V for...Vacuous

The film V for Vendetta, based on the graphic novel of the same name, opened last weekend and was the number one movie in America. Rather than write a full scale review, I'll direct readers to a lengthy and insightful review in "The New Yorker" and a shorter but equally insightful review in "Entertainment Weekly." While I don't agree with everything in the reviews, I think they are correct in essence. In trying to write my own full review, I found myself echoing these reviews so much that I decided it was better to direct readers to them and add my own thoughts.

1.) Conservatives and right-wingers of various stripes have denounced the film as an attack on Bush, and it certainly is that. The author of the graphic novel, Alan Moore, once described Ayn Rand as some kind of "white supremacist," and has also described the (mild, in my opinion) free-market reforms of Reagan and Thatcher as the "friendly face of fascism." A self-proclaimed anarchist, Moore has disowned the film because, among other reasons, it implies that our choices are, in his words, "current American neo-conservatism [or] current American liberalism." In Moore's mind, the real choice is between anarchism and fascism. While Moore may disagree, both The Matrix and V for Vendetta angrily cry out for "freedom" and against "control" in ways that should warm every anarchist's heart.

2.) I'd like to contrast V for Vendetta with a show that has been described as "anarchic," South Park. South Park's attacks on American culture are attacks made by people who love America. See Team America: World Police if you don't believe me or read this for their view of Bush. Suffice it to say that they don't seem to think he's a fascist. Sure, many Americans are belligerent people with wacky religious ideas who are ignorant of the rest of the world, but ultimately, Americans end up on the side of truth, justice, and...well...the American Way! The politics of South Park are much like those of H.L. Mencken. Though he was overwhelmingly negative and cynical, I think Mencken loved liberty, not anarchy--a distinction which makes all the difference in the world. (Readers may be surprised to know that, early in her career, Ayn Rand considered him "the greatest representative of a philosophy to which I want to dedicate my whole life." (Letters of Ayn Rand, p. 13). Though I am not aware of any evidence that she did, it is possible that she changed her view of Mencken later in life.) The politics of V for Vendetta are much like those of Noam Chomsky. Enough said.