Dystopian Society, V for Vendetta
History has a tendency to repeat itself. One of humanity’s most popular ways of getting its point across is through violence. When words are no longer enough to argue a point, human casualties not only directly solve the problem, but symbolically send a message to all those affected as well. Just as the American colonies fought against the British for Freedom when their voice was no longer heard, and just as the Islamic extremists used terrorism to send an evil message to America, both V and Chancellor Sutler used violence to gain a voice in a world of chaos.
In the film V for Vendetta the viewer is welcomed to a dystopia in which the government not only controls its citizens, but removes their privacy, civil rights, general freedoms, and even regulates what types of foods, jobs, and materials one is allowed. As the plot moves along, Chancellors Sutler’s actions to reach this dystopia are revealed. His use of biological warfare against the “weak” minorities of England was not only violent, but cruel, heartless, and sickening.
His intentions were not for the well being of his country, but for his own selfish greed and control. Chancellor Sutler was able to take advantage of the chaos, uncertainty, and fear within the world and manipulate the lives of his people with lies and a nonexistent hope. On the other hand, V took the fear that still existed in peoples’ minds, but helped them to realize they shouldn’t be afraid. In his plot to regain control on November Fifth he did made what could be his most important move.
He gave a nationally broadcasted speech to the citizens of his country, exposing and reminding the citizens of England what their government was doing to them. He helped them to recover the fact that this new life, this life that they had become accustomed to, had considered normal, was not in fact a country in which “England would prevail,” but rather a country which needed a face, and an idea. V slowly created a chaos, but not a chaos for the people, one for the government. V was able to turn the tables and remind those of popular sovereignty, power in numbers.
These actions were all peaceful, although V did find it necessary to directly take hold of the source of the countries disguised turmoil. His murders and assassinations of the people responsible sent not another message of fear, but a message of true hope, and a change for the better. Although both V’s and Sutler’s intentions of harm and hope were total opposites, it’s hard to deny the fact that their actions were similar. While V targets the government and Chancellor Sutler destroys the nation’s security, both use violence to let those uninformed hear what couldn’t be heard before.
Many argue that two wrongs don’t make a right, and killing for killing is unethical. So in order to fully understand the plot of the movie, you have to take a front seat to the hypocrisy of it all, and understand that whatever force is exerted, another force of equal value is created. It’s the balancing act of life. V may have disrupted the ideals that we as humans are given to believe, but he was only fighting the fight that was inevitably going to be fought.
The movie not only gives us a glimpse to the potential evil and manipulative people of the world, but also helps us to understand that sometimes violence is necessary. When actions are so terrible, so negative, and so extreme that people lose sight of right and wrong, and learn to accept the unacceptable, death is the only real verdict for some. V let England know that people like this would not be tolerated. Although violence was used, the ideas and symbolism were the true importance, and ideas are bulletproof.
