorschach to send it in? No matter how slim the chance, his writing might tear apart the illusion created by Veidt, destroying the peace that thousands had died for.
-Eric Wei
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