The man with the dolls is Lewis Prothero, the primary propagandist of the fascist government and former commander of the concentration camp that V was a resident of. This scene ends with him traumatized to the point of institutionalization. This is one of the running themes of the book where insanity is a byproduct of actually understanding the camps for what they were.
But yeah highly recommend reading the comics. It’s a really good take for a series from the 80s exploring what British fascism would look like.
Got it. I tried to watch the movie but I wasn’t into it. I may check out the comics, they are clearly a masterpiece. Sometimes you don’t have to look at too much of something to tell.
I’m personally very much a fan of both the comic and the movie
The overall plots are largely the same, the comic of course has a little more space to flesh things out.
Which does actually work against it at times, there’s a point where V just kind of goes off on a lecture about anarchy for a couple pages, which is interesting but maybe not the most exciting comic book reading you’ll ever do, and certainly wouldn’t have translated particularly well to the screen, so overall I don’t mind most of the changes they made of
Both the comic and movie are very much a product of their times and places. The comic is very much a reaction to Thatcherism in the UK, the movie more to post-911 Bush-era America.
The movie probably resonates more with me personally, but I’m also a product of that time and place. The comic strikes me as a little more timeless.
I didn’t watch the movie but I found the political lectures from V to be very fitting. Yeah it’s preachy from Moore, but it’s Moore and V saying “hey, V isn’t an anarchist because he kills fascists and breaks laws, anarchism is an ideology and he’s clinging to it as the opposite of fascism”
Yeah, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed his lectures, it’s just very much not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and certainly not something that would have translated well to a movie
Oh yeah ironically I think the lectures are even more important to do the story justice in a filmed medium. The comic keeps demanding you turn your brain on but people resist that in movies and movies (and tv) struggle to get people interacting critically with themes. The movie’s cultural impact was politically confused when you could do a voice over of him explaining anarchism during one of the scenes, a montage, or broken up throughout the “The Land of Do-As-You-Please” section of the story or in Evie’s lessons.
I don’t think it would’ve been super popular among audiences or the production company, but it would’ve been really hammering in the themes and points that the comic was appropriately heavy handed with.
I highly recommend it. I never saw the movie but I’ve heard the differences described as the movie is about the bush administration vs the anti war movement while the book is a very British story about British fascism vs British anarchism. It’s not afraid to acknowledge the diversity of victims of fascism and it’s not afraid to call fascists losers with weird relationships to sex (sex is a major theme of the book).
Alan Moore is a master of his craft, and his craft is left wing comics. There’s a reason a large portion of left wing men are die hards about Watchmen. Vandetta is clearly his first big project, but it hits like a truck and has scenes that stick with you.
It’s definitely a book to be aware of political and literary themes in. It’s not a story about a noble hero fighting powerful villains. It’s a story about someone who’s been psychologically broken taking revenge because his fellow victims can’t, against weird evil freaks like goebbels, as he tries to help someone who grew up in this world.
Spoilers, I guess, for a 40 year old comic (the plot in the movie is a bit different)
spoiler
In the comic, Lewis Prothero (played by Roger Alam in the movie) is one of central figur of the ruling Norsefire party. He is responsible for the “Voice of Fate” radio broadcasts (although the party propaganda is that it is the Fate supercomputer making the broadcasts itself) and was formerly the commander of a concentration camp.
He collects dolls, and is kidnapped by V placed in a mock-up of the camp with his doll collection dressed as prisoners, and tortured by V burning his dolls in front of him.
I believe in the movie you can catch a glimpse of his doll collection in the background of a couple scenes, but that plotline is changed quite a bit.
Is this “Weird Tales”? I found some of them in a comics collection when I was little and some of the stories fucked with me.
It’s V for Vandetta. Spoilers ahead
Tap for spoiler
The man with the dolls is Lewis Prothero, the primary propagandist of the fascist government and former commander of the concentration camp that V was a resident of. This scene ends with him traumatized to the point of institutionalization. This is one of the running themes of the book where insanity is a byproduct of actually understanding the camps for what they were.
But yeah highly recommend reading the comics. It’s a really good take for a series from the 80s exploring what British fascism would look like.
Got it. I tried to watch the movie but I wasn’t into it. I may check out the comics, they are clearly a masterpiece. Sometimes you don’t have to look at too much of something to tell.
I’m personally very much a fan of both the comic and the movie
The overall plots are largely the same, the comic of course has a little more space to flesh things out.
Which does actually work against it at times, there’s a point where V just kind of goes off on a lecture about anarchy for a couple pages, which is interesting but maybe not the most exciting comic book reading you’ll ever do, and certainly wouldn’t have translated particularly well to the screen, so overall I don’t mind most of the changes they made of
Both the comic and movie are very much a product of their times and places. The comic is very much a reaction to Thatcherism in the UK, the movie more to post-911 Bush-era America.
The movie probably resonates more with me personally, but I’m also a product of that time and place. The comic strikes me as a little more timeless.
I didn’t watch the movie but I found the political lectures from V to be very fitting. Yeah it’s preachy from Moore, but it’s Moore and V saying “hey, V isn’t an anarchist because he kills fascists and breaks laws, anarchism is an ideology and he’s clinging to it as the opposite of fascism”
Yeah, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed his lectures, it’s just very much not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and certainly not something that would have translated well to a movie
Oh yeah ironically I think the lectures are even more important to do the story justice in a filmed medium. The comic keeps demanding you turn your brain on but people resist that in movies and movies (and tv) struggle to get people interacting critically with themes. The movie’s cultural impact was politically confused when you could do a voice over of him explaining anarchism during one of the scenes, a montage, or broken up throughout the “The Land of Do-As-You-Please” section of the story or in Evie’s lessons.
I don’t think it would’ve been super popular among audiences or the production company, but it would’ve been really hammering in the themes and points that the comic was appropriately heavy handed with.
I highly recommend it. I never saw the movie but I’ve heard the differences described as the movie is about the bush administration vs the anti war movement while the book is a very British story about British fascism vs British anarchism. It’s not afraid to acknowledge the diversity of victims of fascism and it’s not afraid to call fascists losers with weird relationships to sex (sex is a major theme of the book).
Alan Moore is a master of his craft, and his craft is left wing comics. There’s a reason a large portion of left wing men are die hards about Watchmen. Vandetta is clearly his first big project, but it hits like a truck and has scenes that stick with you.
It’s definitely a book to be aware of political and literary themes in. It’s not a story about a noble hero fighting powerful villains. It’s a story about someone who’s been psychologically broken taking revenge because his fellow victims can’t, against weird evil freaks like goebbels, as he tries to help someone who grew up in this world.
Also Moore’s forward provided helpful context
Even more appropriately, it’s V for Vendetta
Spoilers, I guess, for a 40 year old comic (the plot in the movie is a bit different)
spoiler
In the comic, Lewis Prothero (played by Roger Alam in the movie) is one of central figur of the ruling Norsefire party. He is responsible for the “Voice of Fate” radio broadcasts (although the party propaganda is that it is the Fate supercomputer making the broadcasts itself) and was formerly the commander of a concentration camp.
He collects dolls, and is kidnapped by V placed in a mock-up of the camp with his doll collection dressed as prisoners, and tortured by V burning his dolls in front of him.
I believe in the movie you can catch a glimpse of his doll collection in the background of a couple scenes, but that plotline is changed quite a bit.