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31_days2013-05-01 05:58 pm
bane-6.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2013-05-01 05:58 pm
May 1 [Watchmen] [Bread and Circus]
Title: Bread and Circus
Day/Theme: 1. ignoring all the voices from my wall
Series: Watchmen
Character/Pairing: Rorschach
Rating: Tweaked from something written for a prompt on the kinkmeme. I wrote it on a whim and then went back to rewrite later and then decided it fit the prompt.
For a place with so much darkness, the lights never went out. In every window, behind every door, in front of every face there were flickering screens. Behind every eye the same messages was being processed. Buy this. Dress like this. Respond like this. Emulate this. Look like this. Disapprove of this. Act like this. Be like this. The sway Veidt held over the public was disgusting and a little frightening.
He owned most of the media, had a hand in the vast majority of all of the images being presented to the public. He was responsible for what passed for pop culture these days. He got to pick what was considered 'normal'. His commercials told the world what they needed to be socially acceptable, what to spend money on. How much of American's current culture had come from him? How much of the absurdity and the depravity that Rorschach had to look at everyday had been Veidt's idea?
Rorschach would call it a conspiracy. It was, of course. It was just that it wasn't a secret. Everyone knew they were being manipulated. They were perfectly aware, even interested in the ways their minds were being exploited. He had overheard citizens talking about it, laughing about it. They talked about tropes, old and hoary, but that still got them right here, complete with a hand clasping at the heart. It made his teeth grind.
Was it sentiment that kept bringing them back to suck at the same teats? Nostalgia? He glared at the cologne ad billboard over his head. Was it just easier to declare that humans in all their complexity were really just a series of predictable themes. Were they that susceptible to archaic tradition? They would pick apart coffee commercials for underlying meaning, while living hollow lives without any.
He walked on, paying just enough attention to pick up on anything actually relevant. His face felt more like a shield than ever, not letting any of the brainwashing light and noise filter through. He saw more people staring slack-jawed at their screens. The only light in their eyes what was reflected. He would say that they needed to be woken up, rattled from this complacency, but they already knew what was being done to them. They just didn't care. What would it take for them to take back their own personalities? How much longer until they finally grew bored of the same cliches? What new bread and circuses would Veidt throw at them to keep them baaing and chewing in their paddocks?
They weren't innocents. They knew. They just couldn't be bothered to kick out or even struggle under the butcher's knife anymore. What would it take to change that? What would have to be destroyed or brought to life? What would have to burn to singe the wool away from so many eyes? Who would have to die to shock the world out of it?
Day/Theme: 1. ignoring all the voices from my wall
Series: Watchmen
Character/Pairing: Rorschach
Rating: Tweaked from something written for a prompt on the kinkmeme. I wrote it on a whim and then went back to rewrite later and then decided it fit the prompt.
For a place with so much darkness, the lights never went out. In every window, behind every door, in front of every face there were flickering screens. Behind every eye the same messages was being processed. Buy this. Dress like this. Respond like this. Emulate this. Look like this. Disapprove of this. Act like this. Be like this. The sway Veidt held over the public was disgusting and a little frightening.
He owned most of the media, had a hand in the vast majority of all of the images being presented to the public. He was responsible for what passed for pop culture these days. He got to pick what was considered 'normal'. His commercials told the world what they needed to be socially acceptable, what to spend money on. How much of American's current culture had come from him? How much of the absurdity and the depravity that Rorschach had to look at everyday had been Veidt's idea?
Rorschach would call it a conspiracy. It was, of course. It was just that it wasn't a secret. Everyone knew they were being manipulated. They were perfectly aware, even interested in the ways their minds were being exploited. He had overheard citizens talking about it, laughing about it. They talked about tropes, old and hoary, but that still got them right here, complete with a hand clasping at the heart. It made his teeth grind.
Was it sentiment that kept bringing them back to suck at the same teats? Nostalgia? He glared at the cologne ad billboard over his head. Was it just easier to declare that humans in all their complexity were really just a series of predictable themes. Were they that susceptible to archaic tradition? They would pick apart coffee commercials for underlying meaning, while living hollow lives without any.
He walked on, paying just enough attention to pick up on anything actually relevant. His face felt more like a shield than ever, not letting any of the brainwashing light and noise filter through. He saw more people staring slack-jawed at their screens. The only light in their eyes what was reflected. He would say that they needed to be woken up, rattled from this complacency, but they already knew what was being done to them. They just didn't care. What would it take for them to take back their own personalities? How much longer until they finally grew bored of the same cliches? What new bread and circuses would Veidt throw at them to keep them baaing and chewing in their paddocks?
They weren't innocents. They knew. They just couldn't be bothered to kick out or even struggle under the butcher's knife anymore. What would it take to change that? What would have to be destroyed or brought to life? What would have to burn to singe the wool away from so many eyes? Who would have to die to shock the world out of it?