V For Vendetta
Part Big Brother, part comic book character, “V For Vendetta” is the story of resistance to government oppression. In a (not too distant) future London, our hero/villian known only as “V” uses terroristic methods to fight facism. V is based upon graphic novels from the 1980s brought to the big screen although it isn’t hard to see a parallel to the current world. Just as we were reminded why we needed to “re-elect” George and the Republicans, the Prime Minister wants to make sure his citizens remember why they needthe government. It is the government that instills fear into its citizens against outsiders who eventually succumb to the insiders.
V manages to “incite” passive protest within the citizenry who have become increasingly distrustful of the government and its reports that continue to spew forth as “news”. Whereas 1984 was mostly about one man who is eventually broken down into a shell of his former self, V is about an entire country finally fed up with the lies and oppression of their self-centered government. Where one man is easily broken down an entire country can rise up. One man may not be able to make the change, it still starts with one man. It is in his ability to inspire others to follow that the difference is made.
