Guy V Fawkes

V talks about himself in the third person…

V: Gunpowder, treason and plot.

W: Was “V”, the graphic novel, a remake of Guy Fawkes?

V: It was the inspiration. But it was more. Alan Moore, my creator, said my world was about fascism and anarchism.

W: Not just about religion?

V: More again. Themes included xenophobia, force and fear, identity, moral ambiguity, and sanity.

W: And the film?

V: Moore claimed it was less. Said it was a face-off between liberalism and neo-conservatism. But the film was more in different ways. Take V’s mask: it covers his scars and it conceals his identity. Take corruption: that includes government and corporations. Take religion: persecution is transferred from the Jews to Muslims. And the film borrows from other stories: Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera and Orwell’s 1984.

___________

Voice-over

A creator finding it hard to give up his creation is an old theme. Alan Moore must have found it as hard to see McTeigue and the Wachowskis create a different “V” as Geppetto found that Pinocchio slipped from his creative control after he left home.

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