V for Vendetta

[rowyn]

Lut and I saw the film "V for Vendetta" on Sunday. I'd already heard that Alan Moore had trashed the script, and it got a mediocre review in the local paper. So I didn't have high hopes for it. Still, we like action films and gave it a shot.

As we left the theatre, I said to Lut, "Well, it was better than I expected it to be."

I started to write up a review of the film, and found it morphing into a critical analysis of both the film and the graphic novel. Then I realized something: yes, I'd like to write a critical analysis of the film and the graphic novel. But that's not what I really want to tell you.

What I want to tell you is: "V for Vendetta" is the best comic book I've ever read, and I've read thousands of comic books. It's over twenty years old and it's still in print, with good reason.

Go see the mediocre film if you must. It's an okay movie; not as good as the first Matrix film but better than its sequels.

But please, please, read the graphic novel. It's a remarkable work on so many levels, a true gem of its field. Thoughtful, hard-edged, tightly plotted and masterfully crafted from beginning to end.

I'll give you all a couple of weeks to read it. Maybe then I'll post my critical analysis. ;)

Comments

[circuit-four.livejournal.com]

V for Vendetta is a maddening, arrogant, and often self-contradicting work that raises more questions than it answers. Frankly, I think Alan Moore is a crusty old pr*ck and his ideas are just begging for a thorough point-by-point rebuttal.

And needless to say, I agree with your assessment of the graphic novel wholeheartedly, entirely because of this. :) These are accusations that just couldn't be made against your typical "guys in spandex" or "hi, we'll be in college for eight years, reciting catch phrases and playing NES" comics. :)

[rowyn]

Frankly, I think Alan Moore is a crusty old pr*ck and his ideas are just begging for a thorough point-by-point rebuttal.


This is hard to argue with. ;) Well, I don't know that all of his ideas need a point-by-point rebuttal, and I think the graphic novel is ambiguous enough that it's not clear even he believes the ideas it advocates are reasonable. But still.

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

I don't know. My opinion of Alan Moore has been greatly diminished ... largely because the reason it was high in the first place was simply name recognition. "Alan Moore is great! Alan Moore does great stuff!"

Alan Moore's work has more plot than the average spandex smack-a-thon. That much is good. Hurrah. Not good enough for me to sing his praises, though. "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", for instance, had a wonderful premise, and that alone built up a lot of "good will" I had ... that I think was probably undeserved. (There was a lot in there that I suppose was just supposed to shock me. Look! This is a GRITTY COMIC! Ooo, me FIERCE!)

Anyway, the very premise of "V is for Vendetta" probably biases me against it, whether I read the book or (Heaven forbid) see the movie. My opinions have changed over time. I no longer believe that you can save societies by blowing up "the bad guys". While I think we should be in Iraq, doing what good we can, I think it terribly naive (only with the benefit of hindsight - since I certainly didn't think of it back then) to suppose that if we got rid of Saddam, EVERYBODY would be greeting us with olive branches.

I also think the central resolution of Star Wars - that by simply blowing up a couple of Death Stars and killing the Emperor, the galaxy would be saved - was fundamentally flawed.

Now, if Alan Moore's graphic novel presents "V" in a more nuanced way, well more power to him. It doesn't impress me greatly, however, that the female lead in his comic (so I've heard) is a prostitute instead of a reporter. It smacks again of that whole cheap, "LOOK! I'm so GRITTY!" deal, like some over-the-top 80s-90s British comic book. No, wait, that's not a very clever comparison.

Leaders are in power only because of the people who follow. Sometimes they gain that power through deception, through prejudices, through misplaced faith, or other mechanisms. Sure, fear can go a long way, but someone has to be around to create that fear, to cooperate with the leader, et cetera.

In Iraq, we have one third (?) of the population, the Sunnis, who benefitted under Saddam's rule at the expense of the Shiites and Kurds ... and there are enough of them around to make life miserable for those who aren't playing by their rules. Merely taking out the leader didn't make them all have a change of heart.

Similarly, I don't believe that ramming jet planes into a couple of skyscrapers and killing thousands of civilians is going to bring about a change of heart in America that will please those who would carry out such a thing.

The idea of just curing all that's evil with some big purifying explosion (Boom, there goes the Death Star) is a pointless fantasy - and a dangerous one, when it's acted upon.

I haven't seen "V for Vendetta". I'm prepared to be told that I'm all wrong about it. But based on the press, it sounds like a fantasy I'm not inclined to watch or read.

[rowyn]

Leaders are in power only because of the people who follow. Sometimes they gain that power through deception, through prejudices, through misplaced faith, or other mechanisms. Sure, fear can go a long way, but someone has to be around to create that fear, to cooperate with the leader, et cetera.

This is one of the central points of the graphic novel, in fact. :) I'll toss an email your way on the subject, rather than putting spoilers in here. I figure I can afford to throw some spoilers at you in the interests of convincing you to read it -- after all, it's not like you were going to read it if I didn't.

[(Anonymous)]

Is it a central part of the movie, though? I haven't actually SEEN the movie, but I hardly get to see the movies I want to anymore, let alone the ones I might feel a need to "for general principle". I.e., is there a difference between the movie in book, in terms of message?

(And why did Alan Moore trash the script, I wonder? Maybe I should look that up sometime.)

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Whoops! This was not meant to be anonymous. Such are the perils of me being lazy and just using the "reply to this comment" button from my email.

[rowyn]

(assuming the anonymous comment is yours)

No, the movie and the graphic novel have very different messages.

Alan Moore's for disliking the script are included in my link above. In general, it's poorly plotted. Um, let me clarify that. For a Hollywood action film, the plot holds together a bit better than usual. For an adaptation of "V for Vendetta", the plot is full of holes you could drive a truck through. The graphic novel is extraordinarily well-plotted, so they had to hack big holes in the plot in order to bring it down to Hollywood standards. =) It's also badly researched, which gets more airtime in the link above, but is less of a concern than the hack job on the plot.

It also significantly changes several of the characters and the roles they play in the story, usually for the worse.