Remember, remember...
Ok after a two weeks I'm finally posting again. There are various reasons for this delay; chief among them being that I am very lazy. Anyway, on with the rant.
As a chronic movie goer I have been lost for the last five months; (kind of like Jesus, but I'm not the son of god; to my knowledge) I was forced to exist on moves like Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet which made far more money than they deserved. But then finally, I was saved a movie that was actually good came out! Not only was it good, it was really good.
V for Vendetta is a story that is based in England in the not to distant future. A conservative (socially) party has taken control and slowly whittled away the citizens' rights under the pretext of national security (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). The title character is initially bent on revenge against the government which had used him as a subject in their germ/chemical warfare. He hides his presumably disfigured face behind a Guy Fawkes mask and in the end, he even learns a lesson. There were rainbows and pink bunny rabbits, I swear.
The situation, and the intended message of V, ring true considering the current political situation in the United States; perhaps a little too true. As a person who has not read the original comic I cannot comment on how faithful the movie was to the source material. However, it seems to me that the global political climate in the early 1980's would provide communism, rather than religious extremism, as the most likely cause for heightened security. The use of
germ/chemical warfare also seems suspect; while it is not a particularly new idea, I don't think that it would be at the front of people's minds at that time.
Since the film was brought to us by the Wachowski brothers, the 'minds' behind the Matrix trilogy, action is expected to be at the forefront of V; and it is. The film, much like it's 'hero', hides behind a mask; if you look at it casually you may just see another movie filled with big explosions and serial killings. However, for those who care to look beyond the veneer there is a plethora of unanswered questions and a message that should not be missed. This message can be best summed up with this quote "Those who trade in their freedom for security deserve neither" (I'm too lazy to find the person who said it first, but it wasn't me. Also, that may not be an exact quote; meh.).
In the end I suggest that everybody go to see this movie and draw their own conclusions. The story is revealed in such a way that the events of this world before and after the bits we are shown are left ambiguous; leaving the viewer to decide what they feel happened. This allows the message to exist almost separate from the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and believe that you do as well, my only fear is that people will attend the movie not expecting to think and therefore refuse to do so. Do not let the message of this move disappear like so many others have.
As a chronic movie goer I have been lost for the last five months; (kind of like Jesus, but I'm not the son of god; to my knowledge) I was forced to exist on moves like Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet which made far more money than they deserved. But then finally, I was saved a movie that was actually good came out! Not only was it good, it was really good.
V for Vendetta is a story that is based in England in the not to distant future. A conservative (socially) party has taken control and slowly whittled away the citizens' rights under the pretext of national security (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). The title character is initially bent on revenge against the government which had used him as a subject in their germ/chemical warfare. He hides his presumably disfigured face behind a Guy Fawkes mask and in the end, he even learns a lesson. There were rainbows and pink bunny rabbits, I swear.
The situation, and the intended message of V, ring true considering the current political situation in the United States; perhaps a little too true. As a person who has not read the original comic I cannot comment on how faithful the movie was to the source material. However, it seems to me that the global political climate in the early 1980's would provide communism, rather than religious extremism, as the most likely cause for heightened security. The use of
germ/chemical warfare also seems suspect; while it is not a particularly new idea, I don't think that it would be at the front of people's minds at that time.
Since the film was brought to us by the Wachowski brothers, the 'minds' behind the Matrix trilogy, action is expected to be at the forefront of V; and it is. The film, much like it's 'hero', hides behind a mask; if you look at it casually you may just see another movie filled with big explosions and serial killings. However, for those who care to look beyond the veneer there is a plethora of unanswered questions and a message that should not be missed. This message can be best summed up with this quote "Those who trade in their freedom for security deserve neither" (I'm too lazy to find the person who said it first, but it wasn't me. Also, that may not be an exact quote; meh.).
In the end I suggest that everybody go to see this movie and draw their own conclusions. The story is revealed in such a way that the events of this world before and after the bits we are shown are left ambiguous; leaving the viewer to decide what they feel happened. This allows the message to exist almost separate from the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and believe that you do as well, my only fear is that people will attend the movie not expecting to think and therefore refuse to do so. Do not let the message of this move disappear like so many others have.
posted by chibigodzilla at 7:56 PM
2 Comments:
those who trade freedom for security do not have nor deserve either" —thomas jefferson
a similar sentiment was expressed by benjamin franklin, whom i first thought was the author of the quote you cited. "they that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." —historical review of pennsylvania (1759).
and from what we can observe, those who fail to learn from history (or graphic novels) are doomed to repeat it.
-rangiku
Very nice blog post chigo.
This was a very good movie and u did a good job with this post.
-FM
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