What is the Purpose of the Bloody happy face?

[Roughneck]

I mean.....I know what it is...it's the pin that was worn by the Comedian and he was tossed out of window and when he landed the pin fell off and it had blood on it....priducting this iconic symbol of The Watchmen.

So does it represent anything? Is it any type of symbolism? or just kind of cool looking.....does anyone know?

 

[Acid Snowman]

Firstly, it resembles a clock at five minutes to midnight (a recurring symbol), and although this observation isn't mine, someone on this board (DocLathropBrown or Lobster Charlie I think) suggested it means peace at the cost of blood.

 

[Motown Marvel]

i think its also symbolizes the idea of peace and/or happiness is never complete, it will always be tarnished in some way by some thing. the idealized world that someone may dream of and fight for is not possible.

 

[spectre]

moore said the smiley face was derived from behavioural psychology tests. they tried find the simplest abstraction that would make a baby smile.

so what i'm getting from this is that the bloody smiley face represents shattered innocence. before watchmen, comics were largely considered a very superficial medium that was simple and meant only for kids. good versus evil, good triumphs, simple as that, cut and dry. what moore and gibbons did was peel back that layer and reveal very dark truths about humanity through the characters in a comic book. essentially they "shattered the innocence" of superheroes and the comic book medium.

that's my opinion anyway.

 

[Nepenthes]

^ agreed to all.

the Comedian chose it, so it's about the "the joke" of it all

 

[MaskedManJRK]

I think Spectre said it best--corrupted innocence.

 

[Colossus24]

On another note, do you think that Ozymandias was aware of the irony of his name? (i'm refering to the sonnet by Percy Shelley)

 

[SLVRSR4]

On another note, do you think that Ozymandias was aware of the irony of his name? (i'm refering to the sonnet by Percy Shelley)

They do mention the sonnet in the book. I think he has more important things to worry about like the fate of the cold war