Watching (through) the Watchmen: Representation and Deconstruction of the Controlling Gaze in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman

Autori

  • Daniele Croci Università degli Studi di Milano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13130/2035-7680/4048

Parole chiave:

Graphic Novel, Comics studies, Neil Gaiman, Greek tragedy, postmodernism

Abstract

Two of the most widely represented and recognisable cultural examples of the gaze that spies are the supernatural and/or divine eye, which in religious, mythical and tragic narratives seeks and punishes those who misbehave, and on the other hand the controlling, pervasive gaze of technological surveillance, which is typical of modern institutional apparatuses. This essay aims to analyse the ways in which a highly sophisticated, postmodern graphic novel, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (1989), elaborates precise representational strategies in order to blend, metaphorize and then deconstruct the aforementioned narratives of control; in the 2000-page fantasy bildungsroman, mythological, pagan and literary elements are combined to shape the Eumenides, a tripartite deity of vengeance which is represented as pure, abstract gaze, and whose inescapable duty is to punish those who act against nature; however, a complex articulation of the concepts of agency and responsibility manages to undermine the ideological foundation of such essentialism, in order to negotiate forms of resistance against vigilance which revolve around the very necessity of the gaze. Michael Foucault’s works about Panopticism, and especially the relationship between power and control provide the theoretical background for such examinations.

 

Metriche

Caricamento metriche ...

Biografia autore

Daniele Croci, Università degli Studi di Milano

Daniele Croci (1988) is a Ph.D. student in Linguistic, Literary and Intercultural Studies in European and Extra-european Perspectives at the University of Milan and currently co-manages the website of British writer Iain Sinclair; he graduated in 2013 from the University of Milan with a dissertation titled “Radical Doubts – Power, order and subjectivity in Macbeth and popular cultures”. His main interests include postmodernism in graphic novels, with a particular focus on literary canons and appropriations; the relationship between power and ideologies; utopian and dystopian narratives.

Dowloads

Pubblicato

2014-05-13

Come citare

Croci, Daniele. 2014. «Watching (through) the Watchmen: Representation and Deconstruction of the Controlling Gaze in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman». Altre Modernità, n. 11 (maggio):120-35. https://doi.org/10.13130/2035-7680/4048.

Fascicolo

Sezione

Saggi Ensayos Essais Essays