The film “V for Vendetta”: psychological review, meaning The film “V for Vendetta” raises very difficult ethical, moral, religious and political topics. But I will not touch on the above aspects, but want to explore the psychological side of the events taking place in the film.
The film is actually very catchy, evidenced by the high rating and many positive reviews.
What attracts us so much about him and what strings of the soul does he masterfully touch?
The meaning of the movie "V for Vendetta" is the phenomenon of the Shadow
In my opinion, this film describes various aspects of the Shadow phenomenon , or the Shadow archetype , which is an integral part of any society in general and an individual in particular.
The shadow is a part of our personality that is not accepted by consciousness and therefore is forced to hide in the unconscious, occasionally making itself felt.
Any of our qualities has two poles, and if we choose to manifest only one of the poles, then the second immediately joins the ranks of the shadow side of the personality. At the same time, the shadow can also contain positive traits and aspirations that do not find their expression in a person’s life.
Our creative energy can also be sealed there. Jung said that the shadow in therapy can manifest itself in three aspects:
- like everything unconscious ,
- as a person of the same sex with the client ,
- as a person of the opposite sex , personifying the Animus or Anima (masculine in a woman and feminine in a man).
I will look at the film from two perspectives: as a story of personal development through the example of Evie and the discovery of her shadow side, and as a story of a dystopian British society that has become acquainted with its collective shadow.
Themes and motifs
The series was Moore's first use of densely detailed storytelling and multiple storylines, which would feature heavily in Watchmen. Group backgrounds are often filled with clues and red herrings; literary allusions and puns are prominent in the chapter titles and in V's speech (which almost always takes the form of iambic pentameter, a line commonly associated with William Shakespeare).
V reads Evey to sleep with the Far Magic Tree. This series provides the source of "Earth Do As You Like" and "Take Earth What You Want" referenced throughout the series. Another cultural reference is heard – mainly in the theatrical version: “Remember, remember the fifth of November: gunpowder treason and conspiracy. I don't know of any reason why there should ever be a change in gunpowder, forgot." These lines refer directly to the story of Guy Fawkes and his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Anarchism versus fascism
The two contradictory political viewpoints of anarchism and fascism dominate history. The Norsefire regime appears to share the fascist ideology of Hitler's National Socialist Party: it is highly xenophobic, rules the country through both fear and force, and worships good leadership. In Moore's fictional fascist regime, several different types of government organizations engage in power struggles with each other, yet obey the same leader, again as was the case with Nazi Germany. V, meanwhile, ultimately fights for a "free society" ordered by his own consent, using force based revenge as his operating principle.
Identity
V itself remains a mystery, with a history only hinted at. Much of the story is told from the perspectives of other characters: V's admirer and student Evi, a 16-year-old factory worker; Eric Finch, a jaded and pragmatic cop who is hunting V; and several contenders for power on the fascist side. As the story's central character, V's destructive actions seem morally just given the fascistic system he rebels against. Thus the central theme of the series is the rationalization of atrocities in the name of a higher goal, whether it is stability or freedom.
Moore stated in an interview:
“The central question is, is this guy right? Or is he really mad? What do you, the reader, think about this? Which struck me as the correct anarchist solution. I didn't want to tell people what to think, I just wanted to tell people to think and consider some of these admittedly extraordinary little elements that nevertheless recur fairly regularly throughout human history.” Moore never clarified V's exact formation beyond the statement "that V is not Evie's father, Whistler's mother, or Charlie's Aunt"; he points out that V's identity is never revealed in the book. The ambiguity of V's characters is a running theme through the work, which leaves readers to determine for themselves whether V is normal or psychotic, hero or villain. Before putting on the Guy Fawkes mask himself, Evey comes to the conclusion that V's personality is unimportant compared to the role he plays, making his character itself an idea that he embodies. V for Vendetta comic read online
Evie's personality development story
So we are transported to Britain, where an alternate history is presented when the Nazis came to power. There is a strict regime here, active propaganda and a lack of freedom of speech and self-expression.
This tough order is headed by Chancellor Sutler .
Chancellor Sutler
Evie is a young girl who lives the life of a quiet mouse, according to the principle of “keep your head down.” Evie lost her parents at the age of 12, when they were arrested by the current regime for actively opposing the authorities. At the same time, the girl was sent to re-education for 5 years.
