MovieChat Forums > V for Vendetta (2006) Discussion > Unpopular Opinion: This is better than t...

Unpopular Opinion: This is better than the graphic novel


Yes, it doesn't have the same impact as the graphic novel, and isn't as accomplished a piece of work. However, it's political perspective, which was attacked by Alan Moore, is less naïve and more relevant to the political reality. Remember, that Moore actually believed that Michael Foot, Britain's most unelectable political leader of the post-war period (and that includes even Jeremy Corbyn), was going to be elected in 1983. 

Moore posited anarchy against fascism, but although it's a big shame that the film diluted the racial supremacist aspects of Norsefire (particularly in view of the Islamophobia that currently dominates the discourse in much of Europe and North America - although the reference to the Quran being outlawed was a great touch), the adaptation's liberal versus neo-conservative perspective is far more pertinent to a world in which corporations and neo-con warmongers pose a greater threat to the West than authoritarian/autocratic regimes.

That said, I can, sadly, imagine a Britain in which a party like UKIP came into power and sought to implement many of the social and economic policies satirised by the original graphic novels, but currently the real oppressors are not fascists but neo-cons/neo-liberals who implement illegal wars in the Middle East, keep the poor and working class in 'their place', and use propaganda, rather than a police state, to anesthetise the public into apathy.

I also like that Adam Sutler was not implied to be a closet homosexual in the film version, as Adam Susan was in the graphic novel. Instead the film's one closet gay character was the sympathetic, albeit tragic, Gordon Deitrich. The whole 'repressed homosexuality leads character to commit evil' trope, far from being a helpful and progressive plea to encourage gay people to come out, actually comes across as both sophomoric cod-psychology as well as ultimately homophobic and unsympathetic to the circumstances of many gay people. No gay person should be made to repress their sexuality. But the turmoil many repressed homosexuals feel is an awful cross to bear, but doesn't mean they will go on to become the embodiment of evil and cause others to suffer as they have, and to imply otherwise is in fact homophobic.

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I totally agree! I found the comic (which I read after seeing the movie, having been assured I would love it) rather silly and uninspiring!

www.amazon.co.uk/Adam-Greenwood/e/B00A681FH8
www.amazon.com/Adam-Greenwood/e/B00A681FH8

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Indeed, this was the only example of Alan Moore's work turned to film that I preferred over the original. The rest are... variable. With some attempting, and almost rising, to be as good as the source material (From Hell, Watchmen) and others... well. Best not to speak of them (League of.. ahem).

I'd be interested to see what it would look like if anyone ever adapted his run on Swamp Thing or his Miracleman reboot, which was very, very good.

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I found that the film was typical Hollywood *beep* completely missing the point of Alan Moore's masterpiece. Gone was the very dodgy morality of V, instead he was an out and out good guy. The Norse Fire party were shown as typically Hollywood bad guys. And the ending, what the *beep* !!! They completely changed the ending to a "everyone lives happily ever after".

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I found that the film was typical Hollywood *beep* completely missing the point of Alan Moore's masterpiece.


How do you know they missed the point. Did they realize their errors and confess them to you.

Or are you just making an assumption?

It is possible they completely got the point and chose to address points that may have been more topical and relevant to the early 21st Century?

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I'm a huge fan of Alan Moore's work, and whilst I think Watchmen came close (with an ending I do actually prefer over the original), I agree. This is the only film based on Moore's work that I enjoyed more than the graphic novel.






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