A quick ponderance on V for Vendetta
Since seeing the movie (which I greatly enjoyed), I've been reading the graphic novel from the 1980s. Good stuff. I've enjoyed it a lot, and so much so that I'm wondering if I'll like the movie as much if I see it again. Just a few notes though.
I do like V in this one. Some people get turned off by the amount of killing V does, which is partially why they changed it for the film. They want him to be a sympathetic character, but I feel that they could have done that better by making it very clear that V was a lab rat, and a tortured one at that. Killing anything that gets in his path? Fine and dandy by me. It follows the logic of guilty by association. It's an extremist stance; if you don't stand against them, you're for them.
Sound familiar?
The Evey thing in this novel is striking me a bit as odd. The fact that V tucks her in at night with a bedtime story and in a room with a stuffed bear and a dollhouse -- perhaps I am biased by the movie's portrayal of an older Evey, but it's a bit off, especially considering what he has her do with the Bishop. If one interprets their relationship as a love relationship, then wouldn't that make him almost as bad as the Bishop? Then again, the age of consent in Britain has been 16 for quite awhile -- it's the equivalent to the American 18 in terms of rights and consent. Putting that aside, I've now decided that I don't like how the movie handles the Bishop storyline. They make it the turning point for Evey, the moment where she abandons V. It's suggested that that is why he puts her through the prisoner experience; her disloyalty needs to be flushed out of her. I'm interested where this point comes for the original Evey, as she goes through with helping V and only after breaks down and tells him she won't help him in such matters again.
I still don't find Susan/Sutler a sympathetic character, but I still do like Finch, even though he is more pro-fascism than he was in the film. I appreciate the detective attempting to unravel a mystery before it's too late. Very Holmesian of me.
I do like V in this one. Some people get turned off by the amount of killing V does, which is partially why they changed it for the film. They want him to be a sympathetic character, but I feel that they could have done that better by making it very clear that V was a lab rat, and a tortured one at that. Killing anything that gets in his path? Fine and dandy by me. It follows the logic of guilty by association. It's an extremist stance; if you don't stand against them, you're for them.
Sound familiar?
The Evey thing in this novel is striking me a bit as odd. The fact that V tucks her in at night with a bedtime story and in a room with a stuffed bear and a dollhouse -- perhaps I am biased by the movie's portrayal of an older Evey, but it's a bit off, especially considering what he has her do with the Bishop. If one interprets their relationship as a love relationship, then wouldn't that make him almost as bad as the Bishop? Then again, the age of consent in Britain has been 16 for quite awhile -- it's the equivalent to the American 18 in terms of rights and consent. Putting that aside, I've now decided that I don't like how the movie handles the Bishop storyline. They make it the turning point for Evey, the moment where she abandons V. It's suggested that that is why he puts her through the prisoner experience; her disloyalty needs to be flushed out of her. I'm interested where this point comes for the original Evey, as she goes through with helping V and only after breaks down and tells him she won't help him in such matters again.
I still don't find Susan/Sutler a sympathetic character, but I still do like Finch, even though he is more pro-fascism than he was in the film. I appreciate the detective attempting to unravel a mystery before it's too late. Very Holmesian of me.