Snow Ball Paper - V for Vendetta (Final Edits)

[V for Vendetta]

In the movie V for Vendetta by director James Mcteigue, is a film taken place in Britain about a masked man named V who ignites a revolution against a “corrupt and abusive totalitarian government” (www.startplus.com). V was introduced to Evey, a woman he saved in the midst of the night in an alley where two men were going to arrest her for staying out late. Because of the heroic experience, V and Evey turned out as allies, protecting each other from the government. Through out the movie, V was known for his trade mark for wearing a costume, cloves, hat and mask. He wanted to go for the look of a man from the 16th century named Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was known for his oppression towards the tyranny of the Britain government of King James I. On November the 5th, Him and a few citizens plotted against the government by placing thirty-six barrels of gun powder under the British Parliament. Unfortunately for him, his plan was unsuccessful, for the government had caught him before he and the others were able to ignite the gun powder. In modern day, the main character V tried to finish Guy Fawkes’s duty by advocating the citizens of Britain to rise against the power of the government.
In a particular scene of the movie, V trespasses a television station network called BTN, British Television Network. Those who led the government had the advantage of controlling the minds of the people by broadcasting false stories. The people of Britain were not aware of these false stories or the government’s cruelty among the members in society by creating laws that restricted people from doing the ‘everyday routines’. As the government continued to brainwash by using network television, V took the initiative to wake up the people of Britain and its government by demolishing a court building in central London called the ‘Old Bailey’ to remind people of November the 5th, when Guy Fawkes attempted to bomb the Parliament, four hundred years before years ago. With the help of Evey, V was able to hack into the network station to broadcast to the people homes and share with them a revelation, to wake up! And fight against the government and to remember the 5h of November:


“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. […] I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. […] Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgotten.”


The first couple of sentences of V’s speech started with “Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition.” V indicated how the government was in control of the people’s custom to watching a man on T.V. everybody was familiar with. Though, because V had intruded into the British Television Network, the people of Britain were unfamiliar with the man wearing a mask broadcasting a speech. He follows up the interruption by telling others there needs to be a change by remembering November the 5th. He gives a clear explanation to why the people should agree and commend the holiday by exposing the ‘wrongs’ of Britain’s government. “Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression” were all caused by the high chancellor, Adam Sutler, and to V’s shame that the people of Britain were actually the fuel of all the damage made. As a revelation, V thought it was his duty to wake up the people from the supremacy that was corrupting those below them. His revelation follows up with the lies made and broadcasted to the public. At one point of the movie, V had actually had the chance to kill the chancellor with his bare hands. BTN announced to the public that he had died over a sickness that had killed him in his sleep. The purpose of V’s speech was to make the people of Britain to understand and realize the dominance the government had upon the citizens. By joining V’s revolt against the government on November the fifth of the following year, it would help others to wake up, fight the power and realize that everything was a lie.
A Binary opposition found in V for Vendetta is the “Fear as a management tool allows governments to set up binary oppositions; “us and them scenarios,” where one chooses sides not out of ideological agreement, but out of the genuine concern that failing to choose a side risks condoning the ideological views of the other.” (http://milderweather.blogspot.com). In the movie, the government puts the citizens of Britain in a position where they have to choose to follow the leaders or oppose the government. However, Citizens of Britain do not have much of a choice to go against the government, unless he/she is eager to go to jail for having a second opinion, just like V. V says two binary opposition in his speech by pointing out the viewers, watching his speech, and the chancellor. The differences between the two are the subject of who is higher than the other. V declared that the chancellor is superior for the simple fact he has been leading the people on to believing that he “promised you peace”. The statement contradicts itself as V points out that ‘peace’ is not the equivalence to “silent, obedient consent.” To the chancellor’s advantage, he was able to manipulate the people to believe in him and what he could provide. That is when V breaks the ice by announcing to those who are asleep by the chancellor’s messages to wake up!