This is something I’d been watching over the past few weeks: Vs marching on Washington DC Using the concept of activist resistance and the visual icon presented by the title character of V for Vendetta, givemeliberty.org has been organizing formal protests in DC. They started with one V as a dry run, and then on November 14th he returned with 100 Vs. They say they hope to have 1000 Vs the next time.
It’s interesting to see people reclaim popular culture like this, and it’s even more interesting to see how entertainment media, when presented in the right manner, can be used to propel high ideals in more than the usual abstract sense. Usually those ideals never leave the theater.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
That is awesome! I think that the idea of V could be great if it were embraced as a nation. V had no color or nationality, he was not labeled as poor or rich, he was indeed an idea (or ideal, dpeneding on how you interpret it) and it is high time that we Americans, as a nation, had something similar. If anonimity gives us courage, then by all means embrace it and use it as a tool to be heard peacefully. Thanks for sharing this one with us bro, good lookin out.
Rats..they forgot to blow something up…
Well, while I think the idea of ‘V’ is romantic… V did have a nationality. He was English. If you take him out of context, most of his symbolism is lost, and it really does concern me if such an important element of the graphic novel and movie was missed.
The mask V wars is called a Guy Faulks Mask. If you remember the peom from the beginning, “Remember Remember/the fifth of november/the gunpower plot/and treason/I see no reason that/the fifth of november should ever be forgot.”
November 5th commerates an Englishmen putting his life down to send a message to the English people. His message was to always be willing to fight for freedoms and liberty.
In the United States… better symbolism and such would be a bunch of Washington’s and Jefferson’s showing up on the White House Lawn(park outside) on July 4th. That is the parrell with the whole ‘V’ at least.
This is so convoluted, it hurts me. You sir, need to learn both how to both read and write.
First, Guy *Fawkes*, no need to capitalize mask. Guy Fawkes was part of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in November of 1605. The poem actually goes (both in the movie and in it’s literary form):
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
And the point of it is not to GLORIFY the Gunpowder Treason but to say that everyone should remember this treasonous act so their names remain in infamy forever as penance for their actions. There’s quite a bit more to the poem as well, with a nice verse about the period English LOVE for the Pope.
I’d recommend reading the Wikipedia page on Guy Fawkes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_fawkes) for a quick informative overview.
November 5th commemorates the STOPPING of the gunpowder plot. They traditionally burn effigies of Guy Fawkes during the celebration. More modern anti-establishment types are trying to “take this one back” as it were and put a modern fight-the-power spin on it, but the fact remains, the day exists to celebrate the interruption of this assassination attempt.
Following the metaphor, I’m not sure that Washington or Jefferson would be appropriate based on my personal contextualization of the character, but I can see the angle.
While V himself (meaning under the mask) was indeed an Englishman, you are missing the point of the mask and the persona. V was an idea and ideas in and of themself do not have a nationality. My point was missed, and I apologize for that miscommunication. The point is, with the V costume on, there is no black, white, hispanic, etc.
Wow. That is amazing. It’s good to see someone making good use of an idea put forth years ago. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
V is an anarchist, and I see none of his ethos of bringing down the current society before you can build anything else in this demonstration.
Stuff like this is why Alan Moore distanced himself from the movie (which I enjoyed, but for different reasons than the book)
allen moore distanced himself from vendetta because all of the other movies based on his works flopped. he thought it was gonna make him lose more money. that’s the only reason. all he cares about is money, just like everyone else.
He’d have got paid even if it was a flop.
He gave the money to the artist David Gibbons IIRC.
So I think the original post is correct well that and League of Extraordinary Gentleman has so little to do with his books.
Oh and From Hell changing the main character, even though he was a real person in the original book.
But yeah money is more important when weighted against having your name on something with no relation to what you wrote.
The interesting thing to see will be “how does a thousand-strong mob react when the cops can’t see their faces”. Since so often now it seems that peaceful demonstrations are ending in violence, with everyone’s face covered it may enhance the chances of things getting out of hand.
On the flipside too I guess, as V was ultimately a force for good, perhaps some of that ethos will instill itself into the participants and provide the opposite.
it’ll be interesting to see :)
hah, its rare to find a “bad guy” with a good side to him (im not saying he was bad, just that he blew up buildings) so im assuming that a whole mob of over 1000 people could never all be for the good
you people are over analizeing this. its really quite simple V, while he was honorable, was still a murder. on the flipside though what he sought to do was open the eyes of the people and reveil that, much like we are now, they were sheep being lead blindly. ALso did anyone notice how much the movie and disturbed’s “land of confusion” have in common??
disturbed’s land of confusion? HA! you’re probably not that old. that’s a cover of a song by phil collins from the mid-80s. the video used to freak me out as a kid.
i ment the video r-tard! and i’m older than you think jerk.
