Vagaries &Violence in for Vendetta

for Vendetta (James flow from her eyes. As we wit- Historically, Fawkes was an McTeigue, 2005), based on ness this scene, we hear Evey oppressed Catholic during the and ’s Hammond’s () reign of King James I of Eng- of the same voice-over: land. With a group of fellow name, opens with a medita- conspirators, he hired a cel- tion on the relationship be- Who was he really? What was lar beneath Westminster Pal- tween the political and the he like? We are told to remem- ace (also known as the Hous-

personal. It is 5 Novem- ber the idea, not the man. Be- es of Parliament), where they ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION V ber 1605 and Guy Fawkes is cause a man can fail. He can laid explosives. The plan creeping through underground be caught. He can be killed was to detonate them as the tunnels with a wagon of gun- and forgotten. But 400 years King addressed both Hous- powder, when suddenly he later, an idea can still change es of Parliament (the House of is surrounded by armed men the world … But you cannot Lords and the House of Com- with dogs. Later he is tak- kiss an idea, cannot touch it, mons). Captured, Fawkes was en to the scaffold to be hung. or hold it. Ideas do not bleed. tortured and executed (hung, In the crowd a woman looks They do not feel pain. They do drawn and quartered) for trea- 157 Rjurik on. There is a strange connec- not love. And it is not an idea son. This history is not inves- davidson tion between them and tears that I miss. It is a man. tigated in ; rath- er, Fawkes is presented as as. It will be about their rela- British Labour Government of vour, which suggests an anti- a symbolic figure. The man tionship to people. It will be Tony Blair. religious stance. The head Evey refers to in her voice- about politics and the part of this government is the over is V (Hugo Weaving), the we play in it. It will be about and High Chancellor, played by ambiguous hero of the futur- the moral dilemmas faced its enemies John Hurt, in a direct refer- istic and dystopian film, who when opposing a totalitari- ence to Nineteen Eighty-Four wears a Guy Fawkes an state. What the opening Shortly after the opening se- (Michael Radford, 1984) in and also plans to blow up doesn’t indicate, however, quence, we see Evey Ham- which he played the hapless the Houses of Parliament, is that the film will also be a mond readying herself to Winston Smith. The media is shown to be compliant with the government’s wishes: forVendetta informs us that it will be a film about the ‘We don’t make up the news, that’s the government’s job. We just report it’ says one re- powerof ideas. I twill be about their relationship to people. porter. In addition, there is constant , a cur- It will be about politics and the part we play in it. It will be few to maintain order and the threat of ending up in the po- V lice’s ‘black bags’. aboutthe moral dilemmas faced when opposing a totalitarian state. The fascist government is clear about its enemies – to rouse the English masses comment on our current po- visit a friend. In the back- they are the traditional ‘en- against their powerful fascist litical climate: on terrorism ground, ‘The Voice of Lon- emies’ of the far-right wing. government. Evey becomes and war, on authoritarianism/ don’, the spokesman for the Homosexuals have a privi- involved in V’s scheme and is fascism and political protest.1 fascist government, speaks leged place in the film (The ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION transformed from a passive The film quite explicitly criti- on the television: ‘Immi- Children of Men, by contrast, character into an active and cizes our contemporary neo- grants, Muslims, homosex- privileges refugees). Most powerful agent, a convert to conservative governments uals – disease-ridden de- obviously, there is a short se- V’s ideas. (and in this it stands close generates. They had to go. quence where Evey is appar- to another recent dystopian Strength through unity. Unity ently captured by the authori- Evey’s voice-over at the be- film, The Children of Men [Al- through faith. I’m a god-fear- ties, who her for infor- ginning of V for Vendetta thus fonso Cuarón, 2006]) – es- ing Englishman and I’m god- mation about V (though there informs us that it will be a pecially the US Government damn proud of it.’ Thus fas- is more to this scene, which 158 film about the power of ide- under George Bush and the cism is linked to religious fer- I’ll mention later). Locked up in a cell, Evey discov- centration camps in Poland. rus was used to create fear British Flags; in the middle of ers Valerie’s life story writ- amongst the population, and the flag is a swastika, while ten on a piece of toilet paper How did this all come about? led to the spectacular rise of the writing reads: ‘The Coa- hidden in a hole in the wall. When V takes over the state High Chancellor Suttler. lition of the Willing’ (a refer- Valerie had been imprisoned television station, he ex- ence to the Coalition of the in the Detention Cen- plains, in a call to the people A critique of Willing which formed the Iraq tre because she was a lesbi- to rise up on the following 5 neo-conservatism War) and ‘To Power’ (a refer- an. Evey retains her strength November: ence to Nietzsche). His other in the face of torture by read- In all of this, V for Vendet- banned items include the Ko- ing this letter. The two prison- How did this happen? Who’s ta makes an argument about ran – the item that ultimate- ers, one dead, the other alive, to blame? ... If you’re look- contemporary politics and ly brings about his execu- are united by this experience. ing for the guilty, you need events. Its critique of religi- tion – and gay erotica. More- The film asks us to have em- only look into a mirror. I know osity could be interpreted as over, the argument that tra- pathy for both of them. ‘Even why you did it. I know you an attack on the religiosity of ditionally conservative pol- though I do not know you, were afraid. Who wouldn’t the Bush government (Tony itics has been changed by and even though I may nev- be? War, terror, disease – Blair is also a deeply reli- the neo-conservative govern- er meet you, laugh with you, there were a myriad of prob- gious man). Other referenc- ments into a politics of fear cry with you, kiss you, I love lems which conspired to cor- es to the contemporary world has become common (see, you’, wrote Valerie. To be tru- rupt your reason and rob you abound. Events leading up for example, the documenta- ly human means not to dis- of your common sense. Fear to the rise of the fascist gov- ry series The Power of Night- criminate, but also to affirm got the best of you. And in ernment include ‘America’s mares: The Rise of the Pol- common humanity with those your fear you turned to the war’ (shown with footage of itics of Fear [Adam Curtis, one has never met.2 The film High Chancellor, Adam Sut- the war in Iraq) and the ‘black 2004]). For Teigue and the thus argues for a non-dis- tler. He promised you or- bags’ of Abu Ghraib prison. Wachowski brothers (script- criminatory attitude to sexu- der, he promised you peace, The ‘Voice of London’, for ex- writers of V for Vendetta),

ality and, by implication, re- and all he demanded in re- ample, previously had a mil- the neo-conservative politics ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION ligion and race. The Larkhill turn was your silent obedient itary career which reads as, dominant today are a close Detention Centre has obvious consent. ‘Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria – be- relative of . For references to the Nazi death fore and after – Sudan.’ Later much of the film, the paral- camps and medical exper- Indeed, later in the film, we in the film, Evey’s friend Gor- lels suggest that the kinds of iments. Scenes of bodies, discover that the government don Deitrich (Stephen Fry) re- neo-conservative politics to- including Valerie’s, lying in itself engineered a virus (the veals a secret room where day might easily lead to total- open graves, recall the foot- St Mary’s virus) which it lat- he keeps forbidden items. A itarianism. age during World War Two of er claimed was the work of poster on the wall shows a Auschwitz and the other con- religious extremists. This vi- composite of American and 159 Resistance and morality motto, ‘People should not progress and liberation (while Yet at the same time, Teigue Opposed to this totalitari- be afraid of their govern- more radical left-wing views and the Wachowski brothers an system is V – an idea as ments. Governments should might see education and cul- are ambivalent about V’s ven- much as a character. V res- be afraid of their people’ is a ture as more two-sided, more detta against those who were cues Evey in a typical super- ‘defensive’ or ‘negative’ con- a matter of reinforcing domi- involved in running the camp hero moment. Evey is about ception of power. At anoth- nant ideas. Walter Benjamin, at Larkhill. Over the course of to be raped by the Finger- er point, he says with some for example, once wrote that, the movie, V kills all those in- men, when V mysteriously ar- pretentiousness that ‘Fair- ‘There is no document of civ- volved: The Voice, The Bish- rives on the scene, a masked ness, justice and reason are ilization which is not at the op, The State Coroner. Evey and caped crusader. But the more than words – they are same time a document of doubts the morality of this scene, like the film itself, is a perspectives.’ (This kind of barbarism’).3 vendetta. postmodern reworking of the pseudo-philosophical vague- comic; he quotes ness also blights the writing The film supports political ac- ‘Violence can be used for Shakespeare and speaks in of the Wachowski brothers’ tivists (Evey’s parents were good,’ V says. riddles. V is not just a hero in Matrix trilogy). involved in the anti-Iraq war ‘What are you talking about?’ a mask, he’s an embodiment movement). Yet most inter- says Evey. of an idea, the symbol of op- Certainly V stands for clas- esting, and most confused, ‘Justice,’ he replies. position to the fascist gov- sical liberal values. His lair, is its attitude to V’s activities. Later, V explains that, ‘What ernment. As V says in a final the ‘Shadow Gallery’ is filled V is consistently described was done to me was mon- confrontation with the head with classical art and sculp- in the movie as a ‘terror- strous.’ of the police, Creedy (Tim ture. He has a jukebox that ist’, or ‘freedom-hating ter- ‘And they created a monster,’ Pigott-Smith) and in a reprise plays soulful jazz, he treas- rorist’. Generally speaking, replies Evey. of Evey’s opening voice over, ures classic film, in particu- the film supports his plan to ‘Beneath this mask there is lar The Count of Monte Cristo blow up the Houses of Parlia- V is a creation of the very an idea, Mr Creedy. And ide- (Rowland V. Lee, 1934). Such ment, thus undermining con- system he opposes: his su- as are bulletproof.’ valuing of knowledge is tra- temporary political discourse perhuman strength comes ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION ditionally associated with the about terrorism. V describes from his time in the Larkhill Here the film is perhaps liberalism of thinkers like J.S. his vision: ‘The building is a detention centre where he at its weakest. In Moore Mill (On Liberty) or Mary Woll- symbol. As is the act of de- was infected with a virus (an- and Lloyd’s graphic nov- stonecraft Shelley (A Vindi- stroying it. Symbols are giv- other postmodern reworking el, V is clearly an anarchist. cation of the Rights of Wom- en power by people …with of the superhero plot, where Yet in the film, his ideals re- en). In such views, educa- enough people, blowing up the superhero is often cre- main vague and unspecified. tion and culture is good. It a building can change the ated by some sort of acci- The concept of freedom ad- enriches humanity, and will world.’ dent, e.g. bitten by a radio- 160 vanced is unclear, while the lead it upward on the path of active spider). And he sug- gests, at the end of the mov- the rain at the end of the se- age is more likely those ide- Hearst) in America, the Red ie, that his place is not in the quence. Both raise their arms as that arose in the 1960s Brigade in Italy and Baader- new world he has helped cre- to the sky, like phoenix from among the New Left, such as Meinhof in Germany. ate, for he is a product of the the ashes. Following Evey’s the Yippies (great proponents old one. This recalls Terry Ea- transformation, she becomes of ‘guerilla theatre’), or vari- Yet, in a significant contra- gleton’s words about revolu- a powerful, self-directing ous Maoist groups. Like V for diction to the general line tionaries: agent, and indeed finally sets Vendetta, the political theo- of thought in V for Vendet- the train in motion, loaded ry of these groups revolved ta, the at the end Since the truth, politically with explosives, to destroy around a number of key con- of the film ends up occur- speaking, is usually thorough- the Houses of Parliament. cepts: a totalitarian state; an ring peacefully. There are a ly unpleasant, being a realist apathetic population control- number of intimations that means living a vigilant, cold- Radical lineage and led by various state and civ- this will not be the case such eyed, soberly disenchanted contradictions il systems of control (the po- as Inspector Finch’s porten- sort of existence … Since this lice, the media); and symbol- tous words, ‘With so much is both the only way to live Politically speaking, the ic action, designed to rouse chaos, someone will do and no way to live at all, rad- structure of thought em- the masses from their apathy. something