Overcome, Perish, 1984 and V for Vendetta
Alan Moore and George Orwell’s stylistic writing choices and parallels between fascist governments and the methods used to oppose them in their pieces “V for Vendetta” and “1984” with the use of rhymes and television to represent a biased sense of view and salvation left in history, and how the Party uses their own symbols to repress that salvation.
1984 and V for Vendetta both take place in a Great Britain controlled by a totalitarianistic society with non conformist characters who take on that society with a unique approach. Winston Smith uses a private rebellion between himself and Julia as his nonconformity against the Inner Party. In V for Vendetta, however, V’s take on resisting the Norsefire Party is very direct and outspoken to the public. In their own ways, they both hide their hatred for the Party. Winston himself keeps his meetings with Julia hush hush in Mr. Charrington’s room, while V’s identity is never revealed, always wearing a mask. Symbols play a key role in establishing the stories of Winston and V. 1984’s chant for the Brotherhood is the “Oranges and Lemons” English nursery rhyme refers to the bells of churches in London that extends on by people who matter to Winston; and everyone who betrays him. Mr. Charrington gives him the first piece, but is revealed to be a part of the Thought Police, Julia, who betrays him at the end of it all before her mental death, and O’Brian, who instead of his savior becomes his torturer. The Fifth of November is also a rhyme that’s based off real events, referencing Guy Fawkes’s failed plan to blow up the English Parliament on November 5th, 1605. Both rhymes are tied into Great Britain and a passion that varies between the protagonists, providing them with their only link to the past. Television is also a main symbol for the government’s control- both the telescreens in 1984 and the telly in V for Vendetta broadcast only the Party’s views and bias. Gordon, a side character in V for Vendetta, airs his uncensored skit on television as an unintentional way of oppressing the glorification of Chancellor Sutler, before being killed and dragged away from his own home. The slogans for both the Inner Party and the Norsefire
The first similarity between 1984 and V for Vendetta is that the society is being run by totalitarian rule. It is the government that controls the lives of the people and how the society should be run. In 1984, ‘Big Brother’ aka the Inner party, is the figure that keeps an eye on the people and
In the dystopian worlds created by the film director Andrew Niccol and renowned author George Orwell, notions of control and freedom are explored. Both worlds contain an overarching power that governs the rest of the population and restricts freedom of individuals, these powers also aid in the progression of technology, which further act to control individuals. The characterisations of the protagonists of each text portray the lack of freedom from the perspective of those that are affected. Both authors use a variety of techniques to portray themes of control and freedom in their texts.
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.
Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol are prophetic social commentaries which explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government. Both texts depict a futuristic, dystopian society in which individuality is destroyed in favour of faceless conformity. Niccol and Orwell through the experiences of their protagonists reflect the impact isolation from society has on individuals. The authors of both texts also use their protagonists Winston, who cannot understand the rhetoric of the government party and Vincent, who is trapped, unable to achieve his dreams because of his imperfect genome, to demonstrate individual rebellion against society and explore the significant social injustices of a
Thomas C. Foster’s book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, tackles the process of uncovering the underlying complexities and symbols that authors incorporate into their literary works. In its most lucid form, Foster’s message is that, when reading a work of literary merit, anything you may postulate has a deeper meaning most likely does, since skilled authors do not include items and occurrences just to include them. The dystopian literature novels 1984, Animal Farm, and Brave New World follow this trend as they interpolate different motifs with deeper political and symbolic context; however, Foster’s statements do not only apply to written literature. The movie V For Vendetta, released in 2005, connects to How to Read Literature Like
V for Vendetta opens similarly, immediately addressing the absence of freedom and independence coexistent in 1984. Following a montage of Evie and V, the dystopic qualities of their world are quickly revealed. Curfews set up along with roaming Fingermen emphasis the freedom that has been removed from its citizen’s as well as the implied illegal action towards something as ordinary as going to dinner with her boss. McTeigue emphasises this element of forsaken freedom and independence through the use of the Film Noir with the dark forbidden scenes portraying the danger in Evie’s actions. The use of medium and long shots was used to convey her anxiety while also revealing the scenery dotted with the sinister fingermen. Complete with the tense music playing during the scene it exposes to the audience the dystopic nature of the society present in the film.
George Orwell’s 1984 is probably one of the most famous political novels in History. It´s strong criticism to authoritarianism, government abuses and sameness makes it one of the most analysed novels of the twentieth century. Hence, Orwell uses a lot of literary devices such as vivid imagery, symbolism of color and all sorts of allusions to convey the reader into his powerful criticism of authoritarian societies and how the promote the decay of free-thinking and individualism, which his the meaning of his narrative prose.
