By Junior Julca
Junior Julca discusses the theme of racism in Watchmen and focuses on Angela Abar, who has to deal with a group of racists called The Seventh Kavalry.
The HBO series Watchmen is a show that consists of nine episodes and was created by Damon Lindelof. This popular show was based on the original Watchmen graphic novel and it takes place around thirty years after the events of the novel. The show takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the year 2019, it’s in a very modern setting. In the show there is a white supremacist group known as “The Seventh Kavalry” and they are a bad group of people. Their looks (masks) are inspired by Rorschach, who is a character in the graphic novel. What they do is wage war against minorities. In the show there was a white supremacist attack on the police force that left two survivors. Later on laws were passed which allowed the police force to wear masks and some wear costumes to hide their identities as you can see in the picture above.
The main character of this show is Angela Abar and as this show goes on we see her learn more about herself, learn more about her surroundings, and we see her try to put an end to something. She is an African American cop, who is also known as Sister Night, and she is fighting racists. The thing she’s trying to put an end to is The Seventh Kavalry.
Pretty Interesting, Don't you think?
As I was watching the show I noticed that it revolves around the topic of white supremacy/racism. That is actually the show's theme throughout the whole show. There are multiple moments in the show where racism occurs. For example the opening scene in the show starts with the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, which is a real life tragic event. There are other examples of this that will be mentioned later. After I finished watching the show I found out that some of the events that happened actually happened in real life. I found this out when I was looking for sources and it surprised me. I thought the show doing this just made it even better. The show using historical events to make us, the audience understand what people went through is the cherry on top.
As we know racism is a huge issue in the United States and here we see a character of color having to deal with it. To appreciate this show more it is important to know the history of racism. She also looks at her past and past relatives and learns about them and what they went through. She is dealing with racists throughout the show as well. She is someone who has been called things and is judged for the color of her skin. Seeing that she has to deal with this issue throughout the whole show, does Angela Abar win her fight against racism?
History Of Racism
Racism is something that has always been an issue, not just in the United States, but the whole world deals with it. The show Watchmen has racists and characters that have to deal with racism. Looking back on history, racism has been a problem that can be tracked to more than one hundred years ago. Focusing more on the 20th century, racism still was a major problem. Allen Grimshaw’s book goes to show how tough it has been for people of color. In his book he mentions how African Americans have been injured, treated harshly, arrested, and killed in the United States. He focuses different periods in time but mainly focuses on the 1960s. Back then we see how life was different, but we also see how it isn’t much different today.
An author by the name of Clarence Taylor goes into more detail on how racism was in the past. We see that African Americans have been treated very harshly throughout the years, and he elaborates on how the issue of racism has been a problem for a very long time and something that continues to be a problem till this day. He also mentions that African Americans had to deal with police brutality and that they had to deal with being accused of things because of the color of their skins, which made them feel oppressed. One final thing that he adds is that police enforcement specifically targeted African Americans. We see yet again that African Americans had a rough time back then.
As I mentioned the show itself is very involved with the topic of racism. Some actual events from history are shown in Watchmen. Karama Horne talks about the black history that was in the Watchmen TV show, and she talks about specific real life events that actually happened that we’re also in Watchmen. She talks about events like the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 and WWII propaganda targeting black soldiers and locations like Dreamland Theater and Black Wall Street and she goes into further detail on these subjects. This goes to show how Watchmen while being fiction also stuck to nonfiction settings and history. Everything has history and
unfortunately this history behind these things aren’t a good one. Understanding history is important for this show because it helps us understand what people of color have to go through. This makes the main characters of the sh0w stand out more. It also helps us build a connection to the characters.
The Portrayal of Racism in Watchmen
After watching Watchmen I’d say the way it portrayed racism was done very well and the creator deserves all the praise that he gets for the great show. I’m not the only one who thinks this show was interesting and good, Victor Luckerson thought it was great too. His article talked about the show and how it mentions real life events like the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. He goes into detail on Angela Abar and Doctor Manhattan, who is a very important character in the show. He mentions how the characters are African American and that they are really important to the story and that it means a lot. The show makes you feel for the characters and overall are great protagonists.
