V For Vendetta (2005) and the Sociopolitical Impact of a Shakespearean Dystopian Avenger

Abstract

The use of science and technology as tools for political domination is a recurrent topic in dystopian films. James McTeigue and the Wachowski sisters´ film adaptation (2005) of Alan Moore and David Lloyd´s cult graphic novel V for Vendetta (1982-89) is a unique example of this kind, as the film has enhanced its impact on a wider audience and has spread its influence over the sociopolitical arena. After 18 years since its release, the film´s criticism is still in force and it may be applied to analyze recent political events in the United States. Far from being a work circumscribed to a specific time, nowadays the film highlight issues that are still relevant and problematic, such as resettlement camps, pandemics, manipulated information and massive surveillance. The film adaptation has become a global hit and V´s mask has been claimed and reproduced in all kind of protests. Therefore, this masked avenger­­­­—inspired by Guy Fawkes and created forty years ago—has succeeded to become a tragic hero in the fashion of revenge tragedy characters, combining Shakespearean references with radical political ideas. Thus, people have identified with V through the years, bringing his mask to the streets in social and political struggles such as Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street.