Postmodernism - Links to my question - The Man of Tomorrow VS The Dark Knight

• Modernism - born out of optimism - post war utopia
• Becomes blind, follows rules without question, Form Follows Function
• Modernism is: Innovative, Individual, Serious
• Post-Modernism is: Pessimistic, Disillusioned, Chaotic, Parody

In relation to my question, I think the point in the lecture when I feel I grasped the nature of Modernism and Post-Modernism was the example of comparing fictional comic book cities Metropolis and Gotham (obviously the only way I could understand it was through being a nerd). 

Metropolis is a clean futuristic haven protected by Superman, the brightly coloured ever-smiling curly haired hero with every power under the sun (that's a good pun for Superman readers trust me). It represents everything about innovation and progress, constantly looking to the future and development. One of Superman's titles is even "The Man of Tomorrow". The only threats to the city are usually alien, and the only prominent evil the city seems to have produced is Lex Luthor, who is still an expert at making the public deem him one of the good guys.

Conversely, Gotham is a fucking hellhole. The only defining trait of Gotham that surpasses the criminals is the vigilante who knocks all their teeth out, the Batman. The opposite of Superman, operating in darkness and never revealing his face, known as "The Dark Knight". Gotham is pessimism personified, a perpetually dark dystopia that's only defence from total chaos is the brutal enforcement of Batman. 

Metropolis and Gotham are useful examples of Modernism and Post-Modernism, existing as polar opposites with opposite narratives, characters, and visual design. These two cities are shaped around their respective heroes, or the heroes are shaped around the cities. Superman would never be a compelling character in Gotham, because he could find any number of elaborately placed bombs within seventeen seconds and then freeze breath the Joker into a block of ice and kick him into the sun. Just as Batman could never be a compelling character in Metropolis, as someone like Doomsday (pictured below) could rock up (that's a good pun also) and punch Batman through the core of the Earth with the effort a normal person would use to accidentally crush a snail. I think this defines the contrasting nature of modernism and post-modernism at least in a narrative and thematic sense.

I wanted to post about my thoughts towards this primarily because I have focused on Watchmen in my essay, which is set in an alternate universe America that is basically Gotham on a nationwide scale. What I now understand about Postmodernist values has helped me better understand the setting of Watchmen and its contextual importance as a commentary on the disillusionment with capitalist-focused ideas of progress and innovation.