Gender Roles In Watchmen

A great comic book is a parody of the real world with its heroes and heroines behave similarly to how an ordinary person would behave if he or she was to put in the same situation. A great comic book takes place in a world that is similar to the real world but with an added twist which has a profound but believable effect on its world. With such a heavy inspiration from the real world, it is not surprising that the world of comic books has similar social issues to that of the real world. These sentiment holds true for both, Watchmen and Blacksad as they portrait social issues such as wealth inequality, social acceptance, and social rejection. This essay will examine one of such issues which is gender role with the focus on Laurie Juspeczyk …show more content…
Similar to the real 1980s America, women are delegated to a supportive role and no character exemplifies this social role than the current Silk Spectre. Throughout the story of Watchmen, Laurie “Silk Spectre” Juspeczyk’s roles are to support other characters specifically Jonathan “Doctor Manhattan” Osterman and Dan “Night Owl” Dreiberg and act as their love interest. The audience was introduced to Laurie in chapter 1 when Rorschach goes to inform Dr. Manhattan about the possibility of someone is going after the remaining superheroes. During their conversation, Laurie loathes Rorschach’s dismissal of what happened between her mother, the first Silk Spectre, and the Comedian. In retaliation, Laurie asks Dr. Manhattan make Rorschach disappear and he is happy to do so by teleport Rorschach out of the base(Watchmen, 1:21, Panel: 5-9) This series of panels show the difference in power dynamic between men and women where Laurie feels the need to ask Dr. Manhattan for help in retaliating against Rorschach for his comments rather than does it herself. Another example of gender role related to Laurie are how the military treat Laurie after Dr. Manhattan decided to leave Earth for Mars. After the disastrous interview where Mr. Manhattan teleport everyone out of studio after a reporter accuse him of causing cancer to other …show more content…
For Watchmen, there is Laurie Juspeczyk who exemplify the stereotype of a 1980s woman that is beautiful and devoted to her partner. For Blacksad, there is John Blacksad who exemplify the stereotype of a 1950s man that is strong, intelligent, and capable. However, it is also worth noting that a parody exists to point out the ridiculousness of the real