I had the opportunity to watch an interesting and challenging movie the other day. V
for Vendetta just came out on DVD and I watched it for the first time just the other day. I have been impressed with the theatrical adaptations of graphic novels in the past years to include the X-Men Trilogy, the Punisher and Batman Begins which are among my favorite. One thing that I enjoy about them is that they stay along the story of the comic reliably consistently and do a good job of maintaining the “comic feel.”
Before going into depth on the movie, I want to express an observation. Hollywood has a really great thing going for them in the information arena. You see people today, especially in the US, live for ease. We live in the time of instant gratification. Where else can you find a culture with the 15min Pizza delivery? Movies are no different. People would rather watch a mediocre, condensed dramatization of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice then to take the hours to read it and to imagine the story for themselves. Impatience and entertainment rule the movie watcher’s decision making presses. When this person goes to the theatre to be entertained, they are going to be immersed in gratification. Their ability to critically interact on an intellectual level with the story is very low if not non-existent. For Hollywood, this is a prime position. This is when writers and directors begin to blur the line between the fictitious entertainment and the social and political undertones often with amazing results.
When dealing with nonfiction social and political issues, with published research (actually even that is in question today, but that is another topic for another day) at least the reader can look at the citations and references to other studies to determine factual information. The reader then can determine for themselves using critical thinking what their position will be. This allows them to weigh the various sides and work out the issues for themselves. There is only one problem: it takes time and effort that people are often unwilling to do. Enter the Hollywood script writer.
V for Vendetta is a perfect example. The movie-goer is drawn into the theater by a story of a vigilante fighting against an oppressive government to settle a vendetta. When the movie-goer watches the film, they find some pretty contemporary coincidences to some popular talking points in the socio-political arena. The setting is England about 3 decades in the future. The government is an ultra-conservative fascist-modeled oppressive government.
ANYONE WHO HAS NOT SEEN THE MOVIE, THE FOLLOWING IS A PLOT BREAKER.
As the story goes on, you discover that the government came to power through deception and subterfuge. The major event that took place that slingshot the government into power was a disastrous biological attack on England. One man, (an Adolf Hitler archetype, oddly familiar to George W. Bush) becomes the chancellor through this chain of events. The story goes a little like this. The United States begins a war several decades before (a reference to the Global War on Terror) which becomes its demise and eventually falls into civil war. England is attacked with a terrible biological agent that kills almost 100,000 people and unifies the population behind a strong government that provides a vaccine and protection from “terrorist threats.” The government is “religious” based, with murky Christian themes such as their motto “Strength though unity, unity through faith.” The celebrity of the day is a charismatic, rough edged, narcissistic religious man spouting the motto and the leading church priest is a pedophile. Eventually this government provides security for the country through surveillance of their citizens, censorship and blacklists of cultural artifacts becoming a police state. As the story unfolds, the plot thickens as our heroes uncover the truth surrounding the current government. The attack was actually carried out by several of the ruling party’s top members in an attempt to provide a “situation” for which they could continently provide a “solution.” Eventually they come to power overwhelmingly.
So why do I have a problem with this? Well there are several similarities to this story that are consistent leftist talking points.
First: There is the obvious parallel to the September 11th attacks. Michael Moore and many other radical conspiracy theorists made accusations that George W. and his father George H. W Bush and others of a similar plot. Supposedly they devised a plan a decade ago to ensure a “Bush Dynasty.” Part of this plan was to create some kind of dramatic “situation” for which they will provide a “solution.” There is absolutely know truth to any of this and if there were, there would be evidence.
Second: During “V for Vendetta,” one man is executed in a savage home invasion for crimes against the government in the form of having a Koran in his home. The connection to today’s political and social climate today is obvious. Those in opposition to the war, claim that it is a religious war of persecution against Islam. No if you have read any of my past posts, then you know my position about Islam. The reason they attempt to do this is to give credence to their support for Islamic Fascism. By claiming that the fault for the war lies with United States, they remove guilt from the militant nature of Islam and color it as the victim. By doing this, the screenplay writers (and opponents of the war) disguise their hatred of the United States.
Third: The act of vengeance to fulfill the vendetta is destroying the Parliament Building, killing those responsible and overthrowing the “illegitimate” government. Ultimately, the movie is implying that the only way to change the government is through a bloody revolution. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Sounds like Marxism to me. I don’t know about you, but the generation of soldiers before me fought and died defending our country against Communism and Socialism.
The point that I am attempting to explain ad nauseam, is the importance to educate yourself, so you can understand and intelligently analyze entertainment that so often is corrupted with falsehood and political agendas. Be careful.
No comments:
Post a Comment