It may not have been a critical darling or a box office sensation, but 2006’s V for Vendetta has lodged itself firmly in popular culture. V’s Guy Fawkes mask has become an international symbol of protest and can be seen at demonstrations for any number of causes across the political spectrum.
V for Vendetta is based on Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s comic of the same name, which was published between 1982 and 1989. By the standards of comic book adaptations of the day V for Vendetta is relatively faithful to the original comic, keeping the United Kingdom setting, ensuring that V never removes his mask, and maintaining anti-establishment politics.
None of this was enough to placate Moore. Already smarting from a Warner Bros press release that indicated he’d endorsed the movie, he read the script and was scathing. He described it as “offensive” and said:
“[The movie] has been turned into a Bush-era parable by people too timid to set a political satire in their own country. … It’s a thwarted and frustrated and largely impotent American liberal fantasy of someone with American liberal values standing up against a state run by neoconservatives – which is not what the comic V for Vendetta was about. It was about fascism, it was about anarchy, it was about England.”
To this day Moore has never actually seen the movie, a position he’s taken on every single movie adapted from his works since The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Whether he likes it or not, the V for Vendetta movie has inspired millions of people around the world to protest against their governments and authoritarian organizations, so hopefully there’s at least some kind of silver lining to it.
Now V for Vendetta is, (as per FlixPatrol) in at no. 5 on the Max charts. Here’s hoping we continue to see the Guy Fawkes mask all around the world for many years to come.