2008 Woodie Awards
Think!
V for Virtue
By: Adam Henson
Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
Editor-in-Chief
Offering a grim version of the future, the movie V for Vendetta explains, with horrifying detail, what can happen when government goes unchecked. The movie, set in a future England, rehashes the fears of George Orwell's 1984, creating a society very much afraid of the government and the inevitable chaos, which would prevail without the government's protection. The movie, a Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Trilogy) endeavor, does more than just project 1984 on to the big screen, though.
It also raises some very serious questions about terrorism. Donning a Guy Fawks mask, the movie's hero would also be society's villain as well as its supposed savior, and is by definition a terrorist. Like Guy Fawks, the hero intends to blow up the English Parliament building as the beginning of a revolution intended to reclaim the government and society for the people.
The actions of the hero are not interpreted as anarchist by the film, but instead celebrated as the brave and heroic actions of a true social reformer. It is true that many social reforms, including the American Revolution and the abolishment of slavery (to name a few familiar to our American experience) were given a prelude by violence or concluded by the same.
By definition a terrorist is one who uses violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims, a definition that could be applied to any number of revolutionaries or abolishers as well as the hero of this movie.
Whether intentional or not, giving this so-called terrorist validation as a hero the movie can be interpreted to group all revolutionaries together as common people struggling for a common goal, a better version of society. In addition, it could also be interpreted to say that we (that being western society) are not fit to judge who is a terrorist, with all the evil intent that implies, or a revolutionary, with all the freedom and moral upstanding that implies.
In making that implication the movie could be seen as a blatant leftist attack on the current administration, or the Iraqi war, or even the conservative wing of American politics. It could also be seen as a glorification of those willing to do whatever it takes to, in their opinion, better society.
Because of these possible interpretations and implications, the movie, as a mirror of society or provocateur of the same, needs very serious consideration.