I made the mistake of reading this interview at stupid o'clock in the morning, and I'm steamed!
Alan Moore, you are an artist and an author whose work I have read and respected, but respectively,
get your head out of your ass!
Moore, tired of being questioned about him work, his undeniably dark, violent, very adult work, has decided to "retire" from public life, and cease to give interviews. His right to do so, no doubt about it.
Where I have my issues are some of his blanket statements about the entire comic book genre.
Dear Alan Moore, superheroes are NOT a 'cultural catastrophe'. Society and people need characters like this. Throughout the entirety of written human history, there have been superheroes.
Ever hear of Gilgamesh? Or Beowulf? Maybe that Odysseus guy? What about the Arthurian legends, or Robin Hood. They may not be as instantly recognisable as some big guy in blue tights with a giant S on his chest, but they performed the same function. The figure who is more, is other, and outside of ordinary life. He (being honest, it's mostly he) has powers and abilities beyond those of ordinary men, and can oppose evils and injustices that those ordinary men cannot. It is a social and cultural catharsis, not a catastrophe. The catastrophe would occur if humanity ceased to believe in the possibility of the extraordinary. Some amazing anthropologists have written brilliant work about the necessity of socially sanctioned, even organised times and spaces for taboo behaviour to occur. All the things that can't occur in order to maintain equilibrium and continuum, can occur in story, in play, in the Carnivalesque ( to use Bahktin).
And how telling is it that the harder life is, the more people need stories and hope. Ugh!
Also, I strongly disagree with the statement that they were originally "unambiguously children's characters". Yes, they were a lot more naive and innocent then your work. To my knowledge, Superman has never had a character rape someone to death. And if you don't want someone to comment on the sexual violence prevalent in your work, don't put as much in. Easy.
But to write off the entirety of the mid centuries body of as just for kids is arrogant and blind. It is accessible to children, yes. It is also, and will always be accessible to older audiences. Studies have proven that a child who is too young to understand certain concepts, will simply not see those concepts within the media. An older reader will. Just because it is not all sex and brutal violence, doesn't make it too childish for an adult reader.
Your work, however, is clearly, unambiguously, deliberately only for a select audience. One who can handle the amount of murder, rape,cruelty, and racism, as well as the objectification of all of your female characters.
You helped change an entire genre, and impacted generations of writers and readers, and as I said, I respect what you've done. But stop being such a disrespectful asshole about anything different to your work. Stop condemning people who choose to curate their own media in a way that makes them happy. Stop looking down on all the people who live better live for finding catharsis through the avatar of the superhero, and the story that offers hope and play and resolution and and the stuff we need in our lives and can't always find.
Alan Moore, try a little
Perspective.
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