George Orwell 's The Film V For Vendetta Directed By James Mcteigue

In our society today, we have all these rights, but imagine if we did not. 1984, written by George Orwell, and V for Vendetta, directed by James McTeigue, both paint accurately scary descriptions about the government in the future and the dystopian society. 1984, written in 1949, was intended to be a portrayal of the future and V for Vendetta, made in 2005, shows Britain in power in 2038. Both of these pieces of literature were not far off from their description. As every single year passes by, our own society starts to reflect images from these books. When the government has this much power over the people, the people rebel, but can they be a success or not?

In the film V for Vendetta the viewer is welcomed to a dystopia in which the government not only controls its citizens, but removes their privacy, civil

Nations all around the world are still healing from the wounds of twentieth century totalitarianism, yet more seems to be on the horizon. In his 1984 magnum opus, George Orwell warns future generations of the many dangers of allowing government, or the powerful few, from being the chiefs of law expression and history using the eerie, all-powerful dystopian Party. Unfortunately, it is a warning few have truly heeded in the past half century. Resulting from a lack of written laws, the Party may prosecute its citizens relentlessly and without reason. Moreover, the Party maintains an iron grip on all published information, ensuring a death hold on all free expression and education. Yet, above all, the Party controls history; it rewrites, revises and republishes the past to secure their totalitarian future. In spite of these warnings, the decades following the publication of this novel saw nations continue on the

Literacy has been used in many forms throughout time and one of these forms is to revolt against unfair governments and totalitarian governments. These forms of literature often demonstrated another type of totalitarian government, the film ‘V for vendetta’ directed by James McTeigue and the novel ‘1984’ written by George Orwell are great examples of this. V for vendetta shows a totalitarian government in an alternative London and 1984 shows a totalitarian government in a fictional world.

Imagine a society in which its citizens have forfeited all personal liberties for government protection and stability; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, explores a civilization in which this hypothetical has become reality. The inevitable trade-off of citizens’ freedoms for government protection traditionally follows periods of war and terror. The voluntary degradation of the citizens’ rights begins with small, benign steps to full, totalitarian control. Major methods for government control and censorship are political, religious, economic, and moral avenues. Huxley’s Brave New World provides a prophetic glimpse of government censorship and control through technology; the citizens of the World State mimic those of the real world by trading

Through the dystopic texts of 1984 written by George Orwell and V for Vendetta directed by James McTeigue, the concept of a cautionary tale is portrayed by the dystopic qualities present in the highlighted texts. To which a dystopic text is an exploration of restrictive and controlling societies which reflect modern day concerns. To portray the texts as a warning story, Orwell and McTeigue give depictions of the dystopic qualities of their worlds, through the loss of independence and freedom and emphasise the importance of the individual through its loss in the dystopic societies.

Any government with total control is worth being feared and having a group of individuals who go against their government. With complete control, a government is capable of committing acts against their citizens, which can be perceived as “something good” from the government’s point of view. In 1984 by George Orwell, and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, the main characters, Winston and Harrison, feel oppressed by the government's acts and events, try to overthrow their government, and go through a realization of hopelessness and defeat.

Kurt Vonnegut has strong themes of lack of individuality and government control in his stories. In the story Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut uses themes of both individuality and government control to give readers a deeper meaning to his story. In a country where "Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else"(Vonnegut 1) our main character Harrison is above the government mandated level and the government was unable to disable him like his dad who was required by law to wear his handicap ear radio at all time(Vonnegut 3).

George Washington once said, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” With the ability to change society in vast directions, government is the controlling power of its people. Its power to control our nation’s economy and law are something to be feared. However, there are always more numbers in society than in government. Society is limitless, broad, and expanding. Government is small, limited, and finite. For this reason, the general population should hold no fear in guiding the government in its choices. 1984 written by George Orwell and V for Vendetta directed by James

George Orwell’s key objective throughout his novel, 1984, was to convey to his readers the imminent threat of the severe danger that totalitarianism could mean for the world. Orwell takes great measures to display the horrifying effects that come along with complete and dominant control that actually comes along with totalitarian government. In Orwell’s novel, personal liberties and individual freedoms that are protected and granted to many Americans today, are taken away and ripped from the citizen’s lives. The government takes away freedom and rights from the people so that the ruling class (which makes up the government), while reign with complete supremacy and possess all power.

It is believed that complete government authority is only possible through coercion and deceit. In both George Orwell’s book, 1984, and James McTeigue’s film, V for Vendetta, abusive and deceptive tactics are used by oppressive governments in order to change the behaviours and perceptions of their citizens. This is done to ensure that there are no acts of rebellion that challenge their sovereignty. Despite the similarity between these two dystopian societies, however, psychological manipulation is more effective in 1984 than in V for Vendetta because of the absence of laws, staged acts of terrorism, and lack of religious belief.

Alan Moore outlines the issues that face the totalitarian government in the 1990s, and he said that “People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” In V for Vendetta, there was a problem which was an enmity between the totalitarian government and the minority. This book showed that the minority was controlled by the government’s power to control and regulate people in the same reflection. At first, the minority accepted the rules and there weren’t any rebellions to release themselves from those rules. Then, the effort to compete against totalitarian government was shown by the character V, and he tried to show his power which also represented the minority’s power in Britain. V’s power caused pressure from the government, and the power was aimed to overthrow the government’s power which was described as rebellion and revenge. Alan Moore highlights the ills of society and insinuates how the environment of the society creates this essential need for violence. Moore employs motifs, foreshadowing, and symbolism for a societal shift on the environment’s flaws and urgency for violence.

In V for Vendetta, by director James McTeigue, the character Evey experiences a rebirth by shaving her head. Her conversion is forced upon her by V through torture and imprisonment, forcing her to deal with emotions that she had been running from her whole life stemming from the government killing her mother and father because they were political activist; rebelling against the false truth that the country forced upon their people. Knowing this, the imprisonment pushes her to live without fear invoking revenge. The opening scene in V for Vendetta is in black and white which gives connotations of historical context; "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky, the music during the opening is similar to what is played when someone is embarking on a battle,

Of the many symbolic masks, the Guy Fawkes mask stands out as one of the most effective, often being used as a “masked identity” in order to make profound statements. Not only does this secret identity create more attention to the “masked one” but it also diverts attention to the cause rather than the identity. Literally using a mask, Fawkes was the main influence of the character “V”, in James McTeigue’s, V For Vendetta. V’s connections and motivations to Guy Fawkes, his attempt to justify himself as a terrorist, and V’s concealment of his true identity, collectively define the message that V conveys to his audience: to break parliament and take control of their own country.

In conclusion when analyzing the events in the four Ministries and the current U.S government, media, consumption, constant war, and violating human rights are used to condition one’s citizens under complete control. George Orwell gravely warns one of a dystopic future and how the freedom of speech and thought are the most valuable assets, as they alone can stop totalitarian rule.