Boo to the Office and Rorschach's Sexuality

[anogete]

I came thisclose to taking a half day off work. I didn't because I'm forever a good girl who doesn't play hooky for no good reason. I've tried to be a bad girl, but I have such guilt. It's pathetic. So, I ask the time gods if we can hurry this effin' week along a big faster. I'm sick of this office. Yes, yes... I should be happy I have a job. And I am. I'd just like a job where I can work from home so I don't have to see John's stinking face. I'd say he's a poopy-head, but he's more than that. He's a first class asshole of the highest degree. He said good morning and held the door open for me when I got into the office just before 8:00. All I wanted to do was turn around and punch him in the face, and then kick him in the balls when he hit the ground. Scum. I walked upstairs and Payroll girl motioned me into her office. She said that she had a dream that I let her borrow my gun. In the dream, she took my gun and shot John in the leg because he was being a dick. See, it's not just me. I could go into the back story of why we all hate him so much, but it would take too much time and effort. Effort I do not want to sink into the black hole that is John's life. I think Elenore is waiting for him to kick the bucket. He's almost seventy, and he drinks like a fish. Surely he's due to die any time now. Is it bad that I want to punch a seventy-year-old man in the face and then kick him while he's down?

Maybe my fangirly lurv of Rorschach has infected me with absolutist tendencies and a need to viciously defend my own personal morality. This would include throwing people down elevator shafts, which I might do if there were any in this building. Look...



Gah. He's ripping a piece of cloth. Oh, Walter. Why so hot? Why so hot even with a nasty bruise covering your cheek?

I've read several interesting articles on Rorschach's sexuality. I think most of you know that I lean toward het pairings, though I don't think I've ever shied away from a slash pairing if there is substantial evidence in the source material for it. Quinn/Blaylock and Butch/Vichous in BDB are two pairings I adore. That being said, I don't really like Rorschach/Nite Owl II or Walter/Dan. At first, I thought it was because I tend to glom onto het pairings. The pairing never felt right to me. I think of them as friends. Walter (Rorschach) has no friends, but he has this partnership with Dan that has turned into a friendship. I like that about them--that they are friends and that it makes Rorschach vulnerable. But when romance comes into the equation, I just shut down.

And then I read a thoughtful blurb from someone on a message board. I wish I could find it again because it summed up Rorschach's fear of sexuality so perfectly. The basic gist of it was that this person believed Rorschach to be hetrosexual. In the comic (and somewhat in the movie), Rorschach expresses a belief that homosexuality is wrong, unnatural, immortal, whatever. Emotion never comes into this, though; he just condemns gays/lesbians as immoral people who deserve whatever punishment they get (a la Silhouette). However, there are several moments in which he mentions intimacy and/or sex between a man and a woman. He is quite obviously disgusted, even revolted by it. It makes him feel uncomfortable. This person asserted that the strong emotions Rorschach feels when he comes into contact with women or heterosexual relationships indicates that he is repressing his own heterosexual tendencies. Just as some people who repress homosexual tendencies tend to go off the deep end and physically abuse someone who is homosexual. Rorschach's stunted emotional growth, discomfort around women, and aversion to sex is most likely due to his mother being a prostitute. He grew up viewing sex between a man and a woman as something dirty, filthy, disgusting, and disreputable. Now that he has cemented his 'morals' as an adult, he rebels against his own body and mind desiring what repulsed him as a child. Then again, maybe I'm picking and choosing arguments because I just don't 'get' Rorschach/Dan. Thoughts? Or am I the only nutter spending time thinking about things like this? Rorschach/Dan is generally accepted by everyone as being practically canon that I feel like I'm missing something. Or maybe I'm reading too deep into it.

Comments

[theredzebra1.livejournal.com]

Oh, MY. *blinks*

Sorry, that graphic hypnotized me for...a...second....

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I sat there for at least a minute and watched it go round and round. Wee!

[okami-no-yume.livejournal.com]

That picture is downright hypnotic. Who is Walter?

...I can't comment on Rorshach because I have yet to see Watchmen. I'll probably see it on Pay-Per-View, since I can't make it to the movies. Damn.

I'd also like to read the graphic novel. I'm normally not all that much into superheroes, but Watchmen definitely looks like something I could get into.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

Walter is Rorschach (http://lostmoya.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/rorschach-watchmen.jpg). Oops, bit of a spoiler there. Now you know what he looks like underneath the mask. You find that out halfway through the movie and book. He's supposed to be super ugly, but the actor who plays him (Jackie Earl Haley) looks downright beautiful in some of those scenes. However, he also looks very much like Walter Kovacs (Rorschach). Walter is his real name; Rorschach is the name he took when he became a vigilante.

I think you'd love Watchmen whether you read the book first or see the movie first. They are both great, though the book has so much more depth and little nuances in it. It's not really a superhero story. These are real people without superpowers. They're just vigilantes that have taken crime fighting into their own hands. Of course, there is one guy (Dr. Manhattan) who really does have powers beyond a human, but they are explained. He wasn't just born with them.

I just love Rorschach because he's so damaged. He's messed up and screwed in the head, but he has these high standards for himself and everyone else. He's conservative because his childhood was anything but conservative, and he detests most of humanity for its weakness and depravity. He fits the vigilante profile to a T. If you commit a serious crime, then he will execute you. There is no gray area. One of my favorite parts is when he discovers a man who has killed a little girl. The man admits to the deed and tells Rorschach to go ahead and take him to jail. Rorschach looks down at him and says, "Men go to jail, dogs are put down." And then he slams a hatchet into the guy's head and kills him. That sums up Rorschach. He's an absolutist. You did it, you face the consequences. He has very little to no empathy and he buries his emotions.

Anyway, let me know whenever you get a chance to see it. I think you'll love it.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

And then I read a thoughtful blurb from someone on a message board. I wish I could find it again because it summed up Rorschach's fear of sexuality so perfectly. The basic gist of it was that this person believed Rorschach to be hetrosexual. In the comic (and somewhat in the movie), Rorschach expresses a belief that homosexuality is wrong, unnatural, immortal, whatever. Emotion never comes into this, though; he just condemns gays/lesbians as immoral people who deserve whatever punishment they get (a la Silhouette). However, there are several moments in which he mentions intimacy and/or sex between a man and a woman. He is quite obviously disgusted, even revolted by it. It makes him feel uncomfortable. This person asserted that the strong emotions Rorschach feels when he comes into contact with women or heterosexual relationships indicates that he is repressing his own heterosexual tendencies. Just as some people who repress homosexual tendencies tend to go off the deep end and physically abuse someone who is homosexual. Rorschach's stunted emotional growth, discomfort around women, and aversion to sex is most likely due to his mother being a prostitute. He grew up viewing sex between a man and a woman as something dirty, filthy, disgusting, and disreputable. Now that he has cemented his 'morals' as an adult, he rebels against his own body and mind desiring what repulsed him as a child. Then again, maybe I'm picking and choosing arguments because I just don't 'get' Rorschach/Dan. Thoughts?

Interesting argument, that he protests too much. I think it works either way. I do tend to see things through slash-colored glasses, so Dan/Rorschach works for me, particularly based on that scene from the movie where the two of them talk quietly in Dan's Cave. Based on the book? I'd actually peg R. as asexual, a person who's entire energy is spent fighting against what he considers wrong in the world and is basically neutered.