The film 'V for Vendetta' directed by James McTeigue addresses the idea of governmental authority and control in our society. One key scene where this is portrayed is in the opening, where Evey goes out to visit Gordon Deitrich after curfew. The futuristic landscape of a totalitarian England is displayed here, where the oppressive party in power have created a culture of fear to ensure the conformity of the citizens. However, in contrast, the final scene of the film where a crowd converges to watch Parliament blow up, illustrates a further idea. That when united, it is the people who have the power to change their society, through rebellion and political uprising.
1984, Orwell’s last and perhaps greatest work, deals with drastically heavy themes that still terrify his audience after 65 years. George Orwell’s story exemplifies excessive power, repression, surveillance, and manipulation in his strange, troubling dystopia full of alarming secrets that point the finger at totalitarian governments and mankind as a whole. What is even more disquieting is that 1984, previously considered science fiction, has in so many ways become a recognizable reality.
The first similarity between 1984 and V for Vendetta is that the society is being run by totalitarian rule. It is the government that controls the lives of the people and how the society should be run. In 1984, ‘Big Brother’ aka the Inner party, is the figure that keeps an eye on the people and uses telescreens to watch their movement while in V for Vendetta;
George Orwell, the writer of many highly regarded literary works, is extremely interested in the power of language, mainly how it is abused. By analyzing two of his works, 1984 and Politics and The English Language, it is clear that Orwell is using his writing to bring awareness to the dangers of the manipulation, misuse, and decline of language. In 1984 he demonstrates how language can be used to control thought and manipulate the past. This is proven throughout the novel by examining the language of Newspeak and how it is key to controlling the totalitarian state, and how using language to alter and manipulate history can shape reality. In his essay Politics and the English Language Orwell
Although governments possess the ultimate power over the law in their society, they should not underestimate the effect of unity within their people. Even if a decision is made, if the people disagree, ultimately they overpower that if they stand undivided. In the movie “V for Vendetta”, the people of Britain are being oppressed and put in danger by their government. Chancellor Sutler believes that fear will cause the citizens to obey, but it does the opposite, when V becomes their symbol of hope. Even those who may not fully understand the cause, such as the little girl, start to paint his symbol over the propaganda posters
In James McTeigue’s film V for Vendetta he provides insight on London as a police state, occupied by a fascist government and a defender known as V. The government tells the citizens just enough information for them through their everyday lives. Citizens have no control over their lives at all. To end this disaster V uses a variety of terrorist tactics to fight the authoritarians of the world he now lives in. In the resolution of the film, V rescues a young woman named Evey from a group of secret police known as finger man. With saving Evey from this life or death situation, V instantly discovers an accomplice in his fight against England’s oppressors. Slowly but surely v exposes pieces of his mysterious background to Evey, just enough to help her find her true self. “Artists use lies to tell the truth while politicians use them to cover the truth up” Evey tells us (McTeigue). The unrevealing happens just as V wants it to, every trick, plot, and scam. All of his tricks are to help the citizens though not to harm them as the government does. McTeigue’s film has numerous themes and ideas, and the major themes are
V for Vendetta is set in the future in England and it depicts the events following a major world war, terrorist attacks and large amounts of degradation within the nation and world. The government that is in power is at first shown as the standard postindustrial government that uses media to inform the people, and in most cases, spread their form of propaganda. The government prides itself in being efficient, in maintain control and the safety of its citizens. The film slowly shows how the government took power and how its use of power resembles a model like Weber’s. To take power, there had to be a party that could seize power, this is where the bottom line focus came in. The seizing power used fear, but they use of terrorist attacks committed by
“V for Vendetta" is a movie about freedom, about human struggle against the state, the government of the sacrifice of a symbol. V for Vendetta was born from the successful combination of a sudden, seemingly incongruous things: out of the comic’s conventions and the anti-globalization pathos. I think this movie is a combination of the of Lewis Carroll’s abstract absurdity and George Orwell’s totalitarian nightmare. Alice meets with Hitler. Evey dressed up and went out on a date, but instead of rabbit hole, she found the black "funnel". Once the British had already made a movie "It Happened Here," an alternative fantasy on the theme of the Nazi’s occupation of England - now the enemy did not come from outside but from the inside. In the near future, England is living under a power of tyrant, neurotic clown with flabby face. Supreme Chancellor autocratically governed the country. Bishops are concerned about the moral health of the nation. People are constantly live in fear of external threat after the tragic virus attacks a few years ago. Every person sentenced to death if he keeps a Koran. Same thing for the "unnatural" sex. There was nothing else to be executed for;