Alex Burr
V for Vendetta
This weekend I saw "V for Vendetta" with Sarah and Ryan. I am not qualified to review the movie as an adaptation since I've only begun reading the GN last night, however I thought the film itself was mighty cool.
The story is about many things, but the main theme is the struggle between nations and their citizens. If the film carries a message, it is one of responsibility: the people have a responsibility to govern their government, and should the government slip beyond their control, the people have a responsibility to grab it back.
Obviously there are many parallels to today’s current state of global affairs, particularly in the US, despite the story taking place in England. Basically, in the story the people of England have allowed (through various methods of manipulation) the government to spiral into an Orwellian fascist oligarchy of sorts, with a stranglehold on human rights and information. One man, who goes by the moniker of “V”, incites revolution through various terrorist raids on governmental institutions and personnel. His philosophy is that the power must return to the people by any means necessary, and if violence is the only way possible than so be it.
Of course the story raises many questions. Is violence justifiable? Is terrorism really terrorism if it’s carried out in the name of freedom? Where does power lie, in the hands of citizens or the leaders they choose? Personally I think this story movie couldn’t have been released at a better time, since these are questions Americans are facing on a daily basis, from both sides of an argument.
Personally, I think this country’s government, and much of its population, has lost sight of the principles on which it was established. I am hoping that the continuing denial of personal liberty that this administration has inflicted on the American people will be stopped before it’s too late, and that our society never degenerates into violence to free itself again. We did that already, over two hundred years ago, so that every man and woman within this nation’s borders can live in freedom from governmental opression of their rights. It required men of great character, who nowadays would probably be considered terrorists, to incite revolt and actively overthrow an ineffective government, with the intention of instituting a new one that would protect their rights and the rights of subsequent generations.
I think that the premise behind V for Vendetta is an undeniably American one. I have always firmly believed that the American philosophy is that power lies with the people. I’m fairly certain that there are at least a few famous historical figures that would agree: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, to name a few, considering they penned their signatures onto a document which states that
…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Politicians can not be allowed to forget an important rule: Theirs are not positions of power. Theirs are positions of service. When that rule is broken, it is the duty of the people to remind them where their priorities lie.
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