God and Dr. Manhattan

Whenever young comic book readers think of DC Comics, they mostly think of the flagship heroes associated with the brand. These heroes and heroines would include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and many others. What most of these readers don’t know is that DC Comics has a huge amount of darker and more adult oriented comics that have been influential and well known throughout the years. One of the main ones would be that of Watchmen with one of the most interesting superheroes by the name of Dr. Manhattan. A human being having powers being on par with that of the abilities of God, able to manipulate and create matter at will, teleport himself or anyone else to anywhere in the galaxy, create independent clones of himself, and simultaneously live in the past, present, and future. This essay will be centered around Dr. Manhattans potential portrayal of a God-like figure within the novel in a world where religion seems to be absent. Arguments to follow this idea is that of different concepts of Religion such as animism and mysticism as well as ideas brought forth by Mircea Eliade. Furthermore, a close reading will be done on two different scenes within the novel, first looking at Dr. Manhattans participation in the Vietnam war and the second looking at his monologue on Mars. Lastly, this essay will provide insight into how the story of Watchmen was brought into the world as well as how it was perceived by comic book and novel readers. By examining these ideas and attempting to tie them in with Dr. Manhattan, it may become easier to identify the relation that Dr. Manhattan has with God in some way or another.

Let’s set the world. Watchmen takes place in an alternate universe in the 1980’s where the United States of America has won the Vietnam War with Richard Nixon still as President. Furthermore, masked heroes have emerged within the world to help maintain peace, but sometime after the Vietnam War, the were banned and outlawed by President Nixon, due to being unorthodox and uncontrollable. Out of all the heroes that emerged, only one hero actually had super powers which was Dr. Jonathan Osterman who became Dr. Manhattan. Due to a terrible accident that broke apart his molecular structure, he was able to reconstruct himself over time and regain his physical self with incredible super powers as stated above. With Dr. Manhattan being the only hero in the world with super powers, he was able to help the Americans win the war in Vietnam as well as push science years ahead of its time.

Due to Dr. Manhattans existence, there isn’t much of any visual or literal representation of religion throughout the whole novel. The only thing closest to anything religious is that of Dr. Manhattan. “I never said ‘The Super-man exists and he is American’, what I said was ‘*God* exists and he is American.’”, a quote given by Wally Weaver throughout the novel[1]. Dr. Manhattan is constantly regarded as being the all seeing and all mighty being on Earth on par with that of God and yet at the same time, that’s as religious as the literature is going to get. The reason for this may be that may be hidden in older concepts of Religion. One concept that could be the reasoning for this is that of Animism. This concept was coined by James Frazer in 1854 and was used to describe that primitive peoples believed that the natural world was animated by spiritual personalities [2]. Furthermore, Frazer believed that over time, as our society gained more knowledge of religion and science, then so too do the religious practices change[3]. Could this be a reasoning as to why Dr. Manhattan is closely regarded as God throughout the entire novel? It may be so that through the evolution of man itself, and the powers brought forth by this evolution, has forced the society into thinking that God like beings can exist in the physical realm and be brought into existence. Being able to see in the past, present, and future simultaneously is a power on par of being God-like and therefore the society in the novel would evolve into believing that God and Christianity may be within mankind's reach from the spiritual world into the physical world. As it is clear that Frazer was influenced by Charles Darwin, “religion begins as something simple and develops complexity as it evolves”[4].

Lets examine another way to explain the connection between God and Dr. Manhattan. Another way to look at Dr. Manhattan and how society in the novel regards him is William James’ Concept of Mysticism. James believed that through religious experiences, anything related to a feeling of the divine were that of psychological experiences that could be made sense of with psychological theory, outside of theological attachment [5]. Considering that the human character of Dr. Manhattan, which was Dr. John Osterman, yearned for God right before his death, that in essence, through that psychological belief, he actually transcended to that of a godly being. Having a personality of that of a very robust, intelligent, human being, changing to that of a religious fanatic right before he died might explain as why he was able to come back into existence as this godly being and therefore become the one thing he yearned for in the end.

Lastly, lets move onto one more concept that could possibly explain Dr. Manhattans godly relation. During the midst of the twentieth century, a religious scholar by the name of Mircea Eliade rejected previous concepts of religion and believed that “Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane”[6]. Eliade was interested with the relation of everyday life and that of the supernatural or extraordinary [7]. Dr. Manhattans very existence throughout the novel changes the way society views the world in the novel. He can predict and prevent disasters that can potentially happen as well as create anything with his mind. As such, it would follow that, using Eliade’s ideology, that society would view Dr. Manhattan as a God like being because of his extraordinary power and relevance to that of God from Christianity. Lets’ examine a close reading that could further pinpoint his relation to God.

