1984 and V for Vendetta
Imagine a world in which all literature was dystopian. Okay, so we may be getting to that point, 1984 and V for Vendetta helped start it all.
| American Literature | All American Literature |
| Author | Orwell - George Orwell |
| British Literature | All British Literature |
| Form | Novel |
| Language | English Language |
| Literature | British Literature Dystopian Literature |
| Themes | Language and Communication Loyalty Manipulation Memory and the Past Philosophical Viewpoints Power Rebellion Repression Technology and Modernization Violence |
Transcript
The only grays in this world are the drab, ill-fitting uniforms everyone has to trudge
around in.
The world of 1984 is also filled with ninety-hour work weeks...
Constant surveillance by the mysterious Big Brother...
Bizarre attitudes toward sex and gender...
Varicose veins...
Mandatory exercise videos...
And rats…big ol’ nasty rats.
But not everyone is the victim of the oppressive totalitarian government. After all, someone
has to do the oppressing, right?
Things are pretty good from where Big Brother is sitting.
He always gets his way. He’s practically infallible. And everyone does whatever he
wants.
All he has to do is lean back and watch all the miserable people, as if their lives are
his own private episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos.
Oh, and crack down on the occasional person who shows an ounce of independent spirit.
Luckily for us, Big Brother didn’t actually rear his control-freak head in our world by
the time the year 1984 came around.
Although a lot of highly questionable dance music did have society in a death-grip…
The fact that Big Brother never put in an appearance didn’t stop dystopian literature
from finding its way to new mediums, however.
Enter V for Vendetta, a comic book series that originally ran from 1982 to 1989, before
exploding onto the scene as a popular film in 2006.
And yeah, the comic series owes a lot to Orwell.
Like 1984, V for Vendetta features a dark, war-ravaged world in which the government
has taken absolute control.
The people live in fear of even thinking about protesting the way they’re being treated.
We’re sure Big Brother would give the world of V for Vendetta two thumbs up.
However, 1984 and V definitely have their differences.
Where 1984 pits Soviet-era Communism against Socialism, V for Vendetta watches as Fascism
and Anarchy square off… with explosive results.
Unlike the defeated, gray-uniformed denizens of 1984, the citizens of V for Vendetta have
a champion determined to take down the oppressive regime.
And unlike the doomed Winston… the mysterious V might just succeed.
Though the original comic book is definitely a cult classic, the film, helmed by the Matrix’s
Wachowski <<wuh-COW-skee>> brothers, is responsible for making V a household name.
It’s also responsible for briefly stealing Natalie Portman’s hair.
In this chapter, we’ll look at the book that started it all, and one of the most popular
dystopian works on film.
Don’t worry. No one’s watching you…
Or if they are, they’re hiding REALLY, really well….