lol ok. let's see if we can try to tackle some of this stuff and help out the people who are lost. Spoilers are touched upon so be forewarned. Youveprobably been exposed to some level of semantics before if youve ever looked at material on subliminal advertising or studied literary themes in your Englishcourses or if you were lucky enough to ever have a good art teacher who was able to help you learn about interpreting artwork. I wish I had some good exampleslike the ones Ive seen but Ill try with what I can dig up. So for instance, you see a picture like this in an advertisement...
it is no accident that the placement creates a phallic representation with the man's leg and the man in yellow trunks and the woman in the backgroundfits where she does with the man in the foreground. I've seen similar examples of advertisements for soft drinks and beer where a man is shown holding abottle of whichever drink near his crotch and then youll have a woman across the page drinking from a bottle or holding it at it her mouth. Obviously, suchadvertisements are meant to communicate sex, sexual prowess, etc. because as we well know the saying goes, 'it sells'. I'm sure most have at leastbriefly studied symbolism in high school and college reading as well...I even recently saw an NT post of someone posting their Great Gatsby essay discussingthe wide use of colors, etc. and there were also plenty of other symbolic elements and examples of course such as the eyes on the billboard, etc. So Im suremost have read
To Kill a Mockingbird,
Animal Farm,
Lord of the Flies,
Grapes of Wrath, etc, etc. as req. reading where youwere at least introduced to all the themes, motifs, symbolisms, etc. and all the literary devices used in stories. You could probably go through any number ofgreat pieces of artwork, analyze the composition, and interpret the statements and themes meant to be conveyed. A distinct example ( & 1 I had beenlooking at material on recently) you can see in Dali's
Crucifixion
where he uses classical-styled figures and then superimposes the Christ figure over the tesseract. So you can see that while it is beautiful ofcourse, I'd hope that you'd also be able to see that it's not just meant to be a pretty picture. It communicates a statement about dimensionality(obviously the 4th dimensional cube communicating a message on a relationship between the 3rd and 4th dimension.) and I'm sure you could interpret more andmore from various elements of the piece.
And so, in the same sense as all of this, the movies you watch (the good ones anyways) do the same thing to communicate different themes and statements to theviewer. You can find semantic elements in almost any good piece of work you see whether it's advertisements, artwork, literature, music, televisionprograms, movies. Another obvious example to try and explain is in something like the movie
the Truman Show. I'm sure you can easily dissect thetitle/character's name and apply it to the theme of the movie. And when you recall the obvious quote of the show producer, Christoff, after Truman finallygathers the courage to challenge the manufactured world constructed around him even in the face of death, where Christoff speaks to Truman for the first time,stating, "I am the creator ......[extended pause].......of a television show", you can see how a message can be communicated (about the character +relationship in this instance) through interpreting the dialogue outside of the face-value of just the plain words. You have to allow yourself to see beyondthe context while still keeping the context in mind. We could go through a whole list and discussion of great movies and analyze because Ive been fascinatedwith analyzing elements like this since learning about it. When I look at movies and other stuff I dont ever just see things solely at face value because onceyou can see and understand how these elements are presented, you instinctively recognize how much more is there. And this may be where I lose some of you butsince Ive only recently begun looking at what people consider "conspiracy" material, Ive begun noticing how prevalent a lot of the same themes recurand connect in material from as far back to my childhood that I of course didnt realize or notice and of course to material before I was even born. So, asanother easy example, we could analyze all the different thematics and symbolism in the Wizard of Oz beginning with the opening introduction...
For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart; and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out offashion. To those of you who have been faithful to it in return...and to the Young in Heart...we dedicate this picture.
Notice the distinction between those who have been faithful and the "Young in Heart" in caps, and time in caps. Obviously, interpretationis needed there. And when you consider the elements of the film (which present a lot philosophy that resemebles 'New Age' type teachings --the powerand truth of looking inwards, etc). (how the real world was dull and grey in black-and-white and the dream world was the true world full of vibrant color,power, etc., how the characters' desires are juxtapose to the reality of their selves...Scarecrow lacks esteem because he believes he needs a brain and yethe consistently comes up with the brightest ideas. Tinman believes he needs a heart though he is obviously the most sentimental. Lion believes he needs courageand yet displays bravery in several instances, simply not understanding that courage is not at all merely the absence of fear. Dorothy believes she needs tofind her way home and by the end discovers she was "home" all along, symbolically and in reality. And Oz simply presents some arbitrary object (acourage medal, diploma, heart-shaped watch, and a hot-air balloon for Dorothy) which ultimately throws them back on themselves and allows them to realize thistruth. At the same time, we could draw parallels between the Wizard of Oz and Ozymandias of the Watchmen...both 'men behind the curtain', covertlymanipulating society, introducing enlightenment in some way. We could also draw on the symbolisms of how all the sub-characters are presented in somesub-human way...all the workers from the real world which became the characters of Dorothy's world were all less than human (beast, tinman, scarecrow) andthen the munchkins of Munchkin Land obviously and they had their own political system and were ruled by the wizard behind the curtain. You might also considerthe soothsayer in the real world who was also the Wizard and all the relevance in that scene ---Egyptian references, mysticism, advice he gave to Dorothy,reality about him, etc.
