Intimacy and Human Connection in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ “Watchmen”: Part III

Over the past few posts, I’ve been examining how Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen explores our need for intimacy and human connections. With the specter of nuclear holocaust hanging over the world, we see individuals connect, showing the wide range of interactions from love and intimacy to disagreement. We see Malcolm and Gloria go through their arguments around Maclolm’s work which hurts their intimacy. We see Joey and Aline work to make their relationship work with their differing political views. We see Bernhard and Bernie sit next each everyday and finally introduce themselves to one another right before Adrian Veidt’s attack. Along with these interactions, we also see the connections between Laurie and Daniel and even between Sally and Edward Blake, even after he rapes her.

After Veidt attacks New York, killing countless individuals, Dr. Manhattan, Daniel, Laurie, and Rorschach debate whether or not to tell the world what happened. Veidt tells them they should keep quiet because exposing his plan would be “undoing the peace millions died for.” Dr. Manhattan agrees, telling the others, “Logically, I’m afriad he’s right. Exposing the plot, we destroy any chance of peace, dooming Earth to worse destruction. On Mars, you demonstrated life’s value. If we would preserve life here, we must remain…