V For Vendetta Summary

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.

In the fictional reading of V for Vendetta, the totalitarian government is centralized and controlling. In the beginning, the government officials take advantage of their power. Throughout the reading, we learn about the government and its branching. People who work in “The Eye” are surveilling and ultimately making sure there is no type of rebellion. At “The Head” the leader stays in contact with the other institutions, “The Nose” and “The Ear”. All these come together creating a dictator. Using the theoretical lenses, there are some that I found interesting and caught my attention. Some of the lenses are easier to understand than others but relate to the story.

In the film V for Vendetta, the director, James McTeigue uses symbolism, costume and dialogue to emphasise the idea of everybody having a right to individuality, and the right - and duty – to resist forced conformism.

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.

The NorseFire government of V for Vendetta and the Party of 1984 are inarguably born of the same notion of total control. Take, for example, the use of mass media deployed by both governments to manipulate the thought patterns of their respective citizens. The “2 minute hate” of 1984, consisting solely of animalistic rage and hatred towards Goldstein, was designed to influence not only the thoughts of Oceania’s citizens, but in turn to also influence their actions. The Party planted a daily seed in the minds of it’s people. Day by day that seed, that idea, grew and grew, constantly compounding on itself to deliver a false reality. This is psychological manipulation at it’s very core. Yet it is only a means to achieve a goal, and in this instance as in many others, the goal is totalitarian control.

“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.

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.

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?

To continue, V for Vendetta was Allan Moore 's response to what he witnessed as a corrupt government under the rein of the late Margaret Thatcher. V for Vendetta is a graphic novel that demonstrates what would happen if humans fully committed themselves to the social contract, the law of nature, as illustrated by Thomas Hobbes. V for Vendetta is set in a

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.

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

Symbols are used to signify values and ideas, carrying meaning beyond that which appears to be described. Political symbols, in particular, represent the ideals that define a society, and as such, are compelling forces. Some such symbols can be used to instill fear in people and subdue them to allow corrupt regimes to continue to asserting their dominance in a society and maintain control. In the face of such injustice and oppression, other political symbols can, arguably, carry an even greater value, as they can give strength to the marginalized, giving them an emblem under which they can express their ideals. Simple objects can hold such power since the ideas they symbolize are timeless, transcending a single

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;

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.