Some questions about the Judge Dredd universe

[Modern Panther]

I've just recently read the stories from round about case files 11 - 15 for the first time.  The way the concept of doubt gradually becomes a bigger part of the character really is wonderfully written.  It very slowly seeps into Dredd, rather than being a single event.

  He's clearly always had his own frustrations with the system (i think I recall a fairly early story where he's refered  to a shrink after punching an accounts judge who had questioned Dredd's decision have the city fund the treatment of an injured child), but it gradually grows during these years, countered by his willingness to follow the brutal decisions of Chief Judge Silver, or his belief that the system is necessary to protect the people.

There's a lovely short story called "John Cassavetes is dead" which sees Dredd sitting on the floor, reading a banned antique copy of the Guardian, wondering why the regime needs to be quite as restrictive as it is.

Then there's "Letter to Judge Dredd", where he is forced to confront the consequences of his actions...

[Frank]

What caused Dredd's doubts about the system ... some kind of characteristic traits of ambivalence?

Maybe. Fargo and the original Rico became disillusioned with the system [1], just as Dredd did.

Dredd's speech to his peers prior to the referendum cites his concern as consent. He still believes instant justice and rigid control [2] are necessary, but he wants to hear the citizens agree [3].

Wagner (and Grant) first started taking a look underneath Dredd's helmet back in progs 387-389 [4], which established that Dredd's latent doubts arose when his strict adherence to the rules came into conflict with his belief that he's doing good [5].

Those doubts came to a head in the wake of the Democratic March, when Chief Judge Silver's paradoxical instructions to Dredd were that in order to uphold the law he had to break it [6].

Dredd might have told himself he broke/bent the law for the common good, but that self deception imploded two years later, when his actions on that day were reframed as the root of spiralling indvidual tragedies [7].



[1] See Origins and Brothers Of The Blood, respectively

[2] Nightmares, prog 706

[3] Like a BDS&M partner taking the gag out and offering you the chance to say the safe word

[4] A Question Of Judgement, An Error Of Judgement, and A Case For Treatment

[5] It's easy for Dredd to believe rigid application of the law serves the common good in abstract terms, but more difficult in specific cases relating to individuals - in the case of both Bonnie Crickle and Fester Bunt, there's a conflict between what Dredd should do in the interests of the law and what he should do in the interests of the individual citizen

[6] Revolution, 531-533

[7] A Letter To Judge Dredd, prog 661

[JOE SOAP]

And yet, he's the same old Dredd.

[Smith]

You could say he learned the difference between law and justice over the years.Most of the time.

[Sandman1]

Where can I read about Silver's period of governing, especially during the events that inflicts Dredd with doubts?

According to Wikipedia, Alan Grant said that a softer Dredd would ruin the character. What do you prefer, an austere depiction or a more sympathetic, humane one?   

[JOE SOAP]

Where can I read about Silver's period of governing, especially during the events that inflicts Dredd with doubts?

Judge Dredd Case Files 9-15.

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=reprint&page=gnprofiles&choice=casefiles9

[Frank]

And yet, he's the same old Dredd.

Well, yeah. Like I said above, Dredd's solution to his doubts concerning the system was to hold a referendum (which he always knew he'd win) AND THEN NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN [1].

Dredd's a classic case of denial and displacement. Instead of confronting his problem, he focuses on a displacement activity, like the referendum, which he knows he can fix.

Same goes for Fargo's injunction that Dredd should "fix" the justice system (Origins). Right after that, Dredd suddenly becomes hell bent on fixing the mutant problem instead (Tour Of Duty) and dismisses Fargo's plea (see above^).

The impetus for that displacement activity was seeing the Fargo clan suffer under mutant legislation. Like Bonnie Crickle, Wm Wenders, and Fester Bunt, what Dredd believed was necessary for the common good came into conflict with the interests of the individual.

Show Dredd a crowd, and he knows what to do (break out the daystick^). He's certain that he knows what's good for the city (the rigid application of the law), but that breaks down when confronted with the consequences of that ideology applied to an individual life.


[1] Dredd takes the same attitude to consent as Julian Assange.

[Modern Panther]

What do you prefer, an austere depiction or a more sympathetic, humane one?   

Personally, I think that the appeal of Dredd is that he can pretty much be both.  One week you'll get a reflective Dredd, worrying about his mortality and legacy, the next a fascist bully, busting heads.

I'm not interested in reading a comic where the main character wanders the city fretting about his repressed feelings.  Nor am I interested in reading page after page of angry catchphrases and graphic ultraviolence.  But a reflective fascist, busting heads whilst worrying about the future he's creating...that's interesting.

[Dandontdare]

Am I the only one who can never be arsed clicking on all those links? I feel like I may be missing half the argument, burt life's too short.

[Frank]

burt life's too short

He was commissioned in 1980*, and he's stuck around long after his human counterpart took Sega's shilling. He's had a pretty good innings.


* Tharg and The Thrill Suckers, prog 180

[Smith]

Am I the only one who can never be arsed clicking on all those links? I feel like I may be missing half the argument, burt life's too short.

You not missing much.Unless you need a reminder of what denial is.

[Tjm86]

A river in Egypt?

[Sandman1]

And yet, he's the same old Dredd.

Well, yeah. Like I said above, Dredd's solution to his doubts concerning the system was to hold a referendum (which he always knew he'd win) AND THEN NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN [1].

Dredd's a classic case of denial and displacement. Instead of confronting his problem, he focuses on a displacement activity, like the referendum, which he knows he can fix.

Didn't he confront his problem with doubts and guilt by searching for expiation in the stories A Letter to Judge Dredd, Tale of the Dead Man, Necropolis and Democracy Referendum?

[JOE SOAP]

Didn't he confront his problem with doubts and guilt by searching for expiation in the stories A Letter to Judge Dredd, Tale of the Dead Man, Necropolis and Democracy Referendum?

"The education of a man is never completed until he dies." or something like that.

[Frank]

Didn't he confront his problem with doubts and guilt by searching for expiation in the stories A Letter to Judge Dredd, Tale of the Dead Man, Necropolis and Democracy Referendum?

In the long series of posts above, I argued that Dredd avoided directly confronting his doubts by engaging in a series of displacement activities [1].

I contend that 'fixing' these injustices did not address the fundamental injustice and hypocrisy at the root of Justice Department's totalitarian rule, of which Dredd seems always to have been aware [2].

Here's the letter that set Dredd off on his Dead Man/Necropolis/Twilight's last Gleaming odyssey. It's difficult to argue that winning the referendum fixed any of this, answered this, or prevented this happening again (see the image SOAP posted above^).


[1] The referendum called after Necropolis, for example, just gave Dredd the apparent consent of the populace to carry on doing all the unjust, ineffective things he'd been doing before.

[2] In his manual on the job of a street judge (his Comportment), Dredd describes this as 'The Big Lie' (prog 676)