Today marks the tenth anniversary of V for Vendetta, the dystopian look at a future run by a corrupt government and the man who utilizes terrorist tactics to take down those in power. It’s also known as the movie where Natalie Portman shaves her head.
But, looking even further, it’s also a warning against fascist governments that cautions against many of the practices and mandates issued by the Chancellor Sutler led party. Included in these are media control, coercion, and curfews, all of which are strictly enforced by a group known as the Fingermen, an equally crooked secret police that is tasked with enforcing the government’s will.
While the curfew is displayed at the beginning of the movie, and referenced later on as Sutler continues to try and implement his power over the people, the media control is seen quite often in the movie as the news continues to report the stories that Sutler tells them, including distributing propaganda that favors the government in their broadcast. Such occurrences included the destruction of the Old Bailey being reported as an unscheduled fireworks show. Furthermore, in the death of Deitrich, who after releasing a vaudeville-esque sketch regarding the High Chancellor’s failed efforts to catch V, ends up arrested for filming and airing content that opposed the current government.
However, while we’ve been given glimpses into the corruption and control the government exerts, it’s only after this point that we truly learn the extent the government is truly willing to go as Deitrich is executed for possessing a copy of the Qu’ran, a book that has been outlawed by the government for its godlessness (because everyone needs to only serve one god to continue their “utopian” reign). We also see this in the story of Valeria Page, a lesbian who had been imprisoned for her sexual orientation, who passes away while imprisoned.
This, of course, doesn’t even go into how Sutler managed to come into power (which is a part we won’t spoil, as it helps to drive V’s purpose).
So, how does this film translate towards the American government?
The answer is that it thankfully doesn’t. At least not all the way.
Given the current candidates for the GOP and Democratic primaries, it does not seem like either party has a Sutler of their own.
However, it’s also important to consider what V for Vendetta can actually stand for as a cautionary tale.
For the purposes of this, we’ll avoid looking at Donald Drumpf too much. John Oliver already took care of that for us. But what you might be interested in knowing is just how much some of the other candidates happen to identify with some of the same characteristics of the Sutler-led government.
For example, the millennial-pleasing Bernie Sanders talked about the benefits of Fidel Castro in power, which included educating and providing health care for the children in 1985, while also noting that the regime wasn’t perfect.* In the same article citing the Sanders quotes, the journalist then proceeds to cite the other acts Castro has performed, which includes murdering over 112,000 people through torture, drowning, prison beatings and more, as well as more than 500,000 Cubans who were victims of gulags or tortured and survived.
Additionally, Cubans aren’t allowed to defect from their countries. In many cases, this leads to many of America’s most well-known baseball players having to renounce their citizenship in order to play baseball in the United States, something many are willing to do given the average salary in Cuba is $20/month.**
Or should we mention, in a more direct correlation to the movie, that Castro openly admitted having sent gay men to labor camps without any sort of trial during the 60’s and 70’s?**
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Bernie Sanders would necessarily follow the same guidelines. In fact, we don’t believe that he would, given his stance as an advocate for gay rights, racial justice, and a fair and humane immigration policy, but it also doesn’t change the fact that he also claims on his own website that he would like to “bring climate deniers to justice,”*** which is effectively another way to say that if someone does not agree with his beliefs, they can be prosecuted for it.
(For the record, I do believe climate change is real, and should be addressed, but I also don’t believe someone should be taken to court for disagreeing with me without any condition that the other party was intentionally covering up damning information).
However, this does not mean that we’re pro any-other-candidate.
In fact, each candidate has said or done something during their career that can likely be analogized to the Chancellor-led V for Vendetta government.
Take for example Ted Cruz, who used fear-mongering to make a girl cry while discussing how Obama was killing the US economy and setting the world on fire. This sort of fear-mongering and salvation approach is exactly what allowed for the High Chancellor to take control of the government in the first place. Not to mention, the fact that he blatantly tries to block anyone from getting what they want, as he did when he nearly caused a government shutdown while trying to stop Obama’s amnesty plan. This, of course, backfired because… well, Ted Cruz.
Or, of course, John Kasich, who wants to create a new federal agency to promote “Judeo-Christian Western values.”
Or Hillary Clinton who famously said, “No. We just can’t trust the American people to make those types of choices…Government has to make those choices for people.”
Fortunately, there’s not any particular candidate who seems to want to create a New World Order. There isn’t any particular candidate who seems to want to create camps for people who don’t agree with their values, or with their lifestyles, or with their beliefs. However, what’s to say that by creating a Judeo-Christian Western values council that we won’t necessarily see those who do not adhere to that particular value system be ostracized or persecuted? What’s to say that if we give up the rights of one decision to the government, who is decided by the people, that we won’t be giving up the rights of ten or twenty more.
Who’s to say that going after one person for disagreeing with a particular electoral platform means that they won’t continue to go after more?
We’re lucky that these are the issues we get to face, but these are still issues we must be aware of as we consider who will be the next President following Obama. We must also recognize the potential they have to do good during their time as an elected official, and what the immediate good can lead to in the future, whether it be positive or negative consequences.
If there’s one thing we can take from V for Vendetta, it’s that avoiding this sort of totalitarian and fascist government can only be to the benefit of the citizens that government represents.
Take a look back at V for Vendetta which came out March 17, 2006
*http://www.dailywire.com/news/733/youll-never-guess-politician-sanders-loved-most-aaron-bandler
**http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/31/cuba.castro.gays/
***https://berniesanders.com/issues/climate-change/
