Niklas' blog

I have just seen “V For Vendetta”.

First and foremost, “V For Vendetta” is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and drawn by David Lloyd. I have stated my love for this masterpiece on numerous occations, an example of which is found here, where I quickly draw a superficial sketch of the synopsis, without giving away too much. The Wachowski brothers, famous for turning “The Invisibles” into “The Matrix”, have “adapted” Alan Moore’s script into something new. So, why didn’t Alan Moore support this project whole-heartedly?

Well, to begin with, I think he may treat the Hollywood film-industry with a mere tad of cynism, as most of the graphic novels he has written, e.g. “From Hell” and “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, have turned into pap films. Great graphic novels, mind you. For those of you who don’t know, Alan Moore is often credited as genius, saviour of the comics-industry, superhero #1, et.c. More titles than James Brown and more pseudonyms than Aphex Twin can shake a billion sticks at, really. Anyway, now that Hollywood made “V For Vendetta” into film, what differs it from the graphic novel? I’ll let good people say it, from an article where they announce that Moore has broken all links with DC Comic; from Comic Book Resources, on the proposed script for “V For Vendetta”:

What Moore found most laughable however were the details. “They don’t know what British people have for breakfast, they couldn’t be bothered. ‘Eggy in a basket’ apparently. Now the US have ‘eggs in a basket,’ whish is fried bread with a fried egg in a hole in the middle. I guess they thought we must eat that as well, and thought ‘eggy in a basket’ was a quaint and Olde Worlde version. And they decided that the British postal service is called Fedco. They’ll have thought something like, ‘well, what’s a British version of FedEx… how about FedCo? A friend of mine had to point out to them that the Fed, in FedEx comes from ‘Federal Express.’ America is a federal republic, Britain is not.”

As if that wasn’t enough cannon-fodder for anybody keen to protect his or her sanity (or intellectual body of work), Joel Silver, producer of (mostly) pap block-buster films, was tied in with the “V For Vendetta” movie-project; Moore received a call from Larry Wachowski and told him he didn’t want anything to do with films. Silver indirectly adhered to Moore’s wishes at the first press-conference for the film by lying, saying Moore had read Larry Wachowski’s script and was “very excited” about the project, obviously implying Moore were to help out. Reading the above short quote says a lot on why Moore was right about disassociating from said project.

So DC Comics have really not cared about what Alan Moore thinks, other than that they’ve granted a couple of his wishes: they’ve omitted his name from the posters of, commercials for and credits inside the film, but…have covered nearly every new print of the novel with “a big red sticker saying now a major motion picture” and the back carried “a half baked jingle from the film worked into the ad copy prominently”; those are quotes from Alan Moore¹.

Basically (i.e. other than the fact that I’ve rubbed hate in the eyes of Hollywood, DC Comics and given love to Alan Moore for the better part of this post, phwoarr) – Moore isn’t very likely to work with Hollywood again, and this time around is just another haunting example of how a sheer masterpiece can be turned into something daft due to money having the upper hand on art.

So, what do I have to say about the film? Is it daft, then? It’s better than expected. The theme of the film, based in a time where a government reigns supreme over all citizens due to their not caring, is here already, all that is required to make our now a simile of said film is for some politicians to start telling us how we need “safety”, that we need somebody looking over us, basically a Big Brother watching our every move, so that nothing bad happens to us. Basically trade freedom for safety – according to a government. Freedom is, at times, individually defined. So, what happens when an elite run a geographical region of which you are part, using (near-)absolute authority? Most likely, given the incorrect circumstance (which often is the case) they turn fascist. The people can make a difference, so why don’t they?

Alan Moore, from this recent, good interview in two parts which I urge you to read:

So, yes, there are monitor cameras everywhere. I can only presume that someone like our former home secretary David Blunkett [a blind British politician] must have somehow got hold of a Braille edition of V for Vendetta and thought oh, that’s a good idea. But there again, these are not remarkably prescient ideas. It’s fairly obvious. It’s what I would do if I were going to start a fascist political state so I assume it’s what anyone would do.

CCTV, anyone?

The film starts with the main character, V, blowing up Lady Justice that is standing on top of the Old Bailey in London. Now, in the book, V delivers a powerful monologue on how Lady Justice’s infidelity with men/a man “in uniform” did “drive him into the arm of another”. That other is Anarchy, who V says “has taught me that justice is meaningless without freedom”. Of course, this does not happen in the film, where the Wachowski brothers have turned V into a liberal. He simply blows up the statue, which confusingly says he doesn’t care about justice, Justitia. And the brothers have re-shaped a few other characters without charm, as well. For example, a character who, in the book, is more of a victim and hence more human given the circumstances, is turned into a simpleton.

Still, the message of the film is quite clear, which is why the film works on a very shallow level: having a fascist government is wrong. No L.S.D. here².

I’m happy to say V didn’t turn as human as I feared the Wachowski’s would, but still, the film is wholly a shallow item. The language of the book is changed (as if the first block-quote in this post didn’t give the Wachowski brothers’ bad adaptation away) into a blab, for instance, the part where V quotes Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in the book has been exchanged with a harangue of words beginning with the letter “v”. Exchanging quotes of Shakespeare for a naught-saying tirade is quite the core of the biggest problems of the film.

Where the book is used, is exactly where the film shines; where the Wachowskis have scripted parts themselves, thickness mostly prevails. An example of a part where their writing does work, however, is where Stephen Fry’s character enhances the bottom line in a few ways. He keeps a 14th century-copy of the Koran in a hidden room of his house. When told “but you’re not a moslem” he says he keeps the book because it contains beautiful poetry and wonderful stories. That does say some about how people view “other religions” nowadays; of course I mean pseudo-Christians who cannot tell their shoes from their shoe-laces. Of course, Fry gets more than punished for this.

Everything Wachowski must be extremely simple to understand, and this is why the film fails: the essence of “V For Vendetta” is an idea. In the film, the Wachowskis have tried to destroy the juggernaut by becoming one themselves; they’ve quasi-directed it, their money is behind it, they’ve contorted Alan Moore’s words into a script and are trying to become the Miramax brothers, Harvey and Bob. In this case, the Wachowski’s are a bad cover-version of Alan Moore and David Lloyd, if you will, and I feel they desperatly try to make up for it by using make-up as they go along. But in the eternal words of somebody sane, you can’t polish a turd.

For those of you missing the comic element in this post, here’s a sledgehammer for you, again courtesy of Comic Book Resources. I present to you: “V For Volume: The Drinking Game”:

Every time they use bullet-time lines, when the original comic declined to use such comic book stylings, take a swig.

Every time they use a sledgehammer to make a subtle point, glug.

Every time they say “eggy in a basket”, finish the glass.

Every time they refer to the company “FedCo” finish the case.

Every time they portray anarchy as everyone dressing up in the same outfit, slide under your chair.

See? Even if you hate the film, you’ll at least enjoy yourself.

To end this, I give you a quote from the noted interview by Mile High Comics:

The Beat: Hm, I just happened to get that book myself and took off the shrink-wrap, and now I’m looking at it. “Have a pleasant”…

Moore: Well, I think this is my basic message to the American industry at this moment. [general laughter] “Have a pleasant.”

1. Taken from this brilliant interview.[back]
2. I’m referring to a plateau in the book, which has been completely detained from the film.[back]