V For Vendetta Good Vs Evil

“People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.” In an authoritarian government, the citizens listen to their director because they have this fear within them, that if they do not do what is asked of them they will face consequences. But in reality, the citizens have power over the government and the government is the one that is living in fear. At any moment someone can threaten the government. This has been seen through terrorist acts such as 9/11 terror attacks, and this has been demonstrated in the movie V For Vendetta. In the movie V For Vendetta, V attempts to bring freedom and justice into a society that has been corrupt from having an authoritarian government. He threatens the government and tells them a year in advance that he will blow up the most important building in their city, but the government was not able to stop him. V wanted the city of London, England to have freedom and rights, free press, and to no longer have to live in fake fear, all three which are factors of an authoritarian government. In V For Vendetta, it is displayed that the citizens have no rights and freedoms, the media is controlled by the government, and that the government creates fear.

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.

Good versus evil is one of the oldest morality plays in human history, a glorious battle between the forces that would protect life and those who would destroy it. But who do you cheer when you are faced with the impossible decision of choosing a side in a contest between evil versus evil, between dumb vs. dumber, between Godzilla and Mothra?

In V for Vendetta, the distinction between criminality and heroism is nebulous. Evey’s, the Fingermen’s, and the viewer’s judgments, towards V and his actions all yield potentially different verdicts. Depending upon ones orientation and sensibilities it is either the Fingermen or V who represent unbridled evil. The film invites us to question whether morality is absolute or relative. Moreover, due to the shifting plot lines the viewer’s judgments on who is good and who is evil are challenged. Our evolving perspective on right and wrong tells us much about our values, our ambitions, our fears, and our fantasies.

In the world that we live in right now, anything is possible and that is for the good and the bad. Like represented in the novel, “1984” by George Orwell, the party used technology to make a whole new society that goes by the rules of the party, which just means that anything that the party does is justifiable because they are the ones making the rules and anybody who doesn’t obey them gets “vaporized”. Another example of the government controlling the people and invading their rights for the benefit of the government is the movie “V for Vendetta” directed by James McTeigue in 2006. After reading “1984” and “V for Vendetta”, some might wonder if our

Mass executions occur under the delusion of creating a “purer society” under the “will of God.” Orwell witnessed these horrors of the Second World War and served even for the Spanish Civil War during the authoritarian rule of Franco (CITE).

The world can make or break us, but it depends on if they let society change your way of life and being. Innocence is a trait that we are born with they do not have enough knowledge to act in evil. It is the way people are raised, society and even human nature that enhances a negative toll on people.

History has a tendency to repeat itself.  One of humanity’s most popular ways of getting its point across is through violence.  When words are no longer enough to argue a point, human casualties not only directly solve the problem, but symbolically send a message to all those affected as well.  Just as the American colonies fought against the British for Freedom when their voice was no longer heard, and just as the Islamic extremists used terrorism to send an evil message to America, both V and Chancellor Sutler used violence to gain a voice in a world of chaos.

2. Altieri, C. 2003. The particulars of rapture: An aesthetics of the affects, Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press.

Throughout the graphic novel V for Vendetta, Evey Hammond, one of the main characters of the story, undergoes many changes. At the beginning of the novel, Evey is a sixteen-year-old girl doing what she can to survive on her own under the Norsefire regime, but by the end of the novel, she is intent on creating a new and better world. Most of the changes Evey experiences in the story are brought about by the things V causes her to experience, he doesn’t directly tell her much but instead leads her in her learning so she can come to her own conclusions and grow as a person. The biggest change Evey experiences in the novel is when V kidnaps and tortures her while pretending to be a government agent as well as giving her the note from Valerie that he received while in a similar situation. V does this to Evey to make her stronger and only lets her go when she refuses to give up her integrity. V speaks of the two faces of anarchy, saying there is both a creator and a destroyer, from the novel we can see that V is the destroyer and he sees Evey as the one to become the creator, after which time the destroyer is needed no more. We see towards the end of the novel after that only after V, the destroyer, dies can the creator, Evey, take over.

V for Vendetta is a movie that immediately grasps the viewers attention. It has a tendency to seem twisted and dark. However, after examining the film more closely the themes began to emerge and started to make sense. V for Vendetta seems to align with Plato’s ideals making V’s actions seems less terroristic and begin to shape up to be that of a vigilante.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." V for Vendetta is an action packed thriller that involves lots of intense scenes and follows a great storyline. This film does an awesome job of keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout. This movie is great in showing that the people are powerful and can be in charge, if they put their minds to it.

The Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher Nolan, demonstrates the idea of good versus evil. Batman is known as the protagonist, and Joker is known as the ultimate villain. The representation of crime in the film is seen from the actions of both characters. The film essentially depicts the act of deviance meaning, “behaviour that violates social norms, including laws”. In normality the government would have the greatest amount of power, but in the Gotham city, power is complex. There is minimal structure of law and order in Gotham city due to powerful people like Batman and the Joker. Citizens of Gotham city can no longer fight for themselves in a world filled with supernatural powers. Therefore, the only hope that citizens have rest in the hands of Batman. Although Batman attempts to save Gotham city from Joker’s criminal intentions. Batman, however, also plays a role in deviant activity while attempting to catch the Joker. Realistically, Batman violates the moral code due to destructive behaviour, and putting the lives of citizens at harm. He does not care for social norms, nor whether his acts are of legality. He is devoted to combat organized crime with Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham city. Batman is in fact, the definition of crime, he understands but does not abide to individual rights and social contracts which make up the rule of law. In addition, the man behind Batman, Bruce Wayne also portrays a form of deviance by disguising himself as Batman.

2a) Describe the differences between the fascist Norsefire government’s and V’s anarchist view of a “healthy country.” How do Norsefire and V define the role of the government and the role of the citizen differently?

“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;