Watchmen is good when it comes to portraying racism and Edwan Rios elaborates on that by talking about how Watchmen is a show about “racist terror that is told through the eyes of black characters” and this makes the show great. He also mentions how the show doesn’t hide anything and shows the audience the reality of what people went through which was both harsh and cruel. The show doesn’t pull any punches and the audience is there to see it all unfold. The characters in the show can help you understand what they’re going through.
Watchmen is doing what it does best, showing the importances of race and showing how it can make someone understand the troubles that African Americans have to go through. We see African Americans get treated differently in a negative way and this show helps us see that. Stewart mentions how the TV show does a better job at addressing race politics than the graphic novel does. He compares two and it is quite clear that the TV show is superior in every way. He mentions how the graphic novel is political just like the show but that the graphic novel focuses more on the superheroes. The comic barely addresses racism and the show is entirely about race. The graphic novel only has two African American characters and both of them aren’t important to the story, while the black characters in Watchmen are very important and all of them have a very important role to play. Racism is clearly shown in Watchmen and actually is what makes the show stand out so much. Angela Abar, the main character has dealt with a lot throughout the show. Her fight against the Seventh Kavalry is her greatest challenge. She comes to terms with her past and accepts herself and that shows a lot of character development. We see that watching the events happening in the show help build a background for the characters.
Modern Racism
Racism today is not very different from how it was in the past. It is still a very big issue that hasn’t been resolved. There was this one tragic event that happened as of recent and that was the George Floyd incident. The George Floyd incident happened in the summer of 2020 and was about a man by the name of George Floyd who was accused of using a counterfeit bill and was already in police custody, a policeman kneeled on his neck for nine minutes. Bazian talks about how even after this tragedy has occurred, as a result nothing has changed. Society doesn’t do anything because it easily gets dismissed, refused, and ignored. The riots and the lootings that occured after the death of George Floyd was a way for people to have their voices heard. This was a call from the people to end racism. Nowadays racism is still tough for people. Racism hasn’t changed at all and it is very difficult to accept because people have been fighting for equality for a long time.
Racism can always be tough to deal with on your own as we see Angela Abar have to deal with it alone. When it comes to situations like these, something can always be done. Percy Green and others talk about the achievements and the challenges that African Americans have faced over the years. Some events that are mentioned are the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement. These two are very well known and both have a lot of power behind them. That power is because of the people. These movements have supporters. Another movement mentioned was Hand Up United. With experience and knowing history movements can become powerful and strengthen people because of all the support it gets and all the messages that are being sent out there. In Watchmen we see Angela Abar get help to defeat the Seventh Kavalry. She isn’t able to do it alone and that is fine. Sometimes it is best to ask for or to receive help in whatever form you can get it.
The help that we see Angela Abar get is from none other than Doctor Manhattan. Doctor Manhattan was more than enough to help out Angela Abar take out the members of the Seventh Kavalry. The scene in the show shows Doctor Manhattan arriving at the last second to save Angela Abar. We see Doctor Manhattan easily get rid of the Seventh Kavalry members by making their heads explode. Angela Abar got the help she needed and I thought the scene itself was powerful. It is fascinating how Doctor Manhattan easily put an end to them. So, the Seventh Kavalry were defeated by both Doctor Manhattan and Angela Abar. This shows how working together can be very effective. This shows a victory for people of color. In history people of color lose because of their skin color and in this show we finally see them win. It is meaningful and very important.
One complication that you can say is that, though Angela Abar defeated her fight against racism, she did not defeat racism as a whole. Racism still exists when she won her fight. Nothing can be done about that. Unfortunately racism will always exist. People will always find a way to use it. The people that do need to be taught. It is important that at least Angela Abar won her fight.
Conclusion
After seeing everything unfold, we now see our results. We see that racism has had a bad history and ways that we can fight against it. We also see how getting over your past makes you stronger. It helps you develop as a person. One last thing we see is how coming together makes people powerful and shows that it can be very effective. Angela Abar has indeed won her fight against racism. Working together with Doctor Manhattan made it possible to defeat the members of the Seventh Kavalry. Sometimes doing things alone can be very tough and that’s why it is always best to reach for help whenever you can.
Junior Julca is an undergraduate student in New Jersey. He currently attends Bloomfield College and is majoring in Video Game Design.
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