The Movie V for Vendetta - Essay Example

? V for Vendetta.Dir.James McTeigue. Perfs. Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, 2005. DVD. Warner Brothers, 2007. Outline Annotation Analysis Opinion Works Cited Annotation: The movie V for Vendetta shows a society whose political environment is driven not by the voice of its own people but is controlled by the rules of the government. In the United Kingdom, the Norsefire political party acquired its power through imposing disorder and fear to the populace. Years ago, Norsefire used unreasonable elimination of people who had not met their standards of purity. Britain was divided until this party released a bio – weapon that had killed thousands of peoples. It generated fear to the people. It was indeed a strategy for Norsefire to restore order in Britain and allowed Adam Sutler to win the election. Sutler’s fascist regime singles out and eliminates the people whom for them are undesirable. This includes the social deviants such as homosexuals, political rebels, and other individuals against the party’s normative standards of purity. The regime is indeed an oppressive and cruel one. Then, there is an eerie but mysterious masked vigilant character called “V” who had resorted to aggressive, destructive and violent means to combat versus the fascist Norsefire party’s totalitarian government. V kills the puppets of Norsefire including the high profile members of the said political party. As part of V’s violent tactics, he destroyed an establishment but the administration was claiming that it should not be something to give that much attention because it was just a controlled demolition of a no longer structurally stable building. Nonetheless, V broadcasts to the public through television that he is the one under the said destruction. He does it not just to revenge on them but as well as to urge the citizens of Britain to stand up and fight against the suppressive totalitarian government. He gives a word to the public of Britain that he would destroy the totalitarian government. On the one hand, various strategies of V result to people losing trust on the government and questioning it. The public is encouraged by V to stand up against the cruel government. On the eve when V promised to destroy the Parliament, V meets Sutler’s security chief Creedy because of an agreement. However, Creedy kills Sutler and attempts to kill V through shooting him multiple times. Creedy does this to seize power and control though he is killed by V on the encounter. Through Evey, the girl V saves whom happens to helped him in the process, the Parliament and Big Ben are devastated through sending a train full of explosives. Even though V is killed in the event of struggling against the oppressive totalitarian government, he is efficacious in making the citizens of Britain realize that they need to stand up for their own voices and hold their own freedom in their own country. Social awareness and collective power are generated in the process. Even though the mysterious vigilant behind the masked is killed, he is able to bring down the government who should be listening and serving the voices of its people instead of repressively controlling the people. Analysis: Even though the film V for Vendetta is just short, it is able to clearly illustrate what a government structure should be is and what functions must it play. A government must listen to its people and not just put total control on them. A government must be a democratic one and not a totalitarian one. By totalitarianism, Conquest defines it as a political system in which the state holds full control and goes all out on its regulation of both the public and private aspects of life if at all possible (74). The movie is able to exemplify not just what a totalitarian system means but also capable of showing the fears of the people having a totalitarian government. The fascist government of that sort affects all the aspects of the lives of the British populace. The power of such totalitarian ruling state is undeniably strong enough to limit people in their rights to freedom of speech, freedom of being their own selves and identity, and even their rights to privacy. No public opinion can be expressed in this kind of government because of the fear to get terminated. The government even blinds the people of knowing the truth and strongly influences them over how to deal and perceive the socio – economic and political issues. The movie also exhibits how the media can function as a tool as of the government to influence, control and maintain power. As part of the totalitarian rule, the regime does all this kind of tactics to hold the political power. Also, even the widespread of terror is made by Sutler’s administration to maintain its control. The title of the movie itself, V for Vendetta means that the mysterious vigilant masked character known as V does a hate campaign against their oppressive totalitarian government. This is because of one major underlying point of the movie that the authoritarian regime is so tyrannical. In all the facets of the movie, it can be observed how the totalitarian rule has operated. The movie shows how power is obtained by the Norsefire party. It is through reactionary elimination of people who do not meet the Norsefire party’s definition of acceptable individuals. Due to this, the outcome is a divided nation. However, in the attempt to control this social and political disorder, Norsefire threatens people through a biological virus. This tactic is one among the strategies of a totalitarian government. As a form of control to eliminate all the unwanted individuals that can cause disorder in the British society, the fascist regime exterminates all the political rebels as well as all the social deviants including the homosexuals. The home of comedian Deitrich, a homosexual who hides his real sexuality, is raided by a secret police because of the event of mocking the government in his TV program. Then, Deitrich is killed because of owning a copy of Quran. Indeed, this government of that sort is really a discriminating and tyrannical one that given the fear of the people to get killed because of being outside the normative standards imposed by the state, these people would just conceal their real identity and just try to live the life as dictated by the government. This tactic is explained by Grobman as he says that this propaganda movement of the state is done to making people believe that a non – conformity on the regime is something morally wrong. This tactic is because for Pipes, the government must reach the all the areas of society, even the aspects of social life, to entirely take control of the beliefs and deeds of its people (240 – 281). On the one hand, the power of media as a mechanism of government is exhibited. The British fascist regime claims to its public that the destruction of the Old Bailey building is part of their controlled demolition of some structurally unstable structures. This state declaration though is just a lie. The state does this in order to assert to the public that everything is under control. The government wants the people to believe that there is no greater power than the government that exists. This is in order for the individuals to maintain their loyalty to the administration so that social order is sustained. Meanwhile, the scenes portrayed by V also exemplify how cruel the government is. Though it is the case V revenges against the tyranny of government, this is not known by the British society. First, V and the other unwanted individuals are prisoned and used as guinea pigs in the deadly examination of the biological virus that is used in their threat attack to the people. This experience that V has suffered under the Norsefire party is not known by the public. In this vengeance and that V wants the people to stand up against the authoritarian state, V is considered a menace for the