V for Vendetta
A compilation of three books written by Alan Moore
art by David LLoyd
Plot summary
V for Vendetta is a graphic novel which tells the story of the future (1997-98) totalitarian state of England. The fascist ruling regime, the Norsefire Party, had taken power after a nuclear war had put the country into a state of chaos. For the time being, Norsefire created law and order. Adam Susan, the leader of the party (who is referred to as "The Leader" or "Mr. Susan") keeps track of his citizens' daily lives and controls every aspect of his state through the use of an advanced computer system, named Fate. The Leader is in love with Fate and as the story develops, the reader assumes that he is incapable of loving the human race. He is removed from the suffering population and from perceiving the needs of his people. In order to achieve total control, he had set up a system of militant cadres: The Finger (the secret police), The Eye (video surveillance), The Ear (auditory surveillance) , The Nose (regular police), and The Mouth (public broadcasting). All of the branches report to The Leader (The Mind).
In order to realize the triumph of the white race and their party, the state regime had eliminated all dissenters to the ruling party, all people of color, and all homosexuals. Authorities imprisoned these people in detention camps; killing, torturing, and conducting experiments on them.
Eventually, he escaped from the prison in a grand feat of explosives and swore the rest of his life to revenge. One by one, he kills the people involved in his imprisonment and the Norsefire party heads. V instills popular distrust in the government by bombing federal buildings, sabotaging Fate, and causing general anarchy. Despite Norsefire's best efforts to capture the terrorist, V prevails until the regime is destroyed and England is left in anarchy.
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| Evey Hammond |
The Creator
Alan Moore wished to write a story which would reflect what happened in the future if England perpetually never left the Conservative path. Moore started writing the series in 1981 and finished in 1988. During this time Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative party had served three terms. Rumors in England spread news of the possibilities of camps for AIDS patients and the criminalization homosexuality. The presence of riot police did not quell these rumors. To Moore, his novel is not a far cry from what could happen in an event of a disaster such as a nuclear war. Moore claims in the novel's introduction that nothing like V for Vendetta was on the market at the time. Moore had also went on to create Watchmen, Swam Thing, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Promethea among others.
Structure
In V for Vendetta, the text and pictures work together. Sometimes, when it is difficult to see what is happening in the panels, the text helps the reader manage. In some panels, there is not any text at all. These are commonly moment-to-moment panels that do not necessarily need narration. Moore and Lloyd also use one character's dialogue in a panel which illustrates another's simultaneous actions, which was an interesting effect. I believe that the words dominate over the pictures because of their symbolistic content pertaining to V's revolution. Song lyrics, poetry, and famous quotations are all used in V's dialogue to explain his actions or their meaning. Given the weight of these words, the text dominates over the images.
The art in the novel is realistic and consistently uses contrast to portray drama. Shadows and darkness are the reoccurring devices used by Lloyd to depict a somber mood in a bleak world. Lloyd's England has a destroyed past, a dark present, and no future. Memories are portrayed in black and often a muted color; only full color is used for scenes occurring in the present. Lloyd, though he used heavy inked lines, also incorporated a lot of detail into the panels.
Analysis
I enjoyed reading this novel. It was fast paced, and intellectually stimulating. I liked how Moore incorporated history (The Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes), the present (Conservative rule), and his image of a possible future all in one work. Weak characters, like Evey become heroes as the novel progresses through their own willingness to change things. I enjoyed experiencing Evey's journey from someone who is always getting victimized to becoming an unstoppable revolutionary force.
V's actions are interesting to think about. Is he a villain or a hero? Does he have the right to be the sole decider in toppling the Norsefire party? Are people innocent if they commit morally wrong acts under the orders of their superiors? Are there human rights in an environment of chaos?
V's actions are interesting to think about. Is he a villain or a hero? Does he have the right to be the sole decider in toppling the Norsefire party? Are people innocent if they commit morally wrong acts under the orders of their superiors? Are there human rights in an environment of chaos?
The only criticism which I have is that it is very difficult to differentiate the characters. V and Evey are obvious to identify, but the reoccurring minor characters (the heads of the Norsefire branches) all seem to look the same. Perhaps this is an artistic criticism of fascist regimes being militaristic and homogenous, but it makes the novel confusing and difficult to read at times.
Legacy
V follows in the footsteps of Guy Fawkes in the seventeenth century; promoting resistance against government and revolution for the cause of freedom. V's mask has become a protest symbol around the world- a fact which I am sure that Moore is pleased with. A movie adaption of the graphic novel had been made starring Natalie Portman as Evey though I have not seen it to compare them.
--Meagan Gandolfo
--Meagan Gandolfo
I have never seen the movie V for Vendetta, and I hope to read this comic before I watch the movie. Like I said under Jenna's post, I never read comics before taking this course, but after discovering the type of comics I like, V for Vendetta has made my reading list. The government controlled society you describe reminds me of communism and the revolutionaries who aimed to abolish it. My parents grew up during communism in Poland and they often tell me how different their lives were!
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the movie much, but your report makes me want to read the novel. It's interesting how these feelings and ideas have played out in the real world since Moore wrote this book. Good report.
ReplyDeleteCommenting on your analysis of the artwork and the difficulty in distinguishing characters-- while I am rather infatuated with David Lloyd's artwork and how it contributes to the storytelling, I must agree that on a first reading it is a little hard to distinguish some of the characters, especially those that do not appear prominently throughout the work.I'm thinking here of Mrs. Almond, who at times looks more than a bit like Evey. I can only imagine that this was somewhat intentional. Mrs. Almond, a battered woman, ultimately assassinates Mr. Susan, who she understands as being the source of her suffering (the blatant sexism of Norsefire members is clear throughout the lives of the female characters). Evey in contrast advocates non-violence in pursuit of liberation. Mrs. Almond's appearance changes gradually over the course of the comic, her hair changing from blonde to brown, her face growing longer, etc. This may simply be a recognition that she looked like Evey in early chapters (before being published as one volume, this comic was serialized), or, as I like to imagine, a conscious effort to draw first draw parallels between characters, and then visually indicate their divergence from one another. Likewise, there is a certain similarity in the appearance of Lewis Prothero and Mr. Susan, both of whom have their minds broken by V at different stages of his plot to topple the government. You're correct, there is a great deal of ambiguity in the artwork. Yet I still think it is meant to advance a certain reading of the characters, forcing a reader to confront how the divergent plot lines all relate back to one another; the characters and their stories are often analogous but not identical, both visually and textually.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note, I agree-- the movie was awful. While it was interesting to see what V would look like in "real life", I found the film overall confused the politics of Moore and Lloyd's creation, preferring to depict a virtually nonexistent romance between V and Evey to the nuances of their philosophical positions or the canonical portrayal of certain characters (for instance, Gordon, gay in the movie, was actually Evey's lover--not very convenient, I suppose). It's very frustrating, especially given Moore's outspoken disapproval of these adaptations of his work.
I agree that Norsefire sexism is definitely a theme evident in the novel.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the characters looking like each other is to point out that they are all serialized followers of Norsefire. Only V, who with the mask can obviously be identified is not a follower.
I feel that Mrs. Almond undergone the most change and she is underrated in the story. The death of her husband, although a horrible and cruel individual, was the worst thing to happen to Mrs. Almond. She is weakened and does not know how to go on. She becomes dependent on other Norsefire men to support her. Finally, she drops all of that and becomes a dancer (still dependent on male spectators). I am glad that at the end, she finally decides to control her own fate and to try to make her own life better. She kills Susan. The lonely compliant women became a defiant and angry assassin who in part helped to bring down a regime.