V For Vendetta (2005) and the Sociopolitical Impact of a Shakespearean Dystopian Avenger
The use of science and technology as tools for political domination is a recurrent topic in dystopian films. James McTeigue and the Wachowski sisters´ film adaptation (2005) of Alan Moore and David Lloyd´s cult graphic novel V for Vendetta (1982-89) is a unique example of this kind, as the film has...
| Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) |
| Repository: | e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/59885 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10017/59885 https://dx.doi.org/10.37536/reden.2023.5.2040 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | V for Vendetta Dystopian Shakespeare Anonymous Occupy Wall Street Historia Antropología Literatura History Anthropology Literature |
| Summary: | The use of science and technology as tools for political domination is a recurrent topic in dystopian films. James McTeigue and the Wachowski sisters´ film adaptation (2005) of Alan Moore and David Lloyd´s cult graphic novel V for Vendetta (1982-89) is a unique example of this kind, as the film has enhanced its impact on a wider audience and has spread its influence over the sociopolitical arena. After 18 years since its release, the film´s criticism is still in force and it may be applied to analyze recent political events in the United States. Far from being a work circumscribed to a specific time, nowadays the film highlights issues that are still relevant and problematic, such as resettlement camps, pandemics, manipulated information and massive surveillance. The film adaptation has become a global hit and V´s mask has been claimed and reproduced in all kinds of protests. Therefore, this masked avenger—inspired by Guy Fawkes and created forty years ago—has succeeded to become a tragic hero in the fashion of revenge tragedy characters, combining Shakespearean references with radical political ideas. Thus, people have identified with V through the years, bringing his mask to the streets in social and political struggles such as Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street. |
|---|