state. He is in fact, the most wanted person in United Kingdom. Like what the government does to V, he is attacked and shot just to silence him. Other political dissidents also suffer from this kind of act of violence in which the people are not aware of. This brutality is executed just to remain in power. Basically, the movie V for Vendetta may be a fiction but the message it conveys, to a certain extent, holds reality. The time of the movie is sometime in the era of 2030s. This only indicates the possibility that in the near future, the society in which we live in may have a government with a complete totalitarian rule which is deadly frightening. People may completely lose the freedom of every aspect of their life. According to Grobman, the totalitarian regimes are something that has started during the 20th century. The leading examples of regime of this type are the Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union of Stalin, and also the fascist Italy (Grobman). The history of these regimes unfolds such oppressive environment. Who would not have known the totalitarian dictatorship of Adolf Hitler affecting not only Germany but also the whole world in its extreme desire for power (Evans Chapter 1). Being totally aggressive to seize power, millions of European Jews as well as the other minorities were killed in the Holocaust. According to Grobman, it is possible that the the states having totalitarian rule may not appear massive because the very process of maintaining and seizing power is concealed. The case of the Philippines is another story. Well, technically it is a democratic government but the previous administration of Arroyo is argued to be a fascist one. Since 2001, many extrajudicial killings and coerced disappearances of those opposing the government have grown intensely (Jimenez 1). In fact, the United States State Department has criticized the Philippine government for this. Meanwhile, even if the US government has criticized the case of the Philippines, United States is not an exemption in their attempt of imposing control on its people and even around the world. According to Priest, the United States is also alleged of using a secret prison system by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in many states to maintain its power (Priest). According to History News Network, the United States has resorted to the use of electronic and domestic surveillance. This is done in order to control the power of the administration of United States, not only inside the state but also around the world. On the one hand, the movie demonstrates the reality of discrimination against homosexuals which is approved positively by the LGBT community. Indeed, this discrimination against them is something that indeed people are aware of. It is also the case that some people may be guilty of this prejudice given that the social structures of the society, government, economy, education, family, and the church, promote the discriminating them. In my analysis of the movie, I can say that the content of the film is objective enough because it demonstrates the other side of what is unseen. By this, I mean that what people are often aware of are only the positive deeds of the government. Since in this society, the state has its power to rule and control the people. Whatever the government has done wrong is concealed from the public. The public is constrained to know the truth. This is showed in the government’s use of the TV as the medium to let the people know that the destruction of Old Bailey is a planned course of action even if it is not. Also, the experimentation done by the Norsefire on the prisoners is something that people are not aware of. Maybe for some, it can be considered bias because it shows to a greater extent how it feels to be oppressed but evaluating it critically, to show the part of what is largely not known is something objective. It is objective enough to show the dominated group. People are exterminated because they do not meet the standards of purity that the Norsefire considers. This is showed through the suffering and death of Valerie Paige, a lesbian actress, and also the case of Deitrich, for being gay and having Quran. Well, the author of the story, Alan Osward Moore, a comic writer who also receives the recognition of being one of the best British writer of the history, is suitable and believable enough to have these points showed in his story. This is because his story is inspired by the fascism and anarchy but is portrayed through a Bush – era story where people are so fearful to political criticize and mock their own state (Itzkoff). V for Vendetta divulges the oppressive means which the government has resorted to in order to seize and maintain power in a society. This is something that only reality and arts like movie can account to. The world of politics is something that is full of propaganda. To know the real truth, a critical eye must be opened just in order to understand what is true. Not all the things declared by the government are really true to a certain extent. In the world of politics, those interested to have power would resort to all means even if it involves killings and other stuffs just to silence what the government thinks a hindrance to their plans. However basically, this could be observed in some of the cases but only if these are critically analyzed. No amount of concepts would hold the reality of the dirty world of politics. Also, it maybe always the case that the opposition to the governments including the political rebels are regarded by the government as the enemy, but what people do not know is that they are standing for the rights that are not addressed by the tyrannical government. The state must not be a controlled one but must address the voices of the people. Opinion: V for Vendetta may be a controversial movie but it is a good one. In a conservative world like ours, the government is always the good one. No matter what happen, people must stay for its government. This is because people do not know the dirty deeds of the government. Yes, the different propagandas of government are blinding us to know the truth. To maintain order, the normative standards must be pushed. Likewise, the movie is successful enough to portray how issues of sexuality, differences in religion, and terrorism are. For my own point of view, there is nothing wrong to be like V as long as one is standing for his political right as a citizen of his or her own country. This movie is great in promoting socio – political and self – awareness. It is successful enough in illustrating how fearful a totalitarian government can be. Works Cited: Conquest, Robert. Reflections on a Ravaged Century. W.W. Norton & Company, 2000. Print. Evans, Richard. The third Reich in Power. Penguin, 2004. Grobman, Gary. Nazi Facism and the Modern Totalitarian State. 1990. Web. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://remember.org/guide/Facts.root.nazi.html Electronic Surveillance. American History Online. Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, no date. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE52&NewItemID=True Jimenez, Cher. Deadly Dirty Work of the Philippines. Asia Times Online, 2007. Web. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IB13Ae01.html Itzkoff, Dave. The Vendetta Behind “V for Vendetta.” The New York Times Online, 2006. Web. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin Pipes, Richard. Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. New York: Vintage Books, Random House Inc, 1995. Print. Priest, Dana. CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons. Washington Post Online, 2005. Web. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html United States State Department. 2009 Human Rights Report: Philippines. United States State Department, 2010. Web. 01 March 2012. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/136006.htm Read More