The letter “V” in this film is very powerful and has several layers of symbolic meaning attached to it. The most obvious connection with the letter “V” and V himself is that “V” is roman numerals for 5 which was the batch and room number V was held in at Larkhill detention centre. This could mean that V had no identity before he was detained and the only thing he was known by was that room number 5. He also could have wanted to start a new life after Larkhill. This adds to the idea that black bagging steals you identity unique to you. V talks a lot in iambic pentameters which links back to his character being connected to the number 5. V’s victory takes place in November which happens to be the only month in the Gregorian calendar that has the letter “V” in it, more specifically the date of the attack is the 5th or “V” in roman numerals again. The film’s title V for Vendetta has 5 syllables in it and also has alliteration with “V”, this is good because it is following the theme of the film and linking the title to the film cleverly. Evie, a girl V saves and lets into the planning of November 5th, begins with “E” which is the 5th letter in the English alphabet and the letter “V” is the 5th from last letter in the alphabet. When in room 5, V finds a letter from the last resident of room 5, a girl named Valerie who also begins with “V”. The number 5 converted into binary is 101, so room 5 (V in roman numerals) could be seen as room 101, this is a reference to the famous torture chamber in George Orwell’s “Nineteen eight four”. By having this connection between the two torture rooms more negative imagery is formed around V’s room 5. At times in the film V is shot standing with his arms slightly away from his body forming an inverted V. By having V in this position the audience can tell that V is strong, confident and powerful; mainly because the stance itself is very stable and rooted but also because everything relates to V name which suggests he is powerful and important. The first time Evie ventures outside, after V creates the allusion of a concentration camp, she raises her arms up above her head in the rain suggesting a “V” shape. Evie’s posture here is the same as V’s when he escaped the concentration camp which creates a direct link between the two people and their emotions at the time. The position combined with the rain adds illustration to the scene so the audience can understand the strong sentiment: those of freedom, relief and a sense of rebirth. The rain suggests a washing away of both Evie and V’s past life so they can start again fresh and new. Even V’s mask has a “V” shaped smile it could be said that his name is always right there on his lips and as V is the voice of the English public this could imply that V is on the tip of everyone’s tongue and therefore a popular topic of conversation.
A hugely symbolic stage for the film is the emotionally heart-rending finale where V achieves his goal with the help from Evie. At the end all V’s actions merge beautifully as though V created a trail of dominos to lead to the conclusion. The audience gain a visual representation of this in the scene, before the last scenes, where V sets of a huge red and black image of a V almost his logo. In this scene there are close ups of the dominos falling and glimpse of what could happen in the UK if the anarchy causes carries on. The dominos finish falling and leave one central domino standing; this domino resembles the end of the film and the end of inequality. The short segments of film during the domino sequence send a message to the viewing public mainly Americans that their country could end up like that if they don’t do something about it.
“A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world.” V.
The Wachowski brothers have modernised the film to try and open the Americans eyes to what is going on in their own country and to show them that although one person’s voice can be drowned out or shot down, thousands of voices can not. The viewers are shown this when most of the residents in London go to stand up for what they all want, outside parliament on the 5th November. V dies tragically trying to gain freedom for the people who deserve it which means it is then down to Evie to pull the lever and end the government’s manipulation and discrimination towards their people. Evie lays V’s body to rest in the train and surrounds him with scarlet carsons these are the flowers that V placed on someone he killed for revenge or on the memorial he had for Valerie. The red of the petals could symbolise the blood spilt and the beauty of the flower over all could be to recognise the person’s life no matter how cruel they were. Before parliament was blown up, the viewers were shown the thousands of people, dressed in Guy Fawkes masks, who were literally climbing over the armed forces this backs up V when he says that thousands of voices are better than one. The Guy Fawkes masks are identical to V’s masks and so this shows that everyone has now achieved equality and that everyone there stands for the same thing. While parliament is being blown up Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture is being played this is the same music that was played at the beginning of the film when the old bailey was blown up by V a year previously. This links the two events and shows that both were done to achieve the same thing. There are also fireworks going off as though to mark this event as a celebration that will be remembered for ever. The last firework is a “V”, the same “V” that was used for the dominos which can be seen as V’s logo or mark. By having the film and the firework display end with this symbol shows that V was the man that made this all possible. Near to the end there is a Mexican wave of everyone taking their masks off, as they do this we notice that all the people that had died innocently were standing there watching the fireworks. This is extremely powerful, it tells the audience that this symbol (parliament blowing up) was done for the people of yesterday who fought for what they believed in and died as result of it; the people of the today who are standing there eventually facing reality and the people of tomorrow who will be affected by the 5th November.
“He was Edmond Dantés... and he was my father. And my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you... and me. He was all of us”. Evie
This quote from Evie proves that V was the voice of everyone and the first domino. It also suggests that V is in all of us but we just need to find him or he could also be known as our conscience. The last thing that Evie says is, “No one will ever forget that night and what it meant for this country.” This is similar to the well known rhymes associated with Guy Fawkes and the 5th November which means that V got what he wanted: remembrance, awareness and freedom.
The powerful fascist government that rules over England, Norsefire is despised by the nation yet nobody has that drive to stand against them. This is mainly because of the appearance of the party. Whenever there is a scene with Norsefire in it the chancellor, Adam Sutler, is viewed as a big face on a huge screen that is positioned high up in the shot and higher than the other 5 ( in roman numerals V)members of the party whom he is dictating to. This can be to give the impression that he is a “God” like figure or that he views himself as higher than God. The chancellor is never seen in person similar to God, the only time he is seen in person at his most vulnerable is at the time of his murder. This is done so that he appears to be untouchable or strong. On the other hand he could be the extreme opposite to God because he is evil and controlling whereas God isn’t. Sutler is more like the devil than God, especially with the goatee. The other members are also shot with a pitch black background which makes it seem like they are lifeless or empty because most people reflect their surroundings. The colours in the scene are red and black these colours represent evil, danger and blood all of which are negative words that help create a
negative image of Norsefire. The word Norse comes from the Vikings, very aggressive and unreasonable people, and the word fire is connected with anger, danger and destruction. Norsefire really does live up to its name. Sutler, when dictating, uses words of aggression like, “we stand on the edge of oblivion”,” they need us!” and “this message must resound throughout the entire interlink”. All of these phrases show that Norsefire controls the public by creating chaos through the media so that everyone will turn to Norsefire to save them. This is similar to when Norsefire created a virus that only they had the antidote for. This meant that the nation would vote Norsefire into power in order to save their loved ones from the virus.
Personally, I was truly moved by this film mostly because of all the symbolism spilling out of it. The political aspect makes the film hooking mainly because we can, if only in a small way, relate to the actions of the government. Seeing as the film is set in England many would initially assume that the underlying message is aimed at us but it is actually aimed at the Americans and their government. I love the drama of the ending, especially having the people who were killed there, watching the celebration of freedom, with the others. Another small part of the end which made it more meaningful for me was when you see a close up of Big Ben’s face exploding. The reason why I felt this part was a good feature to the ending was because Big Ben chimes every hour and has the most accurate time therefore controls most of England’s clocks. Everyone is controlled by time day in day out, always rushing about for deadlines or never having enough time to get something finished so the blowing up of Big Ben can symbolically and quite literally free us from the stress of time. This film left me close to speechless, only being able to articulate the word “wow!”
By Antoinette Holmes
