V for Vendetta

Dystopian fascist future becomes a reality of state sanctioned terrorism…no it’s not an extract from Cherie’s latest speech, it’s the sub-plot to the latest graphic novel-made-movie:V for Vendetta.

‘V’ has a cult following, being the best of the graphic novels from the 1980s. The Alan Moore and David Lloyd collaboration may be a timely cinema release as we descend into an authoritarian mess of cultural cannibalism, or it may in fact be the latest in a long line of destroyers of orginal quality sacrificed on the altar of cinematic crapocity, I dunno.

"On the surface, V for Vendetta a blend of 1984 and Batman: a fascist government, Norsefire, has taken over Britain after the fallout of a third world war and a mysterious cloaked figure, known only as V, is single handedly taking them on.” But it also references Max Ernst, the Gunpowder Plot and Anarchy, with the V itself being an inverted version of Proudhon’s ‘Anarchy is Order’ symbol.

Meanwhile back in what’s loosely described as ‘the real world’, have you ever wondered where our police/military got their latest shoot first ask questions later policy? Well sure most of it was tried out in Ireland for twenty or thirty years first but good to see that like most things we’re working closely with the Americans on this one…

I don’t like to be cynical, and on the face of it there’s reason to believe that Nick Hardwick (former Chief Executive of the Refugee Council) and John Wadham (former Director of Liberty) are “non-establishment” figures who may take a llong hard look at why the police are now exercising what is effectively state murder. But, it’s worth remembering the IPCC is comprised mostly of investigators who are former police officers, and…“The IPCC expects the inquiry to take between three and six months but political sensitivities or operational difficulties could prolong it.”

In other words don’t hold your breath for this report, nor expect Clarke and Blair to give a shit when they tentatively announce late in the Autumn of 2007: “We don’t think you should be going about gunning down South American sparkies on the tube…”

Meanwhile, expect things to get worse. It looks like we’re now working under the credo: The best way to defend our democracy is to destroy it.

1 comment

Excellent News. V for Vendetta is one of my favourite comic books of all time.

Alan Moore is a genius and this was one of his finest graphic novels.

I'm very much looking forward to this. A timely message for out times.

Remember: "Everyone knows you can't beat the system, everyone but V."

left by Joe Middleton on 14 October 2005