Evie lives in constant fear, alone, she has no friends or partner.
“I didn’t want to be afraid all the time, but it doesn’t work out”
The girl dreamed of being an actress, but after the death of her mother, this dream remained unrealized. If we use the common mystical idea that each of our meetings is not accidental, then we can assume that Vendetta was supposed to help Evie change, solve those internal problems that she could not solve on her own for a long time.
Obviously, at the moment when she lost her parents, given the circumstances of the arrest and the rise to power of the Chancellor, Evie’s fear, limitation in self-expression and freedom to disagree took root in her consciousness, and courage, the desire for self-actualization and determination in expressing dissatisfaction went into the Shadow. and since these qualities are very consonant with the male part of Evie's personality, then it can be assumed that Vendetta embodied her Shadow-Animus.
Where can we find confirmation of this hypothesis.
Meeting
Evie meets Vendetta precisely when the situation has brought her fear to its most critical point, where she is actually threatened with physical violence. His appearance seems to show Evie that there is another side where you can be bold, natural and in control of the situation.
Evie meets Vendetta
You can’t be afraid to say “no” and fight back aggressively. That is, Vendetta shows the completely opposite side, hinting at the shadow part of Evie herself.
Name
“My name is Evie. Evie, I...V...I – well, yes, of course.”
Perhaps there is a hint here that Vendetta is her inner essence, which she softened, surrounding her personality with an aura of softness and pliability, softened like the letters “i”, which soften consonants.
Dream
Evie dreamed of being an actress, while Vendetta is very theatrical and constantly acts out scenes from Shakespeare's plays with her, recites poetry and makes theatrical bows.
“Hide who I am and be my support, I need a disguise suitable for achieving the goal”
A mask often symbolizes a Person; a theatrical mask is what we wear when we go out into society and play out our roles there. But if we take, for example, stories about superheroes, then the mask helps them to show their essence, which in everyday life is in the shadows, the mask helps them come out of the shadows and present themselves to the world as authentic, albeit with a hidden face.
Also, the mask is an excellent basis for projections that will easily later fall on Vendetta both from Evie and from society.
Publication history
The first episodes of the comic book V for Vendetta appeared in black and white between 1982 and 1985, in Warrior, a British comic anthology published by Quality Communications. The strip was one of the least popular in that title; editor/publisher Des Skinn noted, "If I were to give each character their own title, the failures would certainly outweigh the successes, with the comic's uncompromising "V for Vendetta" probably being an early accident. But with a five or six-page issue, regular [readers] only needed two or three favorites to justify their purchase of the title."
When publishers canceled Warrior in 1985 (with two completed issues unpublished due to the cancellation), several companies tried to convince Moore and Lloyd to let them publish and complete the story. In 1988, DC Comics published a ten-issue series that reprinted the Warrior stories in color, then continued the series to completion. The first new material appeared in issue #7, which included unpublished episodes that would appear in Warrior #27 and #28. Tony Wire drew one chapter ("Vincent") and contributed additional art to two others ("Valerie" and "Vacation"); Steve Whitaker and Siobhan Dodds served as colorists for the entire series.
The series, including Moore's "Behind the Painted Smile" essay and two "hiatuses" outside the central continuity, then appeared in collected form as a trade paperback published in the US by the DC Vertigo imprint (ISBN 0-930289-52-8) and in the UK Books of Titan (ISBN 1-85286-291-2).
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsupplied material may be challenged and removed. (June 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) David Lloyd's artwork for V for Vendetta in Warrior first appeared in black and white. The DC Comics version published the artwork "colorised" in pastels. Lloyd stated that he always intended the artwork to appear in color, and that the initial publication in black and white was for financial reasons because color would cost too much (although Warrior editor/publisher Des Skinn expressed surprise at this information as he commissioned the strip in black and white and never intended Warrior to feature any interior color, regardless of flow). While writing the comic strip V for Vendetta, Moore came up with an idea for a strip called Doll, which he submitted in 1975 at the age of 22 to DK Thomson. In "Behind the Painted Smile", Moore revealed that the idea was scrapped as DK Thomson changed his mind about the "gender-bending terrorist" idea. A few years later, Skinn allegedly invited Moore to create a dark mystery strip with artist David Lloyd. He actually asked David Lloyd to recreate something similar to their popular Marvel strip UC Night Raven, a story involving a mysterious company of masked vigilantes in the United States in the 1930s.
