Monday, February 18, 2008

Anarchy vs. Justice?

In V for Vendetta, V makes an analogy with justice as his former love and anarchy as his new and improved mistress. But why choose one or the other?

V is a terrorist, but in this case I sympathize with both his means and goals. In a totalitarian state, the only route for change is terrorism--any peaceful demonstrations are just quashed. Moore's totalitarian England is eerily reminiscent of both the Nazis and Orwell's 1984.

Perhaps my sense of morality is skewed to support V, but I think the antagonists he is fighting against are far worse than him and deserve their punishment, so to speak. He is achieving justice, restoring it, through the anarchic act of terrorism.

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