What Is V For Vendetta Totalitarianism

Anarchy in Fascist Britain: V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta is a film about fascist Britain―secret police, religious suppression, concentration camps, death squads, and curfews―complete government control of life itself is in place countrywide. Britain is in trouble, the people need a freedom fighter to win back the country; and luckly when BTN employee Evey needs a hero most, V arrives. V is the newest anarchist on the block, with unusual powers, a mastery of martial arts, and extreme intelligence, V delivers the very thing Britain needs: freedom. When analyzing V for Vendetta through a New Historicism lens, viewers discover the nature of goodness and cruelty along with the need for anonymity, and finally it shows contemporary societies fear of totalitarianism government.
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot: a historical attempted bombing of Parliament, November 5th 1605, London. The main conspirator, Guy Fawkes; a man whose iconic mask has inspired millions throughout recent history, wished to destroy Parliament in order to eliminate King James I. Unfortunately, the plot was discovered before the gunpowder could be detonated, and after the attempt failed all of the anarchists were hanged. V
undertakes Guy Fawke’s long forgotten cause and utilizes it to destroy a fascist regime that has control of Great Britain. That cause starts very soon within the film, in mere moments after V rescues Evey, he takes her to a special overture: the scene is the Old Bailey, the Overture is Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky - 1812. The beautiful number ends with a magnificent display of civil uprising: blowing up the Old Bailey, and symbolizes the beginning of V’s path of destruction in the streets of fascist Britain. V’s reign continues, from rallying the people, too releasing Guy Fawkes masks to the public, and finally they arrive at Parliament one year later to collapse the regime once and for all.
When analysing a piece through New Historicism, there are many key points that must be investigated, but only when obliging by the rules. The first rule being that “anyone can only truly know a single side of any story” (Lit Crit Theory). If we try to tell many sides to the same story, you simply cannot know all the facts, so V for Vendetta will be investigated through the perspective of Envy, the narrator of the story. The second rule is “history cannot be interpreted objectively”(Owl Purdue) instead it must be viewed subjectively. Finally, history is an “comparison to the time that it was written within”(Lit Crit Theory) and because V for Vendetta is told from a comic in the 80’s, the movie will be interpreted with keeping in mind that the fear of totalitarianism government extends to contemporary society.
From time to time the goodness in the world clashes with the cruel, within V for Vendetta, this is extraordinarily present, and the main goodness, V, fights the main cruelness, the Chancellor and his fascist regime.
Although there can be blurred lines on who is the goodness within any aspect of life, V stands for the people, he makes peoples lives better, yet he does it for revenge. However; his revenge is not selfish, while within a concentration camp called Larkhill, V discovered a hidden memoir from a famous actor: Valeria. She had been detained due to her status as a lesbian; the emotion and power within her memoir influenced V immensely, because of her, V blew up Larkhill, escaped, then took up arms to avenge Valeria by murdering Larkhill’s staff and destroying the
government.
Within the government, the blurred lines continue: inspector finch is a wonderful example of this. He was in denial, afraid of the regime, so he did as the Chancellor told him to; until the day he was assigned the case of “Codename V.” The operation was focused at discovering V’s identity, and by the end Finch discovered everything. Along with his new knowledge of V, came a realization that V was the goodness, and the government was the cruelness within Britain.
Throughout life people tend to always think that their perspective is right; it's simply human nature. The Chancellor was “right” in having concentration camps, V was “right” in blowing up buildings, Mr. Creedy was “right” in killing citizens and delivering the Chancellor to V―everyone is right in their own ways―its all about perspective. Everyone that benefited from a fascist regime will desire for it to continue; and everyone who suffered will always want the regime to end. V was good, because he won, because he was successful, because he did not fail like the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. If he were to have been taken down by Mr. Creedy or Inspector Finch, V would have been a terrorist; a traitor, a marauder. Similarly to other aspects of history, its impossible to determine who is right, or who is good, but V emerged victorious, his cause: successful; thus, he is good in the eyes of the people of Britain.
There is an omnipresent hint for anonymity throughout the film, from the beginning within the Gunpowder Treason and Plot, to the last scene, where the still masked V is at the heart of the explosion destroying Parliament. The icon that represents the need and execution of anonymity, is the Guy Fawkes Mask. V takes anonymity even further, adding the full black suit and hair, making everyone completely anonymous. While using the Guy Fawkes Mask, everyone is Guy Fawkes, they lose their individuality, they represent the idea, and because of this, within V for Vendetta, people die. A Fingerman who was out to kill masked vigilantes, murdered a mere child that was wielding the mask; not because of who she was but because of the idea she represented. With murders by the Fingermen increasing, along with continued public surveillance; simple anarchy ensued. The people realized V was right, that they no longer had to hide, they could rebel and overthrow the very government that has suppressed them so long. The need for anonymity didn’t just grow, it exploded into a fiery blast that devastated every inch of Britain’s fascist regime.
Terror, hate, suppression: contemporary society cowers in fear at the mere utterance of an dictatorship. Throughout Britain, there is a powerful fear that forces the citizens to hide: government. They rid themselves of their religion, personal beliefs, and even individuality; because Chancellor Sutler kills those who disobey. And it remains this way until V advocated to the citizens that, “People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people”(V, V for Vendetta). His supposed path to freedom, is through the power of words, because the citizens are more powerful than their government, and when they unite under one cause, the people prevail. Gordon Deitrich: a man of power and wealth; he is among the minority within V for Vendetta. He is an homosexual, in a country that homosexuality is a death sentence. Within his house he hides a quran, gay ponography, and banned artwork―its his way of defying the government. Within V’s home―The Gallery of Shadows―he too takes a role in defying the government, banned artwork, blacklisted literature, forbidden music. The entire country is held within a quarantine, curfews in place, secret police patrolling the streets, and surveillance vans snooping in on private conversation. By the end of the movie, influenced by V’s heroic action, the people rampage, and anarchy ensues. Fingermen killed, quarantine breached, and the rampage leaves Britain in complete chaos; until protesters in the millions appear at parliament to take back their government. Throughout the film there are innumerable examples and demonstrations making a mockery of totalitarianism government, they tell of the evil it holds, and how the people delve the country into anarchy.