During this portion of the novel, Dr. Manhattan is on Mars, questioning the world around him. To him, he lives in all time simultaneously. He lives in the time of his death, the times of his first and second lover, the current time on Mars, and the future to come. He is questioning himself whether or not the world is made from nothing or was it simply always there. He begins to question this as he creates a glass castle out of the sands of Mars with his mind. At this point, it becomes relevant to see Dr. Manhattans relation to Christian God. He questions his existence as well as that of the world. Was it simply always there to begin with or was it really made with nothing. Does God exist and if so am I him? This could be the thinking behind Dr. Manhattan in this scene and could very well explain his existence in the world.

Another scene that will be examined is that of Dr. Manhattan in Vietnam. In this scene, the Comedian and Dr. Manhattan have helped win the war in Vietnam and currently the Comedian had sexual relations with a Vietnamese woman and had impregnated her. She insisted that he would take care of her and the baby and the Comedian declined and shrugged her off. After a little quarrel, the Comedian pulls out a pistol and kills his pregnant lover. Dr. Manhattan, with the ability to turn the pistol into salt, the bullet into paper, or just stop the incident all together, does nothing, and instead watches the whole scenario as it unfolds. In relation to God, it becomes all to clear. Within Christianity and most other religious beliefs, the God really do not meddle in the troubles of humanity. In most religions like Greek Mythology and even Christian Religion. This scene depicts Dr. Manhattans relation to God in the most crude way where even though certain tragedies may happen, and even though he has the power to prevent the event from happening, he chooses not to and let humans figure it out for themselves.

Lastly, this essay will examine the means of production for Watchmen as well as its reception and consumption by audience members around the world. Watchmen was made by author Alan Moore and published by DC Comics in the year 1986 to 1987. During the time, Alan Moore wanted to use characters recently bought by DC Comics called the Mighty Crusaders but DC had told Moore to use original characters and thus came upon the Watchmen. According to Moore, the characters and plot were made to reflect contemporary anxieties of the time and was used to deconstruct and parody the original super hero concept. Instead of having these all righteous super heroes with bigger than life powers and having society love them, Moore flipped the concept upside down, having the heroes hated by society, all of the no different than a normal civilian and with a darker setting. Watchmen was made to show that not all heroes have these eye opening backstories with everlasting rivals and always winning in the end. Watchmen has a reality check where the heroes face real consequences such as death and age.

Even though the Watchmen comic was originally made in the late 1980’s, it has been dubbed as Time’s list of one of the 100 best novels in the world and one of the most significant works in 20th century literature[8]. As BBC states, it is when “comics grew up”[9]. Later on a film was made to revive the series in the late 2000’s as well as a couple of video games and some spin off comic book series. Even though the movie cam out much later, it differed greatly from the of the original, ranging from the movement of plot, all the way to the ending of the story. Even Alan Moore himself has not even seen the film, as he feels to distanced from the story itself [10]. To this day, Watchmen has been used for scholarly reading and interpretation as well as a must read for any casual or avid comic book reader.

In conclusion, Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen closely relates to God through the use of three different theories proposed by James Frazer, William James, and Mircea Eliade. Through the close readings of the scene on Mars as well as the scene in Vietnam, it becomes relevant to see parts of these theories in play. Dr. Manhattan is a complex character, perceived to be on par with God, and therefore should be examined through the lens as one.

Thank you for reading.

Bibliography

Administrator, TCJ. “A Portal to Another Dimension: Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and Neil Gaiman.” The Comics Journal, no. 116 (July 1987). Accessed November 11, 2016.

By Nicholas Barber 9 August 2016. “Watchmen: The Moment Comic Books Grew up.” BBC. August 9, 2016. Accessed November 11, 2016. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160809-watchmen-the-moment-comic-books-grew-up.

“Is Full List One of the All-TIME 100 Best Novels?” Time. Accessed November 11, 2016. http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/all/.

Simpson, Jacob. “Watchmen.” Journal of Religion and Film 13, no. 1 (April 7, 2016). Accessed November 11, 2016. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1531&context=jrf.

Klassen, Chris. “Religion and Popular Culture.” In Religion and Popular Culture: A Cultural Studies Appproach, 7–28. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Millet, Lydia. “From Comic Book to Literary Classic.” WSJ. February 27, 2009. Accessed November 11, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123569333628588197.

Moore, Alan, and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. New York: DC Comics, 1987.

[1] Alan Moore, Watchmen

[2] Chris Klassen, Religion and Popular Culture

[3]Ibid.

[4]Ibid.

[5]Ibid.

[6]Ibid.

[7]Ibid.

[8]Times list of Top 100 Novels

[9] Lydia Millet, BBC When Comics grew up

[10] A Portal to Another Dimension, The Comics Journal