Lloyd asked writer Alan Moore to join him and the setting developed through their discussions moving from the 1930s United States to near-future Britain. As the setting progressed, so did the character development; After being conceived as a "realistic" version of the age of gangster Night Raven, he became, firstly, a policeman rebelling against the totalitarian state he served, then a heroic anarchist.
Moore and Lloyd conceived the series as a dark adventure strip influenced by British comic icons of the 1960s, as well as Night Raven, which Lloyd had previously gone on to work with writer Steve Parkhouse. Editor Des Skinn came up with the name "Vendetta" over lunch with his work colleague Graham Marsh - but quickly rejected it as sounding too Italian (in fact, the word "Vendetta" is Italian in origin). Then the comic book V for Vendetta appeared, putting the emphasis on "V" rather than "Vendetta". David Lloyd developed the idea of dressing V as Guy Fawkes after previous projects followed the conventional superhero look.
While preparing the story, Moore made a list of what he wanted to bring to the plot, which he reproduced in "Behind the Painted Smile":
Orwell. Huxley. Thomas Disch. Judge Dredd. Harlan Ellison "Repents, Harlequin!" Said Tiktokman, Catman and the Tramp in the City at the Edge of the World by the same author. Vincent Price's Doctor Phibes and the Theater of Blood. David Bowie. Shadow. Night Raven. Batman. 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Letters from the New School of Worlds of Science Fiction. Painting by Max Ernst “Europe After the Rain”. Thomas Pynchon. The atmosphere of British films of the Second World War. A prisoner. Robin Hood. Dick Turpin...
The influence of such a wide number of references has been fully proven in scientific studies, above which the dystopian elements stand out, especially the similarity with George Orwell's 1984 plot at several stages.
The UK's political climate in the early 1980s also influenced the work, with Moore establishing that Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government would "obviously be defeated in the 1983 election" and that Michael Foot-ice's incoming Labor government committed to finish nuclear disarmament would allow the United Kingdom to escape relatively unscathed from a limited nuclear war. However, Moore felt that the fascists would quickly overthrow post-Holocaust Britain. Moore's script remains untested. Referring to the historical events when DC re-released the work, he noted:
Naïveté can also be found in my hypothesis that he would take something as melodramatic as hitting a nuclear conflict to push Britain towards fascism... An obvious fact that so much of the historical background of history gains from the predicted Conservative defeat in the 1983 General Election I have to tell you how reliable we were in our Cassandras roles.
The February 1999 issue of Comics Magazine ran a poll on the "Top 100 (English-language) Comics of the Century": V for Vendetta reached 83rd place.
What problems does Evie have to solve:
- regain a lost important part of your personality;
- return to the path of individuation, the path to your authenticity;
- allow yourself to disagree.
Evie unwittingly becomes an accomplice in a crime against the existing government , which leads her to the basement where Vendetta lives.
A fairly common symbol of descent underground is the entrance to your unconscious. The fact that Evie is drawn into these events, but still resists Vendetta and his activities, shows how our minds cling to old attitudes and resist change.
For consciousness, the Shadow is always the personification of evil, vice and unacceptable desires, so consciousness is confident that it cannot bring any benefit to the Ego.
It is important to note here that Vendetta cannot be considered as the personification of the Shadow in the comprehensive sense of this phenomenon, since it is multifaceted and also carries destructive impulses and instinctive unbridled aspirations.
But we are only considering that part of the Shadow that at the moment was relevant to Evie and society so much that it broke through the defenses of the Ego in the form of Vendetta.
Shadow Evie places her in the dungeon where Shadow herself was previously imprisoned. That is, the Ego-consciousness must surrender to the coming transformations. Vendetta subjects Evie to tests designed to help break down powerful defense mechanisms formed by the childhood trauma of parental loss and re-education.
These tests will help reveal to the world and Evie herself her inner essence, which has been imprisoned for many years.
Evie receives letters from Valerie , who at first appears to be sitting in the next cell. And here Valerie’s role is to show Evie the courage to present herself even in a situation where you are not accepted. Show exactly what Evie is sorely missing.
When defenses are broken and the Ego does not resist dying, this symbolic moment shows the birth of a new personality , Evie, who is free to disagree, Evie, who is no longer afraid.
