Yesterday,
I was talking to a friend of mine about V for Vendetta, about all the rebellion
against the system, the anarchist thoughts and all what, especially nowadays, V
represents in the social and political movements all around the world.
As the
conversation developed, it turned out that my friend confessed me that, even though
she has not read the graphic novel, she is scared of V, and up to a certain
point, she is right to be scared. V for vendetta is not a funny comic
whatsoever, and all the ideologies behind are actually complex. Still V for
Vendetta is famous because it gave all these fights, ironically, a “face”. All revolutionary
people feels somehow identified with V and his/her ideas because V has made a “revolution”
or “resistance” based on culture on intelligence rather than in force. It is
not casualty that V quotes Shakespeare and has a library. A good resistance is
based on the mind, it is efficient and lasting.
My friend
and I came to the conclusion that it is V’s aspect what scares her because she
shares his/her opinions and she even admires V and it comes hand in hand with
what Poe (thought to be a horror writer) does with his short stories:
aesthetics are important to him more than the content, he gives no names to his
protagonists and so instead of becoming impersonal, all of us can be the protagonist,
we feel identified as well. The drawing in V for Vendetta are also focused on
aesthetics, they are dark, pale and V’s face is never shown, however, the mask
and it expression conveys more meanings than words themselves.
To finish,
I wonder if even though my friend shares and feels empowered to defend her
beliefs (quiet similar to the ones shown
in V and in the social movements nowadays) the fear and repulsion to V
represent the a real fear to against a system that is actually squeezing us?
I had the same feeling as your friend before actually reading the novel, I believe it was the mask what scared me the most. However, once I started reading, all of these disappeared and I just couldn't stop reading it! V was so intriguing that I just wanted to know what would happen next. As you said, I think that V becomes such an enigmatic and powerful character because one way or another, we tend to feel identified with the context in which he (or she) is living in. The oppresive system in the graphic novel could become a mirror of what our own society could become at some point, obviously resulting in nothing but fear.
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