A few years ago, I landed in New York City and immediately walked to Times Square. I noticed something was not right. In fact, there was an Occupy Wall Street protest happening before me eyes. It was difficult to walk the streets and there was cops with riot gear walking around. The thing that stood out to me most was this weird mask that some of the protestors were wearing and that was V's mask. At this time I was still in high school and this matter of the "one percenters" was not really something that I worried much about, but after that day I have paid more and more attention to what capitalism does to a nation, and the income gap that is created by it. V's mask is a perfect choice for the protestors because it represents everything that they were trying to accomplish.
The most amazing part about V for Vendetta was the fact that it took only one person in a mask to represent the masses and to convince all of the society to join in his revolution. V recognized the same things that Marx recognizes about government's control and the obsession with labor–it alienates you. He states that labor (in capitalism) alienates the worker from their production, nature, themselves, and others. This can be seen in this film through the character of Evie. First off, she starts the film alone and as you learn what she does, she never discusses the work itself, and the products of her work thus illustrating her alienation from the actual work she does. There is never natural scenery shown in the entire film, the cities look industrialized with no life. The scene where Evie gets harassed by the police, the city itself does not look real but instead completely painted and drawn. This shows the isolation of the society from nature. A huge part of the film is watching Evie break away from her mundane life and actually finding herself and overcoming fear. Before V locks her away she was completely detached from herself and her feelings, she was simply numb living from day to day. And finally, Evie was most definitely alienated from others. She is only shown with a friend or two who never really comes in to play once she goes missing with V. It took her a long time to tear down her walls for V, and to get away from the job in which she was designated to do.
While the film definitely compliments Marx's beliefs, it is important to note that it took a masked individual to make the difference. A common criticism of Marx is that "capitalism is the only way" and "this is just how it is." V made sure that he made everyone joining in his plans would wear the same mask as he did so they could all join forces together, thus completely breaking the alienation that these workers have been experiencing. Would it take a mask to break this chain? Or could some leader come about to help out the 99%?
McKenzie,
ReplyDeleteI find your post very interesting because you address several things in the move V for Vendetta that highlight Marx's ideology. I did not catch the point that you made about Evie's job and it reinforces what Marx is talking about. I did not notice that she never talked about her job, but I also never thought about questioning this. I guess it was because I was to "alienated." But I think this is important to point out because capitalism has caused us to alienate ourselves from others and we tend to see work as an objective thing. The more I think about it, the more I see how I separate myself from my job. However, working is an everyday thing. So, why are we turning something we do everyday for long periods of time into an object? Like Marx says, alienating each other helps corporations take advantage of us. We are too worried about competing with one another that we forget we are all humans. This can be seen, as you pointed out, in the wealth gap. How is it possible for 1% of the population to own more than the 99% of the population? It is actually disturbing to hear this because it shows Capitalism hard at work. It has successfully alienated people too the point we accept this gap. However, I still believe in human nature and V's message. We as the 99% have the power to fight back. \
I 100% agree with your theory that Evey is meant to be an example of Marx's alienated laborer. One specific reason that I thought of was her demonstration of being alienated from the product. I saw this when Evey was getting ready for her meeting with Gordon, and how she had the TV on and turned to the very same news channel she worked for, yet seemed so indifferent to its production. I realized also, that she was alienated from others because she was working for that same news channel, but it came as a surprise to the audience because it seemed as though the things being aired were far from Evey, in the way that it seemed like Evey was in another place all together far from where everything was being shot. She was just there, but it didn't really matter whether she was or wasn't. Like Marx said, this job was not an extension of her being because she was not invested in it, she was not a talent, she was not making something that she believed in, in fact she believed the exact opposite! It was not something that suffered due to her not being there, and even though she worked for BTN the head of BTN was completely unaware that she worked for him at all. There were many great parallels in V for Vendetta's Evey to the alienated laborer and I'm really glad that you saw it too!
ReplyDeleteI think it would take a mask. I see people now who are unafraid and speak out against the oppression that goes on in America everyday without a mask, but these people often have few followers. People are their truest and boldest selves when they know that they can't be identified. Take social media for example and cyber bullying, people will say the most cruel things when they know they can't be identified. It's a shame that people nowadays fear their governments so much and that the government has no respect for its people only for totality as mentioned in Subject and Power. As V said, the government should fear us; we should not fear them. We shouldn't have to be in disguise or fear for our lives. We created the government and we can destroy it but those who are prospering off of oppression, those who have the most voice say nothing.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that you included a bit of synopsis of the movie because the depiction of the scenes is something that I originally overlooked. But you're right, everything is very industrialized. However, as for you idea on him needlessly being masked, I have to say that is a controversial idea. Look at every huge figure head who tried to make a difference without using any anonymity. Where are they now? They're no longer living. I believe that's a very important aspect to his identity--that is not having one.
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