-Are you ready to help us? - No.
Her haircut is a symbol of the rebirth of personality, as well as a hint of masculinity, that is, the acquisition of masculine energies - determination, courage, determination, orderliness.
- Do you have somewhere to go? - No, before it would have scared me, but now I’m not afraid of anything.
When the task of the Shadow is completed, the integration is completed, then this aspect of the Shadow dies, it no longer needs it.
Value V (comics)
PIN IT V is a masked anarchist who seeks to systematically kill the leaders of Norsefire, the fascist dictatorship of the dystopian United Kingdom.
He is versed in the arts of explosives, subterfuge and hacking, and has a vast literary, cultural and philosophical intellect. V is the only survivor of an experiment in which four dozen prisoners were given injections of a complex called Batch 5. The complex caused widespread cellular abnormalities that eventually killed all subjects except V, who developed advanced strength, reflexes, endurance and pain tolerance. Throughout the novel, V almost always wears his trademark Guy Fawkes mask, a shoulder-length wig of straight dark brown hair, and an outfit consisting of black gloves, tunic, trousers and boots. If not wearing a mask, his face is not shown. When outside the Shadow Gallery, he completes this ensemble with a circa 17th century conical hat and floor-length cloak. His weapons of choice include daggers, explosives, and tear gas.
The book suggests that V took his name from the Roman numeral "V", the amount of room he was kept in during the experiment.
Evie "Eve" Hammond is a sixteen-year-old (seventeen years old as of Book 2) who V rescues from the Fingermen. The novel details her life story: how she lost every person she ever loved because of the Norsefire Party and its criminal connections, how she met V and grew to understand him, and finally how she became his successor.
Adam Susan, also known as "The Leader", is the dictator of the Norsefire Party and its functions, although some of his power is ceremonial. Susan loves Destiny (the computer system) and prefers its cold, mathematical camaraderie to that of his fellow humans. Susan also expresses the solipsist belief that he and God (referring to the computer of Destiny) are the only "truly real" beings in existence, although he also believes that he must devote his life to the advancement of his people.
He is a supporter of fascism and racist notions of "purity", and does believe that civil liberties are dangerous and unnecessary. He does seem to care about his people, however, and it is implied that his embrace of fascism was a response to his own loneliness. Before the war he was Chief of Police. He is killed by Rose Almond, the widow of one of his former lieutenants.
Eric Finch is the head of New Scotland Yard and the Minister of Investigations who became known as the Nose. Finch is a pragmatist who sides with the government because he would rather serve in a world of order than one of chaos. He is, however, noble and worthy, and the Leader trusts him as a reliable and missing aspiration. He eventually achieves his own acceptance and self-discovery, expressing grief over his complicity with Norsefire's atrocities. V for Vendetta comic read online
Fascism in dystopian British society and its collapse
As a result, Evie played the main role in Britain's greatest performance, as if symbolically fulfilling her dream of the theater stage.
British society was mired in anxiety and fear, suspicion and projection, and therefore needed a chancellor who would bring order. He fulfilled their hopes and removed their anxiety with comprehensive control.
At the same time, society projected its Shadow onto everyone who was different from them, onto other peoples and cultures, endowing the latter with all sorts of negative traits, maintaining its greatness, but at the same time not looking into its own basement.
But over the years, the control and order of the hardline regime led to the formation of a new aspect of the Shadow that carried with it the courage, the determination to say no, and the freedom to disagree.
And this shadow part, embodied in Vendetta, addressed the people with a call to wake up and change. This took a year, during which mass unrest and disagreement gradually began to increase.
The shadow kills its creators, who embodied all sorts of vices inherent in the dark side of personality, making the shadow of society lighter and more positive.
“They created me themselves. There is a law according to which any action causes an equal reaction.” Vendetta
Looking at the mask of Vendetta, its creators showed their true faces, which they had previously hidden under their own socially desirable mask - cowardice, insignificance, depravity and cruelty.
Having destroyed its creators, the Shadow must die; it has no one else to shade. People take to the streets thereby showing courage, determination and their freedom to disagree.
Vendetta in training
Their current Shadow is already lighter than it was earlier, when they helped the Chancellor to come to power. Now their task is to integrate determination in freedom of expression and destroy the rigid order that they needed before.
