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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
The V for Vendetta Script
Rich Johnston's "Lying in the Gutters" features a look at a script for the V for Vendetta movie. He works overtime to be evenhanded in his assessment, pointing out things that don't work - a focus on Guy Fawkes Day, Evey being the child of radicals, and too many examples of black-and-white morality - as well as what does work. He comes to the conclusion:
V for Vendetta the movie at least seems to want to recreate some of the moral questions about terrorism. Whether or not it can provide the same thoughtful ambivalence (not ambiguity in this case, but ambivalence - teetering between several possible moral conclusions and finding them all compelling to various degrees) is a whole other issue. V should be seen as a monster - a benign monster, but a monster nonetheless. What he does is terrorize a nation, albeit he does so for what he considers a greater good. That Moore wraps this up in the romance of the classic adventure narratives - helped in no small part by David Lloyd's gorgeous art - is one of the major ironies of the story and not a justification of V's actions. To buy into the romance of the anarchic destroyer is just as bad as to fall for the romance of the jackbooted fascist, which is one of Moore's more obvious points in the story (to me, at least) - and something which will probably get lost in the film.
Johnston does stress that this is just a movie script and doesn't necessarily reflect the final film. I'll second that. Johnston remains hopeful and says he may actually go see this film in theaters. I'm still sure that won't be the case for me.
It's a tragic thing to say that this is the most authentic translation of Alan Moore comics into movies, that I can see. But that's only because the others have been "Swamp Thing," "Constantine," "From Hell" and "League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen."I think Moore's moral compass is perhaps the biggest problem film makers have with his work, the inability to capture the moral complexities and purposeful ambiguity he brings to his best comics writing. From Hell is less about the actual Jack the Ripper murders than about the birth of the twentieth century and how Whitechapel helped make it possible; the witless movie adaptation isn't even about the actual murders, never mind the deeper issues.
V for Vendetta the movie at least seems to want to recreate some of the moral questions about terrorism. Whether or not it can provide the same thoughtful ambivalence (not ambiguity in this case, but ambivalence - teetering between several possible moral conclusions and finding them all compelling to various degrees) is a whole other issue. V should be seen as a monster - a benign monster, but a monster nonetheless. What he does is terrorize a nation, albeit he does so for what he considers a greater good. That Moore wraps this up in the romance of the classic adventure narratives - helped in no small part by David Lloyd's gorgeous art - is one of the major ironies of the story and not a justification of V's actions. To buy into the romance of the anarchic destroyer is just as bad as to fall for the romance of the jackbooted fascist, which is one of Moore's more obvious points in the story (to me, at least) - and something which will probably get lost in the film.
Johnston does stress that this is just a movie script and doesn't necessarily reflect the final film. I'll second that. Johnston remains hopeful and says he may actually go see this film in theaters. I'm still sure that won't be the case for me.