Man, I’m torn. I mean, I already have a sweet V costume set up, complete with knives and iPod with the 1812 on a loop attatched to portable speakers, but do I really want to go back to DC?
I like the visual and the power that a hundred silent and masked protesters could produce. And I wish I could’ve been a part of their demonstration. But sadly I don’t live in DC… or America even. I’m Canadian and I think that somehow it wouldn’t mean anything for me to be there. May even cheapen it somehow.
I agree with Aegis. The anonymity will tend to drive this towards an undesirable end.
That said, if you’re going to protest something, show your face, don’t be a coward. It’s not like any of the crapholes of the world where you _can_ get disappeared for speaking out…
And Harry, while I admire the determination and nifty getup (the ipod and speakers are a nice touch), I encourage you in the strongest possible terms NOT to bring knives to a protest march. It looks cool in the mirror, but IF you get searched, those are a go to jail free pass at a large march.
Well, freaking duh on the knives. I made the mistake of having my swiss army knive on me when I visited the Empire State Building (BIG MISTAKE). I’m just a nerd for when it comes to costume accuracy.
While the image is indeed powerful, it is somewhat weakened by picking a British ‘terrorist’. Guy Fawkes and the other members of the Gunplot Treason were also trying to instate a new monarchy, not bring in democracy. They wanted to instate a Catholic King. It is a shame that because of the movie people suddenly take in an interest in this sort of thing, while American history is full of people who challenged the system. Our country was founded on revolution, but I guess we have to go overseas for our heroes. Although I am a strong believer in political desent.
Oh and the 5th of November does not celebrate the plot, it celebreates its failure as ElFurbe mentioned. They burn Guy Fawkes in effigy, not something you do to your heroes.
Actually, I believe for the first few centuries of the holiday, they burned effigies of the pope. I could be talking out of my ass on this one, but I’ll go with it.
no your right they did everything gets twisted so much you cant hardly tell whats real anymore. its quite sad really.
This isn’t mine and I’m not sure where I found it, but if you google a sentence or two you will find its original posting. This is a little history of Guy Fawkes Day:
“Bonfire Night is celebrated across the UK on 5 November. The date marks the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament by Guy Fawkes1 along with a group of co-conspirators in London in 1605.
The intention was to kill King James I and wipe out everyone in government. The group were Catholic extremists who wanted to return England to the Catholic faith. One of the conspirators had a friend in the Houses of Parliament and sent a letter to him, warning him to stay away from the House on the day the attack was supposed to take place. The letter was intercepted and handed to the king.
Meanwhile, Guy Fawkes and friends, having formulated their plan, known as the ‘Gunpowder Plot’, had rolled 36 barrels of gunpowder into the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, and were waiting for the king to arrive when guards broke in and arrested them. They were tortured and executed.”
Here is nother source, which I think clarifies the above a bit. Again, google a sentence or two and you’ll find it–it is from a blog:
“Yesterday was Bonfire Night, when bonfires and fireworks mark the anniversary of the failed attempt by Guido (Guy) Fawkes and his fellow Catholic plotters to blow up the Houses of Parliament and its occupants. Appalled by King James I’s failure to reverse the policy of Queen Elizabeth I and at least tolerate Catholic worship, they decided to take action and blow up the king along with his government. The ins and outs of the plot, which may or may not have been partly fostered by King James’ spymaster Robert Cecil, are still something of a mystery. From the point of view of the beleaguered English Catholic community, the Gunpowder Plot was a disaster. The leader of the English Jesuits, Father Henry Garnet, knew about the plot in advance and tried to prevent it. However, he was bound by the seal of confession and therefore unable to act against the plotters. After the plot was discovered, he was martyred. English Catholics were tarred with the brush of treason and suffered greater persecution than before. A national day of celebration was decreed to mark the failure of the plot.
So what did we do to mark the day. As Catholics, did we - should we? - avoid Bonfire Night celebrations? Er, no … we went with friends to a firework display at the school in a nearby village, then back to their house for drinks, eats, and the opportunity to let off rockets in their garden. These days many people have no idea of the origins of Bonfire Night, and even those who know that Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament have no idea of the religious impetus behind the plot. With one or two rare exceptions (the town of Lewes in Sussex still burns an effigy of the pope on a bonfire) there is absolutely no anti-Catholic sentiment or Protestant triumphalism involved. We just enjoy the fireworks and the tradition of sharing the evening with friends - we have spent Bonfire Night with the same family for the last ten years, and it is one of the highlights of the girls’ year. I take the view that it offers an opportunity to remember the tragic history of Catholicism in this country … that done, we go along and have fun.”