V for Vendetta, the Movie, Glorifies Western Terrorism

Thank you, Fauxor, for accepting to argue the con/against side of this debate. For the record, I adore V for Vendetta, the movie. Contention #1: V for Vendetta, the movie, is different than V for Vendetta, the graphic novel. Film adaptations often differ from the books and graphic novels that inspired them, and V for Vendetta is no exception. The graphic novel features a rigid, calculated, and almost inhuman protagonist. His interactions with Evey are largely unemotional. When he does show emotion, it is in the form of gritty resentment and rage. For example, V talks to statues as if they were lovers—"So you stand at last. You are no longer my justice. You are his justice now. You have bedded another" —before blowing them up. The movie, however, features a more charismatic V, a protagonist who cooks Evey breakfast and works intentionally to better his relationship with her. While somewhat socially stunted, V is approachable, almost likable. Evey discovers him, one day, pretending to swordfight while watching a movie. While some, though not many, of these moments appear in the graphic novel as well, they are portrayed there with an overt grimness that paints V as a mentally and emotionally struggling individual. The character of Evey changes from book to movie. In the graphic novel, Evey is a fifteen-year-old girl who, faced with poverty, attempts to make a living as a prostitute. In the movie, she is a twenty-something girl who never, as far as the audience is aware, considers prostitution. Alan Moore, the writer of the graphic novel, had his name removed from the movie's credits. About the graphic novel, Moore writes, "Whereas, what I was trying to do was take these two extremes of the human political spectrum and set them against each other in a kind of little moral drama, just to see what works and what happened. I tried to be as fair about it as possible. I mean, yes, politically I'm an anarchist; at the same time I didn't want to stick to just moral blacks and whites. I wanted a number of the fascists I portrayed to be real rounded characters. They've got reasons for what they do. They're not necessarily cartoon Nazis. Some of them believe in what they do, some don't believe in it but are doing it any way for practical reasons. As for the central character of the anarchist, V himself, he is for the first two or three episodes cheerfully going around murdering people, and the audience is loving it. They are really keyed into this traditional drama of a romantic anarchist who is going around murdering all the Nazi bad guys." According to Moore, the graphic novel attempts to do justice to a complicated issue. The film, by contrast, offers little humanization of individuals within the oppressive government. The few exceptions include Finch, Finch's partner, and (depending on your interpretation) Delia Surridge. These exceptions, however, do little to balance the overflow of black-and-white, negative portrayals of the oppressive regime. Contention #2: V, the character, is a Western terrorist. I propose that terrorism is here defined as "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes." Given this definition, V's actions are acts of terrorism. V bombs buildings, murders political leaders, hijacks public broadcasts, and threatens public venues with acts of violence. A review of the film from CinemaBlend.com suggests that "He's a terrorist, but he's not terrorizing the people." Whether or not V intentionally terrorizes "people" (civilians, bystanders, observers, etc) is irrelevant. V is committing acts of terror against an established entity, and those acts have the same basic consequences as other acts of terrorism as defined above. And, though V's origin is largely unknown, he is attacking a European government, and he is acting, in part, of behalf of a section of Europe. He is a member of the Western world; thus, he is a Western terrorist. Contention #3: The context provided does not justify V's actions. Given V's acts of terrorism, and given the aforementioned differences between the graphic novel and the film, the film does not provide enough context to justify V's actions. The film may justify an aggressive response to oppression, but aggression is different than terrorism. The film may justify an underground sociopolitical movement in response to tyranny, but a member of an underground sociopolitical movement is not necessarily a terrorist. The film does not answer questions regarding V's use of explosives and lethal weapons. Given that those tools are used to commit acts of terrorism, the film does not adequately respond to V's use of terrorism as a tool for change. Because the film does not provide the same nuanced approach to a complicated issue, V's acts of terrorism go unchecked. The audience is meant to assume that V's actions are justified without receiving any real justification for them. Though entertaining, the film is, in many ways, a simple, pruned version of the graphic novel. The film pruned away the grey complexity of the graphic novel, leaving a somewhat relatable man who destroys building and kills government officials as a way of symbolizing his disapproval of a government. The oppressive government is portrayed as strikingly evil, thus emphasizing the glorification of V's acts of terrorism. Conclusion In The Matrix, the Wachowski siblings dulled the moral backlash against violence by allowing the would-be terrorists to run around in a fake world. V for Vendetta, however, takes place in London. It is a future, dystopian version of London, but it is still London. V did not explode fabricated buildings inside a virtual reality with the power of his mind—he blew up real buildings in London. Aside from the possible sociopolitical arguments for anti-oppression coup d'ï¿½tats, V for Vendetta, the film, provides a platform for unrestricted violence against authority. The film's use of violence without adequate context creates an environment that glorifies Western terrorism. Sources: http://www.cinemablend.com... http://web.archive.org...