V, The Revolutionary Leader Of V For Vendetta
His name is V, the iconic protagonist of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Although he is probably best known for his film of the same name in 2005. The comic began to be published in the 1980s in the British magazine Warrior . Then the famous American publishing house DC distributed it.
This change in its cast and subsequent film adaptation allowed the work to reach a mass audience. Despite the fact that originally it was not a work for the general public, but a work out of the ordinary, “not for just anyone”. However, the passage in the hands of a Hollywood titan, Warner Bros, allowed the work to adapt, to soften and to become more “digestible”. This made Alan Moore very angry, so much so that he then asked that his name be removed from the credits.
V for Vendetta was born at a time when the UK was under the government of Margaret Thatcher, whose conservative ideas and policies contrast sharply with the anarchist ideals of Alan Moore and the anti-conformism of David Lloyd. The two authors were strongly influenced by their own contemporary reality, by the social and political problems of their country. What would the world be like if, in the end, the most totalitarian governments triumphed?
V’s dystopian future for Vendetta
V’s story for Vendetta presents a dystopian future in which the most dominant and conservative fascism came to power. After a war, fear spread throughout British society, leading citizens to support Leader Susan. In exchange for protection and stability, they gave it all their culture and freedom.
All traces of past history have been eliminated. As well as those of people who died in resettlement camps. Because a people who have no history have no references and, therefore, they can be manipulated as they please.
It reminds us of works like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury or 1984 by George Orwell. Futures without freedom, futures without history in which the population seems to fall asleep despite the loss of the most fundamental rights. Faced with all this oppression, V is excited as the hero or the villain who will lead the United Kingdom to awakening.
The similarities with our society are far from insignificant. Control and manipulation of the media, conformism, fear of change, wealth and privileges accumulated by power, etc. Why fight for our rights if we can buy a car? This is the company shown in V for Vendetta . A society which no longer remembers its past, which has lost its ideals and which ignores equality.
V is a character whose past we do not know. It is not known who he was prior to his time in Larkhill resettlement camp. In return, we know that he survived all the experiments that we may have had on him. So, unlike the rest of the population, he still remembers his ideals, his history, his art… As a result, he came to save them. And thus, to make people react, so that they put the fear aside and to fight for what is right.
V behind the mask
It’s impossible to “unmask” V without doing some comic book and movie plot spoilers . Although we will focus more on the first one because it is the original work. Moore usually debunks heroes and villains, as seen with The Joker in The Killing Joke . V is seen as a terrorist, as a villain at the start of the play. He defines himself as “the black sheep”. But is V really a bad guy?
It is for the government, for false security. And so it is for all who see how the foundations of his power waver ; it is for the bishop or for Chief Susan himself. The media, totally at the service of power, will try to spread fear among the population. The same fear that drove the fascists to conquer the UK. V will be labeled a terrorist and in a way we can see him that way given that he uses violence to accomplish his task. What Moore is trying to show us is that those who have always been good, maybe, are not so good.
And if we think of political or social revolutions, of changes that brutally disrupted the established order, such as the French Revolution, we will see that, faced with the figure of the oppressor, a peaceful revolutionary path rarely triumphs. V wants peace, equality, but to achieve it he needs violence. Laws and justice are at the service of power. So V has no choice but to take justice into his own hands and disobey.
AS Cohan carried out a study of political theory entitled Theories of Revolution: An Introduction . In this work, he collects a series of questions that affect the revolution. And because of this, shows us how, in most cases, the revolution is necessarily linked to violence.
Despite this, other scholars, like Hannah Arendt, point out that revolution can be a problem when it comes to establishing a model that allows the revolutionary ideal to triumph. V for Vendetta shows us the stages of the revolution, but not its outcome. The ideal is so perfect that it is never drawn in the Moore and Lloyd comics.
V, inheritance
Who is hiding behind the mask? Or, better yet, who owns it? The famous V mask is none other than the Guy Fawkes mask. A historical figure who attempted to blow up the British Parliament in 1605. Fawkes was a Catholic and, faced with oppression from Protestants, he unsuccessfully decided to take the law into his own hands. Moore and Lloyd paid homage to this character, his nonconformity and his desire for equality by giving his face to V.
The Guy Fawkes mask has become a contemporary myth. A myth created from mass society itself, as Roland Barthes explains in his book Mythologies. Today, we see it in demonstrations, in social networks and it serves as a tool for us to express non-conformism. This mask invites us to overcome fear, to fight for what we consider right.
Evey is the flip side. She’s like us, she’s scared. But V will strip her of her fears and so she can be free. Fear is one of the keys to the work of this government, which has used it to manipulate the population. In order to keep his legacy alive, so that the revolution belongs to all and benefits all, V ensures that Evey overcomes the barrier of fear. It is she who, after her death, frees us all.
Evey’s name itself has some biblical reminiscences. He reminds us of Eve, the first woman, the mother of all. She will, therefore, wear the mask on V’s death and become the new leader, in V. Evey is the future of the United Kingdom.
The media take us away from reality. However, their impact is so great that, if we take advantage of them, we can send a different message. V takes control of television to send a message to the people, thus taking possession of a symbol of power and oppression, appropriating it to reinforce his message. It should be noted that the film version is a watered-down version of the comic. On the other hand, its diffusion is so great that it has generated an impact in mass society, creating a myth, a symbol of awakening.
In short, V for Vendetta invites us to get out of our comfort zone, not to let ourselves be manipulated, to overcome barriers and to set up a fairer and more egalitarian world.
Our thoughts Captain America, beyond his physical strength, defends moral values which, if they seem old-fashioned today, are still necessary.
