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Something that I brought up in the costumes thread really started me thinking. Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias have a relationship in the story that is diametrically opposite of one another.

Dr. Manhattan is naked, purley scientific, no empathy for humanity. He is a man of the future who brings scientific advancements to the world. People around him are scared of him and he generally gives people the creeps. He is unwilling to save humanity, but is always asked. His retreat is the red, dusty landscape of Mars. His name is a product of the atomic age.

Ozymandias is dressed in overblown regalia. He has extreme empathy for humanity. He is a man of the past who decorates his offices like ancient egypt, and admires Alexander the Great. People around him are drawn to his charisma and vitality. He is striving to save humanity, but is never asked. His retreat is the white, snowy landscape of Antarctica. His name is a product of the ancient world.

What do you think?

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

Interesting. But the contrast goes deeper.

Dr. Manhattan -- initially, anyway -- doesn't much care for humanity. He loves Mars in its barren, quiet beauty. Veidt loves humanity and he loves Earth so much that he'd go to any unheard-of-length to protect it.

There's also the matter of relationships. Dr. Manhattan has experienced love. In fact, his love of Janey and Laurie is the only thing binding him to humanity. Ozymandias has no wife (he may never have had a girlfriend, for all we know) and it's been hinted that he may be gay or asexual.

Finally, they are both ubermensches. They are the pinnacles of human achievement. Supermen. But in this, they are opposites, because one attained "perfection" through a lifetime of hard work and mundane exercises, while the other attained it through a freak scientific accident.

However, I can see resemblances between the two characters. For example, Ozymandias build Bubastis for company and sacrificed her. Dr. Manhattan built his palace, which was the closest thing he had to company on Mars, and allowed it to break.

Any other similarities or differences?

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

Doctor Mannhattan's story is played mostly through the emotions of himslef. You see when the Doc (not Emit Brown) realizes he gives radiation that can kill people, he falls into a deep depression resulting in his departure from Earth. This is going to be a very intense emotional story fro Synder to image for the screen, your going to have to see the grief he cuase and recieves throughout this part of the movie.

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"This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. Its us. Only us."

In breaking down the differences between the two, you may discover that Dr. Manhattan's chosen symbol is the natural circle, while Adrian's is the man-made triangle. I believe that all differences between the two (including, but not limited to, their clothing choices) stems from this basic fact.

An interesting notion. Please elaborate.

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

he never did,did he?

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Rorschach: I don't like you.
Malcolm Long: Well, why is that?
Rorschach: Because you're fat

Laugh out loud.

(Down with abbreviations I say!)

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

I'd also like to point out the similarities between the ways Jon and Veidt talk about what they consider good.

"No life. No life at all, but giant steps, ninety feet high, scoured by dust and wind into a constantly changing topographical map, flowing and shifting around the pole in ripples ten thousand years wide. Tell me... would it be greatly improved by an oil pipeline?"
- Dr. Manhattan (IX.13.3-4)

"'End of the world' does the concept no justice. The world's present would end. Its future, immreasurably vaster, would also vanish. Even our past would be cancelled. Our struggle from the primal ooze, every childbirth, every personal sacrifice rendered meaningless, leading only to dust, tossed on the void-winds. Save for Richard Nixon, whose name adorns a plaque on the moon, no human vestige would remain. Ruins become sand, sand blows away... all our richness and color and beauty would be lost... as if it had never been."
- Adrian Veidt (XI.22.6-7)

Notice the motif of the dust/sand and how they view it differently. I love it.

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Hey man, welcome back - nice post

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I view Ozy and the Doc as metaphors for Business ands Science respectively.

Adrian represents the business class. Self made, self starting, influencial, and totally in control of his image. His image is omnipresent - print, television, radio, billboards, trucks, coffee pots, spark hydrants, clothing, perfume - it goes on and on. He is revered and celebrated. He is more than a man, he is a brand. He understands what motivates the masses and uses this knowledge to manipulate the world according to his view.

Jon represents the scientific community. He is striving to understand the universe and wants to serve others but is not in control of how his creations or powers are used. The govenment uses his image to strike fear into those who break its laws or oppose it's agenda. He is feared and misunderstood. He tries to understand humanity but being logical, he cannot understand the irrational world of humans that is a odds to what he perceives as the ordered world of nature.

My opinions, of course.

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

-Juvenal

This looks like the job description of Adolf. Veidt is also vegetarian and has no known sexual life.

Except that Hitler had several sexual relationships - his niece, then Eva Braun, then Satan.

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No, he was talking about Adolf Smith. His next door neighbor.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

Really? Not enough to prevent some writers to believe he was homosexual and build a theory around that. The point is that sexuality was really a minor point of his life. True or not but this how he appeared. And this is how Ozy appears even more. Was it a clue from Moore, as is his german ascent?

Well, some people think that Hitler was an atheist as well but that's highly disputed.

Plus, a large amount of people think that the moon landing and 9/11 were government conspiracies so you should probably take anything anyone ever says ever with a big fat grain of salt.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

Being an atheist myself it would bother me that Hitler was one too. But honestly, just like his sexuality, it's rather irrelevant to who he was and his ideology. Just like the fact he was vegetarian.



Don't worry for me, I'm a skeptic.

lol He also had a moustache. Of course, we know that everyone with a moustache isn't evil.

Goatees on the other hand...

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

"There's a cello in your house now."

But nobody is able to wear his mustache style without immediately recall the German dictator.

Josef Stalin. He had a nice thick handlebar going. Hitler had some little Charlie Chaplin crap.

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