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11/23/15
V for Vendetta Analysis
WR 111 C

Analysis
In the film, V for Vendetta, the director James McTeigue implies that ideas are bulletproof because the idea lives on through the people you've touched. The movie starts off with V saving a fearful women named Evey. She is scared of everything because her parents were killed and she watched her mother get beaten by government officials. V then goes on to explain his beliefs and ideas, and he even shows her his first act of rebellion by destroying the Old Bailey. They then run into each other a couple more times before the main events of V imprisoning Evey to help her lose her fears. She ends up wanting to die rather than give up any information for V's arrest. V does this to help her lose her fears and see what he had to go through partially. His main thing was for her to lose her fears so she would help him execute his main act of rebellion to free the society of their fear and for his ideas to live on. Once he gets all of London to follow his idea, he knows his idea will be bulletproof and it will live on through everyone he touched.
V was a victim of a government ran epidemic. The government was experimenting on London natives trying to find a substance to make a super soldier who held a cure and use a illness to be a devastating chemical warfare weapon. V actually held the cure and he was the super soldier the government was trying to make. The whole laboratory went up in flames and burned down unfortunately, but karma helped with that. V then went into hiding for years until his plan was complete and ready to put into action. The date he chose was The 5th of November, this date was important because a man named Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the House of Parliament. V's plan was also to blow Parliament up and free all of London from their fearful lives after he took revenge on everyone that was a part of the epidemic the government ran. V influenced Creedy, Chancelors second hand man, to bring the Chancelor to a hidden place. Once Creed arrived, V said a few words to the Chancelor and told Creedy to shoot the Chancelor. Creedy then ordered his men to shoot V, but little did he know that every bullet his men unloaded on V, wouldn't kill V. V killed all of Creedys' men and then strangled Creedy saying "Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof." While all of this was happening, every person in London had a Guy Fawkes mask, because that’s what V wore, and made their way through authorities to watch Parliame's destruction. V was successful in destroying Parliament but he died in the process. Even though he died his idea live on through each and every person in London. V's idea was bulletproof even though he died because everybody followed him and carried on what he stood for. You can kill a person but you cannot kill what they stand for. The main person that followed V was Evey, because she carried on his plan and his idea. While Parliament is being detroyed, Evey says, "He was Edmund Dantes, and he was my father, and my mother, my brother, my friend, he was you, and me. He was all of us." At the end everybody that had on a Guy Fawkes mask on, took it off showing everybody was touched by what V was able to do. His idea lived on and that idea helped the community get back on their own feet instead of being ruled by the government
V's heroic character reminds me of what Linda Seger said in an article she wrote. Seger said that a hero starts as a normal person but then becomes a hero after certain steps happen in the characters life. The hero should go through 10 steps. The hero will start in ordinary surroundings, then something new will enter their life, but most of the time the hero starts out not wanting to leave or change, then the hero usually receives help and that help comes from someone unusual, leading to the hero to want to move into a special place where he or she will change from ordinary to extraordinary, and all this begins the tests and obstacles the hero will need to over come, then the hero unfortunately hits rock bottom, and after he or she hits rock bottom the hero seizes what he or she needs to overcome but doesn't fully overcome his overall obstacle. The heroes last few steps lead up to the happily ever after scene but before that the hero is often chasing or fighting his last obstacle, and finally the hero defeats or achieves his final obstacle. V follows all these steps throughout the movie. We didn’t see him before he was burned in the government laboratory but he must have been a normal person before the whole epidemic happened. V went though a tough time in prison being starved and experimented on. He walked through the flames to be free and while he walked through the flames, he walked away from his old, normal self into a newborn person and hero. He healed and made a plan to take his revenge on anyone involved in the governments evil plan. He followed the road from a normal person to overcoming all the bumps in the road to become the hero that freed all of London from the governments rule.
In the film, the director is very precise about his meanings. For example, the letter V is more than the heroes name, it’s also his cell number, the Greek number for 5 is V, and the button to his favorite song on his juke box is V. The director had a lot of secret meanings but "ideas are bulletproof" is the most important one. It’s the most important because V's idea lived on through everyone in London, even government officials. V touched everyone and he opened everyone's eyes to what the government was secretly doing. The people are more powerful than the government and all the people needed was a little push and V's idea was the push they needed.