V the Anti-Hero
Anti-Hero Called “V”
John Doe
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
No one
June 16, 2012
Anti-Hero Called “V” V for Vendetta in many ways is a movie that has been done before. It presents a post apocalyptic landscape (ex: 1984 (1984), Clockwork Orange (1971)) where a totalitarian leadership rises from the ashes of chaos offering salvation, only to deliver oppression to the masses while demanding blind obedience in return, or else! In this society/film we are given the various archetype villains to hate (Chancellor Adam Sutler, Mr. Creedy), they are the ones we expect in such a film, and every conspiracy theorist believes is behind the plots past, present and surely future. To every archetype villain there must exist a counter, and archetype hero, or in V’s case the anti-hero. V for Vendetta not only gives us a glimpse of the world we may create through our complacency, but also a hero we long to become when social constraints are cast off.
Background/Plot The viewer is given a glimpse of their potential future, a warning if you will, of things to come if trends continue. The world has known a plague called the St. Mary’s Virus, which rivals the Black Plague of old, and has wiped a significant portion of humanity out of existence. At the countries time of greatest despair forward steps a man of vision, the future Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), followed by all his cronies with a vision for the future. Once establishing themselves as the “go to guy’s” with all the answers, they pull a “holy shades of 1933” (Hitler, Germany 1933) move and tell those in office they need more power for a time to stabilize the country and return it to prosperity. Once full authoritarian power has been established a totalitarian regime is implemented, complete with its thought police, propaganda, fear mongers, and those that disappear. In this world of fear, Evey (Natalie Portman) walks alone to a friend’s house, hoping to make it there safely before
John Doe
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
No one
June 16, 2012
Anti-Hero Called “V” V for Vendetta in many ways is a movie that has been done before. It presents a post apocalyptic landscape (ex: 1984 (1984), Clockwork Orange (1971)) where a totalitarian leadership rises from the ashes of chaos offering salvation, only to deliver oppression to the masses while demanding blind obedience in return, or else! In this society/film we are given the various archetype villains to hate (Chancellor Adam Sutler, Mr. Creedy), they are the ones we expect in such a film, and every conspiracy theorist believes is behind the plots past, present and surely future. To every archetype villain there must exist a counter, and archetype hero, or in V’s case the anti-hero. V for Vendetta not only gives us a glimpse of the world we may create through our complacency, but also a hero we long to become when social constraints are cast off.
Background/Plot The viewer is given a glimpse of their potential future, a warning if you will, of things to come if trends continue. The world has known a plague called the St. Mary’s Virus, which rivals the Black Plague of old, and has wiped a significant portion of humanity out of existence. At the countries time of greatest despair forward steps a man of vision, the future Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), followed by all his cronies with a vision for the future. Once establishing themselves as the “go to guy’s” with all the answers, they pull a “holy shades of 1933” (Hitler, Germany 1933) move and tell those in office they need more power for a time to stabilize the country and return it to prosperity. Once full authoritarian power has been established a totalitarian regime is implemented, complete with its thought police, propaganda, fear mongers, and those that disappear. In this world of fear, Evey (Natalie Portman) walks alone to a friend’s house, hoping to make it there safely before
References: Cinema Blend.com http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/V-for-Vendetta-1472.html Lamars Movie Palace http://www.lamarsmoviepalace.com/vforvendetta.htmlFull New York Times http://search.time.com/results.html?N=0&Nty=1&p=0&cmd=tags&srchCat=Full+Archive&Ntt=anonymous Ott, Brian L., (March, 2010), “The Visceral Politics of V for Vendetta: on Political effect of Cinema”, Critical studies in Media Communication, Acedemia.com http://ucdenver.academia.edu/BrianOtt/Papers/717150/The_Visceral_Politics_of_V_for_Vendetta_On_Political_Affect_in_Cinema. Sujil, Fatmix, (Feb. 25, 2007) http://fatmixx.com/2007/03/25/review-v-for-vendetta/ The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775408/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/ The Critical Critics http://thecriticalcritics.com/review/2006/04/07/v-for-vendetta.html V for Vendetta (Dec. 23, 2006) http://www.shadowgalaxy.net/Vendetta/vmain.html