stupid, and when ical politics is bound to be a ployed in V for Vendetta re- Historically, as social change they do, things will turn nas- contradictory affair. Its more calls that of a number of rad- seemed to become increas- ty’. Just prior to the climax, successful practitioners are ical groups during the 1960s ingly difficult to attain, these Finch’s assistant says, ‘Went likely to be the last people to and early 1970s. The idea of groups tended towards more by Parliament. Never seen embody the values of the so- the ‘propaganda of the deed’ and more extreme actions, anything like it: tanks, anti- ciety they are fighting for.4 has been an anarchist staple though no doubt under dif- aircraft, infantry. Makes you since the nineteenth century. ferent conditions, the groups wish that no one will show up Particularly interesting is the Peter Kropotkin, for example, may have evolved in other di- tonight. If they do, what do sequence in which Evey is wrote that: rections.6 Those who took you think will happen?’ Finch imprisoned (where she dis- the ideas to their most ex- implies a massacre: ‘What covers the letter from Valerie). By actions which compel treme included the Weather- usually happens when peo- It turns out, at the end of the general attention, the new men (for a good documenta- ple without guns stand up to sequence, that her captor is idea seeps into people’s ry, see The Weather Under- people with guns.’ But at the not the government, but V. minds and wins converts. ground [Sam Green and Bill climax of the movie, nothing She is kidnapped, dehuman- One such act may, in a few Siegel, 2002]) and the Sym- ‘nasty’ in fact occurs. Verisi- ized, tortured. Finally she is days, make more propagan- bionese Liberation Army (the militude is jettisoned (the oth- sentenced to death and one da than thousands of pam- documentary Guerilla: The er moment this occurs in the of her captors says, ‘Look, all phlets.5 Taking of Patty Hearst [Rob- film is the strange sequence they want is one little piece of ert Stone, 2004] covers their referencing Benny Hill). When information. Just give them But V for Vendetta’s line- famous kidnapping of Patty earlier in the film the po- something, anything.’

‘Thank you, but I’d rather die behind the chemical sheds,’ WHAT IS A GRAPHIC NOVEL? replies Evey. ‘Then you have no fear any- Graphic novels are essentially comic books for adults. The graphic novel was born during the more, you’re completely free.’ eighties, as a new generation of writers sought to raise the form to the status of art. These include Frank Miller, whose graphic novels are the basis of the films Sin City (Frank Miller Immediately following this and Robert Rodriguez, 2005) and 300 (Zak Snyder, 2006), and Neil Gaiman. Alan Moore, author exchange, Evey walks from of V for Vendetta, is often considered the most innovative and influential of these writers. His the cell through the aban- work formed the basis of the films (Albert and Allan Hughes, 2001) and The League doned corridor and into V’s of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Stephen Norrington, 2003). Formally speaking, the graphic novel

Shadow Gallery, realizing the is closer to a TV series than a film. Usually they are composed of chapters that are published ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION identity of her captor. She is monthly, which each tell a ‘short story’ while maintaining a broader story arc that develops over transformed in exactly the time. This causes a great deal of difficulty for adaptations to film, as a great deal of restructur- same way that V was trans- ing is required. In the case of V for Vendetta, much of the complexity of the graphic novel was formed at Larkhill. This is di- lost, while the film shows great strain under a complex plot. This may be the reason that Moore rectly indicated by cross- took his name off the film, and described an early draft of the script as ‘imbecilic.’ For more cutting between V’s emer- information on the graphic novelists of the 1980s, see Dark Knights: the New in Context gence from the fire that de- by Greg S. McCue with Clive Bloom, Pluto Press, London, 1993 and Comic Book Rebels by stroyed the Larkhill camp Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette, Primus (Donald I. Fine Inc), New York, 1993. and Evey’s emergence into 161 lice and military were shown and depict the transforma- breaking up demonstrations, tion peacefully. Do they real- now they simply buckle un- ly want to depict some kind der the weight of popular of sustained pressure. struggle? In such a struggle, isn’t it likely that the state will Beyond Hollywood’s usu- crush the , see- al inability to imagine so- ing as there’s been no prep- cial change, this ending aration or organization? How doesn’t ring true. Partly, it re- will this affect the stories of V lates to the individualistic na- and Evey? Would this all sug- ture of the totalitarianism gest that V’s symbolic action that the Wachowski brothers is, in fact, unnecessary; how have created in the script. In- will such a potentially down- deed, though the film sug- beat ending affect the film’s gests the government is fas- reception? In other words, cist, through its iconography other visions of peaceful and and through its references to non-peaceful social change the police, the death-camps are available, but they can- and so on, there are some not be reduced to the sim- reasons to think of it more as ple composite of ideas (total- simply authoritarian: a po- itarian state, apathetic mass- lice state. Fascism tradition- es, symbolic action) that V for OTHER CRITICISMS OF V FOR VENDETTA ally mobilized the populace, Vendetta is based on. Those it was a populist political pro- visions would include various As a film, V for Vendetta is flawed. Narratively, the film suf- gram relying, in fact, on the forms of political action and fers from a number of problems. Its plot is driven by a large populace’s activity. Where- organization, well beyond the number of coincidences (though it tries to cover this by a few as it’s clear in V for Vendet- scope of an individual super- philosophical asides to do with the nature of chance, such ta that actually it is the popu- hero and his symbolic ac- as V’s comment in the scene where he meets Evey that ‘God lation’s apathy, their inactivi- tions. doesn’t play dice’), and there is some plot confusion. For ty, that allows the rise of the example, why does one of the characters decide to defuse High Chancellor and his gov- Rjurik Davidson is a free- the bomb that V has placed in the state television centre when ernment. Thus the conclu- lance writer and editor. He has he knows nothing about defusing bombs? The answer, surely, sion is imaginable: remove taught at Victoria University, is to artificially ratchet up the suspense; his final choice is to the High Chancellor and RMIT and La Trobe University. simply guess between two wires with no rationale. Another the head of the State Police •such moment is when Finch warns the Chancellor that a train (Creedy) and everything falls could be used to transport the explosives beneath Parlia- apart. This is also a depar- Endnotes ment. Rather than face this threat, Suttler simply dismisses ture from Moore and Lloyd’s 1 Moore and Lloyd’s graph- it. But the worst case is the fortuitous appearance of Inspec- graphic novel, which sought ic novel, on the oth- tor Finch immediately after V’s death, and immediately prior to investigate two political er hand, is a critique of to Evey sending the explosive-filled train towards Parliament. extremes: and fas- Thatcherite Britain. Behind these problems with character motivation and action cism. Indeed Moore criti- 2 This idea stands behind surely lies the Wachowski brothers’ desire for the plot to turn cized the film as being ‘cur- Norman Geras’ book The out in certain ways. That is, the film is plot- rather than charac- rent American neo-conserva- Contract of Mutual Indif- ter-driven. Equally weak in places is the dialogue, most nota- tism vs. current American lib- ference, Verso, London, bly Evey’s, which Natalie Portman cannot quite make convinc- eralism.’7 2000. ing. There are also a number of clumsy scenes of an ‘average’ 3 Walter Benjamin, Illumina- family and the elderly in a retirement village, as they respond Yet there may be more to it. tions, Fontana Press (Har- to events as representatives of ‘the people’. ISSUE 46 SCREEN EDUCATION Teigue and the Wachowski perCollins), London, 1992, brothers argue that violence p.248. can change the world, yet 4 Terry Eagleton, The Gate- archist_Archives/kropot- Days Of Rage, Bantam want to pull back from the keeper: A Memoir, Pen- kin/spiritofrevolt.html Ac- Books, New York, 1987. idea at the end. One can al- guin, London, 2003, p.85. cessed 4 April 2007. 7 Quoted at http:// most sense the internal 5 Peter Kropotkin, ‘The 6 The best history of this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_ and industry pressures on Spirit of Revolt’, http:// period is Todd Gitlin’s The for_Vendetta_(film) Ac- them to renounce violence dwardmac.pitzer.edu/An- Sixties: Years Of Hope cessed 7 April 2007. 162