seeing all the 14-17 y/o queer kids who don’t know what v for vendetta is…. u mean the blockbuster film written by two trans women about a masked vigilante who decides to singlehandedly take down a fascist alternate version of england set in the distant year of 2020… and his driving force was getting justice for a lesbian who he never met but whose diary he found, who was separated from her wife before being killed by said fascist gov…. and it stars natalie portman…. okay
the movie is great, with amazing acting:
and the original graphic novel is phenomenal:
I highly recommend them both
and they’ve never been more relevant
“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
There’s strong subtext that V is a trans man and A)the lesbian from the diary or B)her wife.
frankly I prefer the movie over the comic, for three reasons:
1) lewis prothero as a rush limbaugh/glenn beck/bill o’reilly type is both more applicable and way funnier than a 1940s radio propagandist
2) it has stephen fry as gordon detriech, and makes him explicitly gay and pretending to be attracted to evey as part of being closeted than actually attracted to evey and having sex with her while she hides in his home.
3) the movie came out in 2005; that is, only four years after 9/11, while the Iraq war was still in full swing, and while xenophobia and Islamophobia were not just acceptable, but tacitly encouraged by the administration at the time. which makes the following exchange even more poignant and sweet:
Evey: [seeing a book in a glass display case] What is that? Gordon: It’s a copy of the Qur’an, 14th century. Evey: [shocked] Are you a Muslim? Gordon: No, I’m in television. Evey: But why would you keep it? Gordon: I don’t have to be a Muslim to find the images beautiful or its poetry moving.
just… the easy acceptance of it. the idea that a religion that he doesn’t believe in and that has been explicitly outlawed in-universe is a source of beauty. I’m not Muslim, either, but that particular moment really stuck with me emotionally.
Love this movie
“…I remember how different became dangerous. I still don’t understand it, why they hate us so much. They took Ruth while she was out buying food. I’ve never cried so hard in my life. It wasn’t long till they came for me.
It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years, I had roses, and apologize to no one.
I shall die here. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An Inch, it is small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.
I hope that whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you. -Valerie”
SOBBING
Thi movie changed me so much. So so much.
Honestly V’s acting is some of the most top notch stuff I’ve ever seen.
“No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I am no longer standing, because if I am—you’ll all be dead before you’ve reloaded.”
The film (which I saw in the theater opening night) was EXPLICITLY made as rebellious pushback against the political environment in the US post 9/11. All of the evil politicians in the film INTENTIONALLY look like US right wing political figures, including Bush, Cheney, and Rush Limbaugh.
It’s not, like, subtle, if you were there at the time. Especially if you compare it to the original novel. (I also prefer the film because it gets rid of the weird sexism.)
However I have to say Natalie Portman’s accent in that movie annoys the fuck outta me. It’s not great. BUT Hugo Weaving is magnificent.
It’s very unfortunate that it’s major cultural impact was through a series of unlikely turns, getting the Guy Fawkes mask adopted as an alt-right symbol. Because like the Matrix, right wing people SUCK at picking up on films themes.
