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Intertextuality and the Depiction of Ideological Conflicts

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Intertextuality and the Depiction of Ideological Conflicts The Copernicus Journal of Political Studies 2020 No. 2/2020, pp. 85–100 ISSN 2299-4335 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/CJPS.2020.016 www.apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/CJPS Wojciech Lewandowski University of Warsaw, Poland INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE DEPICTION OF IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICTS. THE CASE OF V FOR VENDETTA ABSTRACT Intertextuality seems to be Alan Moore’s trademark . In his most famous comic books and graphic novels, such as V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Lost Girls or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he often refers to other texts of high and low culture . Therefore, a certain level of cultural competence is required to decode various messages hidden by the British writer . In V for Vendetta in- tertextuality is employed to convey certain political and ideological messages in a more subtle and indirect way . Through various allusions and quotations, Moore presents his views on the condition of the depicted society as well as on the political clash between a fascist state and its anarchist enemy . Intertextual references are also included in the graphics of the comic book . It is the aim of this paper to discuss if, how and to what extent intertextuality can influence the complexity of the graphic novel’s message and be used to indirectly convey particular political and social ideas . Key words intertextuality, graphic novel, ideology, conflict, politics 86 Wojciech Lewandowski Introductory remarks “Almost every word and phrase we use we have heard or seen before . Our origi- nality and craft as writers come from how we put those words together in new ways to fit our specific situation, needs, and purposes, but we always need to rely on the common stock of language we share with others” (Bazerman, 2004, p . 83) . Using direct or indirect references to other texts seems to be a common practice among men of letters . If skillfully employed, intertextuality can provide additional meaning to a work of art, regardless of its form, as well as place it in a wider cultural and socio-political context . As a relatively new phenomenon of popular culture, comic books and graphic novels are gradually gaining more and more research coverage . Various disci- plines of social science and humanities are looking at different aspects of this medium, including its history and development (Rhoades, 2008; Szyłak, 1998), its nature (McCloud, 2015) or its fans (Brown, 1997) . From the point of view of political science, it might be interesting to see in what way they depict social and political problems or ideological debates . A particularly fascinating aspect are the ways in which comic books and graphic novels convey political messages and to what extent intertextuality can be used in that regard . Although the medium is capable of dealing with serious political as well as social issues, it has rather been perceived as a part of mass culture aimed at pro- viding entertainment, not as a means of serious political debates . Moral panic of the 1950s in the United States over the contents of the comic books consumed by young readers and their possible contribution to juvenile delinquency influ- enced perception of the medium and to some extent limited its opportunities for aesthetic evolution (see Beaty, 2005; Hajdu 2008) . The second half of the 1980s brought changes to mainstream comics as their authors turned to serious top- ics and offered more politically oriented stories, making them tools of indirect political communication, rather than a means of simple propaganda . V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd is one of the most intriguing political graphic novels 1 . It can be seen as an essay on conflicting political ideolo- gies as well as on different models of social and political organization . The writer 1 This article draws upon my reflections on intertextuality of the V for Vendetta graphic novel presented in the book Od faszystowskiej dystopii do anarchistycznej utopii. Idee polityczne w powieści graficznej «V jak Vendetta» Alana Moore’a i Davida Lloyda (2019) . INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE DEPICTION OF IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICTS 87 Alan Moore used intertextuality in part to enhance V for Vendetta’s meaning and to place it in British as well as more universal ideological, social and cultural context . Intertextuality seems to be Moore’s trademark . In his works, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen serving as the most vivid example, he often refers to other text of high and low culture . In V for Vendetta, through various allusions and quotations Moore aims to present his views on the condition of the depicted society as well as on the political clash between a fascist state and its anarchist enemy . It is the aim of the article to discuss if, how and to what extent intertextuality can influence the complexity of a graphic novel’s message and be used to indi- rectly convey political and social ideas . Therefore the author will analyze and interpret selected intertextual references appearing in V for Vendetta in order to evaluate the way they were exploited by Moore to express and communicate the main political and social problems depicted in the graphic novel . The text will focus on allusions used by Moore to portray the conflict between an op- pressive fascist state and the resistance towards it . Such analysis might also help to understand current popularity of the symbols of political resistance/revolt created by the British authors . 