“There is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame?” V for Vendetta
A revolution can topple a tyrant without dismantling tyranny.
An election can replace a president without curbing the powers of the presidency.
A new political majority can inherit the instruments of repression and adapt them to their own purposes.
In other words, what good is a political change if the weapons of oppression merely change hands?
After a midterm election that saw billions of dollars spent on political advertising and a Democratic wave sweep Republicans out of power in Congress, Americans have once again been promised a new direction for the country.
The voters have spoken. The balance of power in Washington has shifted. A new Congress will have the opportunity to rein in an imperial presidency and hold the government accountable for its abuses.
But the question that must rightfully be asked is: what comes next?
Will Congress finally rein in the surveillance state, the militarization of the police, the detention machinery, the endless wars, the government spending spree and the corporate interests that profit from the American police state? Or will the politicians settle back into their comfortable routines while the government machine keeps right on running?
This is where Hollywood’s dystopian warnings become disturbingly relevant.
Twenty years ago, V for Vendetta offered moviegoers a terrifying glimpse of a future in which government surveillance was everywhere, dissent was dangerous, the media served as an instrument of state propaganda, and the promise of safety had become an excuse for stripping people of their freedoms.
It was supposed to be a warning about how easily a free people can become accustomed to living without freedom – and how little good it does to replace the people in power if the machinery of tyranny remains intact.
Two decades later, the twentieth-anniversary screenings coinciding with Guy Fawkes Day – a pivotal day in the film’s plot – on November 5 remind us that the questions the film raises about freedom, fear and government power have lost none of their urgency or relevance.
Released in 2006 and set in a future Britain ruled by Norsefire, a fascist regime, V for Vendetta depicts a country in which the government knows all, sees all, controls the airwaves, and promises safety and security above all. Behind those promises lies a machinery of surveillance, detention, censorship and intimidation. People who refuse to conform can be branded enemies of the state. Others simply disappear.
Sounds painfully familiar, doesn’t it?
