The Meaning Behind Some Characters Names

Posted by Craig Kessler on March 11, 2009 at 2:30 am

A smart movie does more than just present the story and characters to its audience. It makes you look deeper into the movie to explore all aspects that it has to offer. Not only that, it drives the viewer to learn something they didn’t know before, even forcing them to research more into certain aspects that may interest them.

Hidden messages and irony in names, places, and events can deepen a movie on an underlying plane that may not be noticeable at the time the movie is watched. After watching a movie and then finding out a fact or tidbit that you previous didn’t know, but explains a movie more in depth is always a breath of fresh air, and a reason to appreciate a movie more.

I recently just found out a cool fact about the name of one of the characters in Watchmen. I recently did a snap video movie review of the Watchmen

Tonight We Raid Calais move

Heaven Can Wait movie

, but one fact that my friend Manny found out a few days after we saw the movie really intrigued me, and I want to share it with everyone who may not have known this previously.

Rorschach is one of the main characters in the movie and you learn about his abused past, and mother who is a whore, and being tortured by older boys. He has developed many psychological issues. He is shown throughout most of the movie wearing a mask which is in the pattern of an ink blot test. This alone means nothing more than just a mask if you don’t know the hidden meaning behind it.

Hermann Rorschach created the inkblot test in 1921

and the test was named after him because of it. The ink blot test is a method of psychological evaluation. The test is used to determine the personal characteristics and to judge a person’s emotional functioning.

I did not know this prior and thought the character was simply a name with no meaning behind it. But this was a great way to develop a character called Rorschach because of his complex emotional state and also to have him wear the mask of the exact test that Hermann Rorschach developed. Very cool on Allan Moore’s part, the writer of the Watchmen.

I always enjoy learning little facts after I see the movie, for me it really enhances the experience and overall movie. Did anyone know about this prior? Are there any other facts or metaphors in the movie I may have missed that someone else caught? All Dogs Go to Heaven psp

Comments : 14 Comments | Topics : Watchmen | Tags : Movie Facts,Watchmen

14 Comments

Mike
03/11/2009 at 1:02 pm

Ozymandias is the Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramesses the Great

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias
Craig
03/11/2009 at 1:07 pm

@Mike I feel like I had an idea about that before hand, but great find. In the movie they focused on the book of Ramessses, I didn’t put it all together but it makes sense. I like when creators do that.
Matt
03/11/2009 at 1:34 pm

Isn’t Dr Manhattan derived from the Manhattan Project?
Craig
03/11/2009 at 1:40 pm

@Matt I honestly don’t know for sure, I haven’t heard of any explanations about how the name of the character was derived, but it does make perfect sense and fits so well. You are probably right.
Paul
03/11/2009 at 1:45 pm

Dr. Manhattan’s name is pretty obvious, after the Manhattan Project, but the atomic science thread goes deeper through a quote by Albert Einstein:

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”

Dr Manhattan was once the human Jon Osterman whose father was a watchmaker; When the US dropped the first atom bomb Osterman Sr. made his son reluctantly become a nuclear physicist. Funny how Einstein would have willingly dropped atomic science for watchmaking and that these heroes are the watchmen aye?

Alan Moore is a clever cookie.

Paul’s last blog post..The Price of Failure
Craig
03/11/2009 at 1:58 pm

@Paul Thanks for the quote, I did not know the whole connection between the watchmaker and everything. Learning this stuff for me makes the movie so much better. Moore is so clever, actually a genius. I love finding out facts like this.
Brad
08/06/2009 at 10:47 am

I agree…the name is deep, but what I am most intrigued about is why Rorschach? For me, the Rorschach test is designed to show something about the person being tested right? So the blot will look different to every person who sees it (a flower, butterfly, ect.), but does that hold true to the mask? When a person sees him on the street they obviously don’t see the mask. When I looked at it in this light, that the mask appears however the person looking at it wants it to, I really gained respect for such a creative application of the concept.
Craig
08/06/2009 at 11:05 am

@Brad Agree, the name is deep and perfect for his complex character. I didn’t look at it as people would view his mask, but more the name reflects him because his complex and changing personalities.
haljennut hammas
08/16/2010 at 12:55 pm

I was propitious to win a train ticket to DjiboutiBut will investigate to play this page when i am back.
Guy Brizeno
09/21/2010 at 5:19 am

Get it?
Ultpqguu
07/04/2011 at 7:46 am

breitling navitimer 1884,
Herminia Flanagin
10/24/2011 at 9:24 pm

Hey Craig… Cool stuff, had no idea about Rorschach.
Herminia Flanagin´s last blog ..TV Schedule and Guide