WATCHMEN: Chapter 7; "Why, Mr. Dreiberg, you're dashing!"

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! Dedicated to watchdom @ LJ 

CONTENT: 

01 Introduction 

02 Visual Examination 

03 Plot and Narrative 

04 Characterization 

05 Dialogue 

06 Quote Reference 

07 Fan Reaction 

08 Closing 

SONGS USED: 

"Fukisusabu Kaze no Naka de" for Introduction 

"HT" and "Ningyo Hime" for music while reviewing 

"Rebirthing" by Skillet between breaks and for Closing

• This chapter runs 32:02 including instrumental tracks. It's hardly festive but the mood is just right. I considered this a nice break from the mindfuck and the morbidity of the previous chapters.
• The Visual Examination was an easy-breezy one. There aren't a lot of layers in this chapter and it was surprisingly humane and relatable. Gibbons maintained the nine-grid panel layout but made use of expanding ones in a few pages. I also like the change from dull to vibrant colors as the scenes escalated. The prevailing metaphor is intact.
• I combined Plot and Narrative because this chapter is sort of a personal one while still a part of the major plot. The story revolved around Dan and Laurie's flaws and magnificence as people who eventually form a deeper bond. Moore knows the right temperature for romance. Nothing cheesy about the interactions at all. The prose is humanistic and meaningful.
• Oh, I think Dan and Laurie may not be as complex but they are very much relevant. They have problems and insecurities a great majority of readers undergo in their own lives. That's why the Characterization spoke to me. It was unexpectedly sweet in all the right places.
• Dan and Laurie's conversations made up the Dialogue aspect. I enjoyed getting to know them as they get to know each other; especially their masked vigilante personas.
• Quote Reference amused me to no end.
• I shared the views fandom has for Dan and Laurie, individually and as a couple in the Fan Reaction segment, as well as my opinions for their movie counterparts.
• I chose a pretty hard rock song but the lyrics are just so them :p

This chapter is one of my favorites. It's such an amazing feat for Moore and Gibbons to include a chapter so full of hope and optimism when Watchmen is an ugly world of moral ambiguity and potential nuclear disasters. Dan and Laurie re-define themselves in this chapter and are therefore more able to embrace who they are when they wear their costumes. In a way, being behind the mask actually unveils them as human beings. It's wonderfully bittersweet and their character dynamics are a perfect fit.