So you could go through and analyze a whole list of material that covers elements that reiterate, parallel, and overlap ideas all the way from the Alexander'Lex' Luthor, nemesis of the blue, faultless Super-man, to the Doomsday story, to X-men cartoons (Id just recently gone through some episodes on theseDVDs I got years ago and saw a ton of stuff) Apocalypse, astral projection, Apocalypse's agenda with psychics in
Beyond Good and Evil, the obviousgeneral references to DNA/genetics/mutation/ascension, aliens, and more on specific episodes to Heroes (the same DNA, mutation, ascension etc, GalacticAlignment now
, significance of the symbolism and power of the watchmaker (Sylar) to the Watchmen and the significance and symbolism of the watch maker (Doc Manhattan), and a whole list of other stuff. You can see parallels ina lot of different material. In
the Matrix, Neo's transcending/ascension, the special kids' resemblance to indigo children, etc. You could gothrough that trilogy obviously and find a ton of stuff (it seems like I can watch that movie again and again and find something new). There's a lot ofvisual symbolism (visual composition in Neo's first meeting with Trinity, the white rabbit, etc, etc) symbolism in the character's names, theNebuchadnezzer, a lot of the dialogue, the recurring parallels in the plot as the story develops through the installments especially the first and
Reloaded (Trinity trying to evade some agents in the Matrix as the opening scene to Neo facing mortality in the ending scenes and it carries on beyondthat I just cant recall and detail everything). You also see symbolism in Trinity saving Neo in specific instances, to Neo saving Trinity in others. Thatentire movie can be dissected more than once over imo to make statements about either society or spirituality and probably much more. Then you can seerecurring themes in stuff like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings where salvation ultimatley depends upon these meek, simple unsuspecting groups (Ewoks, Hobbits). You might analyze the other symbols and themes in those movies as well (the immaculate conception of Anakin, the slave seeking to free his people, dichotomybetween a father and his son, the final sacrifice etc among other things draws different references, desire for power, the Empire....elements such as thedifferent ethnic references that seem to be suggested in certain characters, the protocol droid C-3PO and the dialogue in the episode I scene where Anakin isbuilding him (I cant remember exact words but I took notice) later a gold idol, the deception of those that govern and the movement towards an empire in bothmovies, etc.
Im throwing out a lot of stuff just to give random examples of symbolisms so you can maybe analyze films and other material more deeply or at least to just tryand explain how Im approaching a lot of these elements. If anyone wants to delve into any of those movies more specifically, I'm open for discussion.
So like when you see or read something like this...
and apply the context of the story....it may help you deduce some elements of symbolism. You may be able to apply some symbolism towards The Eye and it'sdesire to rule through the power of the ring/rings and the corruption of 'the hearts of men' etc, etc and maybe something that you see in real life.
ok now to explain and apply to the Watchmen with this in mind (hopefully that gave you some understanding if you were completely lost)...
so when you see something like this...
within the context of the story can you interpret the images beyond face value? The symbol of a corporation as a pyramid encased in a circle, financing theplot of a character (Oz), who creates a false-flag attack on New York to ultimately unite the world. I don't see the arrangement of the Watchmen happyface logo as an arbitrary design. It's placed at the angle with the eye placed at the top-center with the blood splatter supplanted where the lightpattern of illumination might be if youre following along....and in the story, the price of illumination was paid in blood. Look at it and approach it as youwould a piece of artwork. Furthermore, the happy face was the icon of The Comedian, who 'could see the world for what it was' and did 'dirtywork' for society including assassinating JFK. Then when you go into the scene of the boy reading
The Black Freighter and Veidt's pyramidsymbol placed in the backdrop, to me, it presents another dimension of your own experience to consider. Think about that---he is immersed in a comic bookstory of inner-conflicts, turmoil, brutal necessities of survival, and good intentions turning bad which speaks thematically towards the actual chaos in theworld going around him.....and
you are also meant to be immersed in a story
. And on Oz's costume the significance of the eye placed centered in thepyramid rather than floating above on a capstone (which I can recall seeing specific likeness to in different material as well) speaks towards his objective ofbringing illumination to the people. (the common people who work, build, and maintain society through labor would represent the foundations of the pyramid--thebottom supporting the top. while an illuminated capstone floating above it would represent the illuminated, governing overclass.)
Now Rorschach is the anti-hero, protagonist of the story. He's the first character introduced and he narrates for us from his journal. So IMO theviewer/reader is meant to identify with him at certain times and then perhaps Dr. Manhattan at others. So obviously from his costume you can gather thatRorschach symbolizes psychology and he's perhaps making statements about or towards our psychology (or the viewer/reader) throughout different instances ofthe story. His frantic, paranoid-type seeking, bitterness, vengeful, blood-for-blood, uncompromisingly retributive view of justice ultimately must come tosome end. And if we understand character symbolism, the death of a character does not have to simply represent their death. It can also symbolize the death ofideas, a system, a way, beliefs or some other abstract element.
Dr Manhattan is obviously the character symbolizing the New Age. Hence the placement at the third eye, his blue color, his deep understanding and insight, hisnon-linear perception of time, metaphysical aspects to all his powers of projection, etc which also happen to correspond with 2012 ascension type material. Also, he's the most powerful character, arguably the most important since everything ultimately boils down to the actions he takes though he relatively isunaware of that reality until the end.
and when you see imagery such as this...
referencing the Galle Crater, it seems to obviously be using its existence to make a statement regarding the miraculousness which people neglect to considerand recognize. So much so, that the placement of the speech bubbles pan out so that it looks as though the face itself is delivering the message. Andfinally, it pans out to what appears a lot like a planetary alignment or maybe an image that presents something more spiritual through allegory...idk --Obviously, up to debate and your own interpretations. Which is why we can discuss if you find it interesting.
So, I hope that clarifies somewhat what I was trying to convey and maybe can spur some good discussion.
I'd read mention in a couple of instance of Alan Moore being a practicing magician but never looked into any details beyond that... It's not surprisingand I went ahead and wiki'd and saw...
He describes his understanding of "magic" as fundamentally synonymous with "art": the use of words, images, and actions to affect people and the way they think.
I can definitely see that. If anyone has any more insight or thoughts on that specifically, that'd be interesting too.
