Ms Paine 11 ENGLISH 2014 BOOKLET 1 V For Vendetta Film Study BOOKLET 1 Name ____________________________________________________ The material in these worksheets have been adapted from the Artermis Film Guide for V for Vendetta written by Judy Lewis. <http://www.artemis-film-guides.com/ accessed on 21st July 2014> 1 Introduction Enjoyable, smartly designed and superbly acted thriller that actually gives you something to think about while you’re watching stuff get blown up. – Matthew Turner V for Vendetta is based on the graphic novel of the same name. It first appeared in 1981, in Warrior, an independent monthly comic magazine, and quickly captured a cult following. Co-created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, it ran in 26 issues before the magazine folded, leaving fans hanging mid-plot. After a five-year hiatus, Moore and Lloyd completed V for Vendetta in 1989, and it was released in its entirety as a graphic novel. Andy and Larry Wachowski, the inspired minds behind The Matrix (and, alas, its uninspired sequels), were fans of Moore and Lloyd's original work, and first wrote a screen adaptation of the graphic novel in the mid-1990s, before embarking on the Matrix trilogy. During post-production on the second and third instalments of The Matrix, the Wachowskis revised the Vendetta script and offered the directing task to their first assistant director, James McTeigue. "V for Vendetta, more fun and less self-referential than those appalling Matrix sequels, is an action film that is not afraid to stop for thoughtful debate, a wry laugh or a lesson on how to fry an egg for a pretty girl," says Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. McTeigue describes V for Vendetta as a political thriller first and foremost, with a very dark and multifaceted character at its centre. "On one hand, V is altruistic, believing he can bring about great social change, but on the other hand he has a murderous vendetta towards anyone who's done him wrong." Revisions to the graphic novel included moving the story further into the future, streamlining the very complex storyline, altering Evey's background and making her older than in the original material. "The graphic novel is quite sprawling and has a lot of characters," McTeigue said. "Some of those characters had to be amalgamated or taken out, but all the while we made sure we were adhering to the themes and integrity of the graphic novel." Guy Fawkes provided inspiration for the comic's political context. "Guy Fawkes was a kind of early anarchist," says Lloyd. "He seemed to be the perfect inspiration for V." Like The Matrix, V for Vendetta was forged from a variety of influences, but its connection to The Matrix is particularly strong. Both take place in dystopian futures with oppressive regimes that filter their citizens' perceptions. Both follow warrior mentors with predilections for pseudo-philosophical verbosity who rescue young protégés from the hands of the regime's foot soldiers and train them to fight the government. Both involve purification rituals where the protégés replace their fancy clothes and beauty salon hairdos with tattered rags and shaved heads. In adapting V for Vendetta, the Wachowskis made it more Matrix-like: no one else would have rewritten the ending to include an intricately choreographed fight scene in a dingy underground tunnel – complete with slomo digital effects – between V and an army of identical, black-clad soldiers. V for Vendetta is the most astonishing movie to come from a major studio in a long time, not for the quality of its production – there are highs and lows in that area – but for the radicalism of its ideas. The film argues that bad governments must be overthrown, and that violent means are sometimes necessary; that Western democracy is heading towards fascist dictatorship and that the "war on terrorism" is taking us there; that blowing up large public buildings is sometimes the right thing to do. … What I loved about V for Vendetta is the way it attacks the apparatus of state terror with a series of brilliantly elegant ideas. When all of Sutler's forces are looking for him, V floods the population with Guy Fawkes masks. He can then move freely, in a society desperate to show its dissent. And that's how you would embolden people in the age of facial recognition technology – with masks. If Guy Fawkes masks do not turn up in the next round of anti-globalisation demonstrations, I'll be very surprised. What I loved about McTeigue's direction is the intensity of his feeling for the material. This is a passionate, angry, incendiary film… I think this film will galvanise a lot of young viewers, because they can see all the parallels, from Evey's ordeal in a prison cell, which deliberately evokes Abu Ghraib, to TV "news" that's simply propaganda for war. Yes, the movie is too long, and given to repetition, but who cares? It's exciting, unpredictable, and an inversion of the language of the powerful. People will call it irresponsible and perhaps it is, unless you believe audiences are smart