V for Vendetta: Unmasking Tyranny and the Quest for True Freedom

What the film, V for Vendetta, essentially shows us is the oppression of government. How, like a snake, it can coil around its people, suffocating them into obedience and blindness. A sort of blindness that leads to the ever so “blind following”. The people are told what to do, what to say and are made to believe what the government tells them. It’s this sense of oppressive tyrannical governments that we have observed throughout history. As with all oppressive rulings there tends to be a good amount of chaos when it comes to those that wish to go against it.

Many times, these coups are failures and show just how strong the government can be when it is met with disobedience. This is what “V” stands for; he represents the commitment to freedom in a world with none of it.

Thus, is why the question of “Do I live in V’s Country” a complicated one that begs us to look into just what this world is, what it represents and what approach our titular “anti-villain”, V, takes in favor.

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It is these factors that, once applied to our real world helps us form a clear understanding and a developed opinion. Serving as one of the prime themes of the film, anarchy is represented through the character of V; who describes himself as one who believes that all government authority is corrupt as it in fringes on human freedom. These beliefs are not new in the very least as they have been brought about for ages.

This character is essential in the role of a world with a government like the Nosefire government of England. A government structured to veer the public in every idea it chooses. They control what they read, what they see and so on.

Using various hints that allude to the juxtaposition of freedom such as the name of the broadcasting system, Fate, the film paints a question: if not freedom, then what? Hardly a simple answer, one such as I, would be quick to state that freedom is lost through government control and the goal is to break free. Yet, as V put it “freedom from…” wouldn’t just mean doing what you but also freedom form the weakness and ignorance that has been planted within oneself. To do this would require a level of literacy and discipline, with hard work. It’s a little more complicated structure as opposed to “freedom to…” the much more surface level of thinking which leads many to say, “freedom to do what you want”. This model suggests that one can do as they please.

Breaking free of the shackles of government has granted a purity of endless opportunities all of your choice. V puts this as a life where you “do-as-you-please”. This, however, is not the model that both Moore, the creator, nor V favor. Rather it is the “freedom from” model which requires motivation and hard work, a sense of structure that does not fuel unwarranted chaos. Freedom to simply leads to a mess, which can be quelled by the might of the government’s hand. Planned and educated rebellions, those that shake of the weakness and ignorance are able to trickle much more into the walls of a government such as the one shown. People have two barriers to break from: both their government and their minds. This type of belief essentially justifies every action the character of V takes. He studies, he reads and even kidnaps Evey to, in a sense, free her from the weakness of her own desire which is happiness.

It is this hope for happiness that V states is the “most insidious poison of all”. It is this that leads to the model of “freedom to”. The film and graphic novel also touch on many themes such as bigotry and revenge. Bigotry, most importantly, is a useful tool within the government that exists in thise world. Appearing as a Fascist society that favors one race and one sex. It is these racist and sexist components that unified the government, directing their hate to all but one race and favoring a mostly male society. These components all make up the racial pride found within its literature, music, art and religion. The film portrays the aspect of racism and sexism to be a weakness of the government by stunning its own “talent pool”. Most blatantly, the theme of revenge first appears in the title as vendetta refers to animosity or acts of revenge. Providing two different “tastes” of revenge, Moore uses both personal vengeance and a much vaguer motive.

It is this theme that clouds V’s character in a philosophical cloak at times. People within. A government such as Nosefire, can holds vendettas for what the government has done to them. The film and novel present us with a chilling view of what happens to races that aren’t agreed upon or what happens to homosexuals. Actions like these can build vengeance within someone. V’s backstory allows one to paint a very simple story of revenge. His past is painful and tortuous thus explaining his attacks to be motivated by a desire for vengeance. Uncommon, and reasonable to a degree. It comes with no question that to live in the world of the film/graphic novel of V for Vendetta would mean to live in a world disillusion with grip of power and the determination to maintain it above all else.

When taking account what it would take to live in such a world, it would mean to either live under the hand of a government like Nosefire, blindly following because that is all that one knows (essentially living in meaningless comfortably), decide “freedom to…” model is right and attempt a coup that leads to chaos or join V in an attempt to not only free yourself from the tentacles of government but train oneself to relinquish any weaknesses that dwell within. This is a question that has much more meaning than it makes itself sound. One that, on the surface would undoubtedly gather much more “freedom to…” responses or even “not do anything” answers. This is because very few would put in effort needed. Many see freedom from a tyrannical government as a sign of anarchy. Anarchy leads to chaos, and chaos leads to violence.

V states that true freedom requires education and training, otherwise it is nothing more than violence. This can lead to many more questions such as, “would there need to be a teacher to educate in order to achieve true freedom or can people figure it out for themselves?”. The answer can be complicated. Applying these themes to the real world can now help us understand just how much a government like Nosefire reflects our very own. In short, it doesn’t. A government like America’s holds little bearing to what Nosefire comes to represent. A government with as many checks and balances, and a country founded on the basis of the “freedom from” model holds nothing in similarity. Have we seen governments past or present comes close to this? Of course, we have.

Moore’s inspiration for the graphic novel holds many inspirations from various tyrannical and fascist governments, most notably, the Third Reich. Today there are governments that are oppressive and extremely oppressive, governments that have toppled under immense pressure and others that are in chaos. Of course, not all governments are victims of anarchy, some may have a failing economy that did not live up to the expectations such as the current status of Venezuela that id mostly due to the failure of socialism. We look to North Korea with currently one of the most oppressive governments, all with similar traits that are expressed within the novel and film. Yet as we discuss and break down the many aspects of V’s world, we see that our world does no veer into such.