I used to love this film, and of course I respect revolutionaries fighting a police state. If you live in Russia, this film may give you inspiration.
But that's not what the filmmakers intended and it's not how it's perceived in society. In society, it's a shorthand for political outrage instead of debate. It's about the United Kingdom, which is not a police state.
Alan Moore, creator of the original comics, is a self-described "anarchist" and a conspiracy theorist who admires cultist and con man Aleister Crowley.
I find it curious. Some of the most "liberal" people who believe in social justice admire Che Guevara, who was a murderer and wannabe dictator. Now in V for Vendetta we're supposed to admire Guy Fawkes, who was a religious fanatic and wannabe murderer who wanted a new monarch.
I get it. It's only a movie. And I love movies like Batman. Batman is a vigilante but it's okay because Batman is so clearly a fantasy, and he's written so that he's never wrong. V for Vendetta, with its earnest poetry about "ideas", is not so much a fantasy as a call to arms.
If you actually live in an Orwellian nightmare, fine. But for the rest of us, debate and peaceful protest are the only moral tools in a democracy. If you're angry but uninformed, full of self-righteousness, and you think this justifies illegal acts, that makes you part of the problem. That's not liberalism. That's populism, a mental and moral dead end.
Stoking hatred and fear is what's getting society into trouble. Showing empathy and reason is the only thing that gets us out.
If you love this movie, grow up. When you're a teenager it's fine to wear black lipstick and pretend to embrace death like a goth and think you can pull violent stunts like blocking a highway because there's some moderate injustice in society, but when you're an adult, you have to reject Alan Moore's ideas entirely. The way to rid ourselves of injustice in a democracy is through debate and peaceful protest.
One of my favorite quotes is this line: For every complex problem, there is a simple solution, and it is wrong.
So I'm reducing this from 10/10 to 4/10 because I am no longer a child and I don't think like children do.
But that's not what the filmmakers intended and it's not how it's perceived in society. In society, it's a shorthand for political outrage instead of debate. It's about the United Kingdom, which is not a police state.
Alan Moore, creator of the original comics, is a self-described "anarchist" and a conspiracy theorist who admires cultist and con man Aleister Crowley.
I find it curious. Some of the most "liberal" people who believe in social justice admire Che Guevara, who was a murderer and wannabe dictator. Now in V for Vendetta we're supposed to admire Guy Fawkes, who was a religious fanatic and wannabe murderer who wanted a new monarch.
I get it. It's only a movie. And I love movies like Batman. Batman is a vigilante but it's okay because Batman is so clearly a fantasy, and he's written so that he's never wrong. V for Vendetta, with its earnest poetry about "ideas", is not so much a fantasy as a call to arms.
If you actually live in an Orwellian nightmare, fine. But for the rest of us, debate and peaceful protest are the only moral tools in a democracy. If you're angry but uninformed, full of self-righteousness, and you think this justifies illegal acts, that makes you part of the problem. That's not liberalism. That's populism, a mental and moral dead end.
Stoking hatred and fear is what's getting society into trouble. Showing empathy and reason is the only thing that gets us out.
If you love this movie, grow up. When you're a teenager it's fine to wear black lipstick and pretend to embrace death like a goth and think you can pull violent stunts like blocking a highway because there's some moderate injustice in society, but when you're an adult, you have to reject Alan Moore's ideas entirely. The way to rid ourselves of injustice in a democracy is through debate and peaceful protest.
One of my favorite quotes is this line: For every complex problem, there is a simple solution, and it is wrong.
So I'm reducing this from 10/10 to 4/10 because I am no longer a child and I don't think like children do.