enough to think its arguments and metaphors through for themselves. – Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald In the Wachowski update, England is a police state ruled by Chancellor Sutler, a fear-mongering, gay-bashing, Islam-hating dictator who strips citizens of their civil rights and religious freedoms in exchange for protection from bio-weapons of mass destruction. Some see parallels here to BushWorld. Come on. The chancellor, as acted to the hilt by Hurt, can't be W – Sutler's hyper-articulate. – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone V for Vendetta represents 2006's first memorable motion picture – a visually sumptuous concoction that combines political allegory, bloody action, and a few stunning cinematic moments into a solid piece of entertainment. … And if there are times when V for Vendetta is overwrought and chaotic, those lapses are easily forgotten in the midst of the rousing nature of the experience… There are plenty of ideas. Some would argue that's what the screenwriters, the Wachowski Brothers, are best at – giving viewers things to think about. Although there's a fine line between smart material and over-the-top hokum, V for Vendetta mostly stays on the right side of the demarcation. The movie asks questions about the price we're willing to pay by giving up freedom to feel safe (a far cry from "Give me liberty or give me death!"), and argues that the term 'terrorist' is defined by perspective. – James Berardinelli 2 Characters and Cast Natalie Portman Hugo Weaving Stephen Rea Stephen Fry John Hurt Tim Piggott-Smith Rupert Graves Evey Hammond V Eric Finch Gordon Deitrich Adam Sutler Creedy Dominic Roger Allam Ben Miles Sinéad Cusack Natasha Wightman John Standing Eddie Marsan Clive Ashborn Lewis Prothero Dascomb Delia Surridge Valerie Bishop Lilliman Etheridge Guy Fawkes Useful Background Guy [Guido] Fawkes has not been forgotten but few of those who build bonfires and burn guys on November 5 remember his 'cause' and just what they are celebrating. And it was not the cause of a 'great citizen', as V describes him. On the contrary. Fawkes and his 12 fellow conspirators planned to blow up Parliament – killing not just the king but much of the entire ruling class of England – not in the name of religious freedom but to return the Catholic faith to England, and so denying religious freedom to the country's Protestant majority. Fawkes himself had been brought up Protestant but was converted at age 16. He spent many years fighting for Catholic Spain on the continent, and was put in charge of the practical implementation of the Gunpowder Plot because of his experience with explosives. By March 1605, he had planted 36 barrels of gunpowder – enough to obliterate half of London – in a cellar underneath the Parliament Buildings. Protestant/Catholic tensions at that time were about more than religion. Catholic France and Spain were trying to subjugate England, and there were English Catholics who would have preferred a foreign Catholic ruler to a British Protestant one. So the division in the new United Kingdom was about more than religion – it was as much about national identity. The practice of referring to people as 'guy' or 'guys' began shortly after Fawkes was made famous by the Gunpowder Plot. In 18th century England, the term was originally used to refer to an effigy of Fawkes, which would be paraded around town by children on the anniversary of the conspiracy; they would raise money for fireworks by asking, 'Penny for the guy?' This practice continued at least until the 1980s. The story of Fawkes was part of the inspiration for the graphic novel that provided the basis for this film. The book and film th both demonstrate that Fawkes is still linked with anarchy in the popular imagination just as he was in the 17 century, though in many modern depictions he is given heroic qualities. The rehabilitation of Fawkes began in 1842, when William Harrison Ainsworth wrote an historical novel called Guy Fawkes, which portrayed Fawkes in a sympathetic light and began to challenge the official depiction of the plot. The suggestion that Fawkes was "the only man to ever enter parliament with honourable intentions" may have originated in a 19th-century pantomime, and was commonly seen on anarchist posters during the early 20th century. The Houses of Parliament destroyed in the film are not the same buildings which the Gunpowder conspirators planned to destroy in 1605. The original Parliament buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1834. The current buildings – correctly called the Palace of Westminster – are built on the same site and took 30 years to build, finishing in 1870. Although many people have detected similarities to the Bush administration in USA, the visual imagery of the Norsefire party (cross, flags, colours) and the scenes of Sutler's campaigning with fervent shouting and gesticulating, seem clearly designed to evoke recollections of the Nazi regime rather than any modern political situation. The slight alteration of the Leader's