1. V for Vendetta Alan Moore’s (writer) and David Lloyd’s (artist) graphic novel V for Vendetta was published between 1982 and 1989 . Two out of its three books originally appeared in a British independent comic book magazine Warrior . After it shut down due to the financial problems, the authors were able to continue their work in the United States . The first collected edition ofV for Vendetta was published there by DC Comics in May 1989 (Kibble-White, 2005, p . 277) 2 . In 2009 the Ab- solute Edition of V for Vendetta was published by DC Comics, supplemented by graphic material not included in the previous collected editions (Moore & Lloyd, 2009) . V for Vendetta tells the story of a masked hero known as V, who intends, and finally succeeds, to topple a Norsefire party regime established in Great Britain after a limited-scale nuclear war . A newly set up fascist regime has offered its citi- zens security and order in exchange for total obedience . Undesirable “elements” had been placed in detention camps where they were murdered or made subject 2 For more information about “Warrior” magazine’s significance for British comics, see J . Chapman, British Comics: A Cultural History (2011, pp . 227–231) . 88 Wojciech Lewandowski to medical experiments . V, a victim of the latter, takes revenge on those who caused his sufferings, at the same time trying to undermine their political power . Assisted by an initially reluctant aide Evey Hammond, he carries out a series of terrorist attacks that result in a systematic dissolution of the power structure of Norsefire Party . The oppressive nature of the fascist regime is contrasted with V’s anarchism based on freedom and mutual cooperation between free individu- als . However, the open ending of the novel suggests that V’s dream might never come true . The representation of the ideological conflict between fascism and anarchy is a central issue in V for Vendetta . The graphic novel is set in a classical dystopian setting, which enables Moore to show the limits of the society of perfect security . Instead of living in happiness, the citizens of Great Britain are subjected to politi- cal oppression and humiliation . This was in fact a representation of the authors’ fears ignited by the actions of the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher (Moore & Lloyd, 2009, p . 7) . For Moore, anarchy based on principles expounded by the protagonist was the desired political environment . V for Vendetta is a masterpiece of political comic and an important step in its authors’ careers . Alan Moore is considered one of the most influential comic book writers . His other major works include Watchmen, Lost Girls, From Hell, Promethea or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen . V for Vendetta’s artist Da- vid Lloyd worked on such comics as Sláine, Hellblazer or some of Garth Ennis’ War Stories (namely Nightingale and J for Jenny) . Popularity of V for Vendetta as well as its overtly political character led to a movie adaptation . Directed by James McTeigue with the script written by the (then) Wachowski Brothers, it premiered in cinemas in 2006 . Besides Hugo Weaving who was cast as V, Natalie Portman (Evey), Stephen Rea (Eric Finch) and John Hurt (Adam Sutler) also appeared in the movie 3 . The cinematic ad- aptation was focused on the political discourse between totalitarianism and democracy as ways of organizing the state . The movie widely commented on contemporary American politics, which infuriated Alan Moore, who disavowed this adaptation of his graphic novel 4 . 3 Featuring John Hurt as a head of totalitarian government might be seen as an ironic reference to his earlier role as Winston Smith in 1984 (Radford, 1984) . 4 See: Bill Baker, Alan Moore. Wywiady (2010, pp . 141–144) . INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE DEPICTION OF IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICTS 89 2. Intertextuality Before analyzing various textual references made by Alan Moore and David Lloyd in V for Vendetta, it seems necessary to define the phenomenon of in- tertextuality . The task is quite difficult due to varying views on its nature and practice . Charles Bazerman describes intertextuality as “the relation each text has to texts surrounding it” . He also adds that “intertextual analysis examines the relation of a statement to that sea of words, how it uses those words, how it positions itself in respect to those other words” (2004, p .
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