Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith

The “look” of this movie is an awful lot like the “look” in Orwell’s novel 1984.  The opening chapter of 1984 explains the look of Oceania where Winston lives.  The streets of London are dirty and the feel of Oceania is depressing.  When the main character Evey in the film is walking around the streets and night, I immediately was reminded of 1984.  The streets were dirty and the feeling was that of depression.  There were also numerous signs and posters hanging up on various buildings that had slogans like the ones from Orwell’s novel.  1984 had slogans like “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” (Orwell 4).  In “V for Vendetta” the slogans on the posters read “Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith”.  This is only one parallel between the movie and 1984.  Another was evident when the Party members showed their badges to Evey as a sign of power and authority over her.  This links itself to 1984 because those Party members are the same as the Thought Police and Junior Spies.  These inner party members rat out those civilians who do things that are illegal or against the Party.  No one can really be trusted because you never know who will sell you out.  Another similarity between the book and this film that I noticed was the speakers that were positioned throughout the town in the film.  This is similar to the telescreens that were literally everywhere watching everyone’s every move.

            A fifth similarity I found between 1984 and “V for Vendetta” was the look of the cell that both Winston and Evey were put into.  There weren’t any windows and the cells were isolated and closed in.  Both Winston and Evey looked fairly unhealthy and both characters had their heads shaven.  Lastly, the news aspect of the film is also similar to the news and government of 1984.  The government tries to change what really happened that way they don’t look bad.  When the building in the film was blown up, the government didn’t say it was a terrorist attack.  The people were told that it was intentional and the building was supposed to be demolished.  Just like in 1984 when Winston rewrites history, the people are told to believe things that never really happened.