name from Adam Susan in the novel to Adam Sutler seems to be a deliberate attempt to reference Hitler. The party's practice of marginalising and shipping ethnic and social minorities to detention camps is also a clear reference to the Third Reich. The government logo – the double red cross on the pale blue background – is one form of an ancient heraldic symbol called the 'Croix de Lorraine'. A similar symbol was adopted as the official symbol of General de Gaulle's Free French Forces between 1940 and 1944, and later used by various Gaullist political parties in France, notably the RPR (Rally for the Republic). Certain details from modern times were included in the film to make the story more identifiable to a modern – and particularly American – audience, such as Prothero's similarity to American media pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, as well as the brief reference to an avian flu outbreak and the general notion that the media exists to distract and worry the public rather than inform them of the facts. Although the movie does not fill in this small fact, in the graphic novel V is allowed to grow a small garden with vegetables (which Prothero took most of) and some flowers while he's imprisoned at Larkhill. He started growing the Scarlet Carsons (Violet Carsons in the book) because of the letter he got from Valerie. Delia Surridge knew V grew the roses in the garden and that's how she knew it was V when she was given the Scarlet Carson that had been left on Lilliman's body. He was also allowed to stockpile garden fertiliser, and it was this that he used to blow up Larkhill. 3 The graphic novel, written by Alan Moore and illustrator David Lloyd between 1982 and 1988, was aimed directly at Margaret Thatcher and Fascism. Moore took umbrage with the film adaptation, making comments to the effect that the American filmmakers hadn't the courage to make an out-and-out attack on Bush, so they decided to adapt the story he'd written for their purposes. (Actually, the script was in development as far back as the mid-nineties, well before Bush took office.) He said that the script contained plot holes and that it ran contrary to the theme of his original work, which was to place two political extremes – fascism and anarchism – against one another. He argued his work had been recast as a story about "current American neo-conservatism vs. current American liberalism". As per his wishes, Moore's name does not appear in the film's closing credits. Co-creator David Lloyd supports the film adaptation, commenting that the script is very good and that Moore would only ever be truly happy with a complete book-to-screen adaptation. After the First Viewing Intial Reaction – Make at least five dot points in response to each question. 1. Did you like or dislike the movie? Why? 2. Do you believe that V is justified in his actions? 3. Is V motivated more by a desire for revenge or a desire to change society? 4. Two quotes to consider in light of V for Vendetta – Do you agree or disagree? a. "One man's terrorist is another's freedom's fighter" b. "The end always justify the means" Questions 5. What was your initial reaction to V for Vendetta? How did the film make you feel? Did it make you think? Were your opinions or attitudes changed by it? Which characters did you empathise with? Dislike? Feel sorry for? 6. When and where is the film set? What impression is given of the society at this time? 7. What evidence is there that the people are increasingly unhappy under the government? 8. What is the significance of November 5? What four things are shown happening on November 5? 9. How does V deliberately implicate Evey in his plans? 10. Although Gordon and V never meet, the film suggests connections between them. What similarities did you notice? 11. Chief Inspector Finch says that he has been a party member for 27 years and he is one of the inner Cabinet. How does the film suggest he has his doubts about the regime, even before he finds out about Larkhill and the St Mary's virus? 12. How does Evey change during the course of the film? How is this shown? 13. Why is V not ever shown without his mask? 14. V murders several characters associated with his time at the Larkhill Detention Centre, yet the death of Delia Surridge differs significantly? Why? When we watch a film for the first time, we usually watch for the story; when we see it again, we are more likely to notice how the story is told. However, you may already have noticed some of the striking techniques used. 15. Make a note of any significant techniques you remember seeing. You might think about lighting, camera angles, special effects, or the use of sound and music. 16. The letter V is ubiquitous (everywhere) in the film. How many examples can you remember? 17. Besides the letter V, the director uses a range of different symbols and motifs as part of the story? Can you identify at least three and where you saw them in the movie? 18. The film employs a number of different ways of telling the story. What different methods did you notice? 4
