MovieChat Forums > V for Vendetta (2006) Discussion > Bring back democracy, then blow-up Parli...

Bring back democracy, then blow-up Parliament?

posted 9 years ago by baltopro
5 replies | jump to latest

Okay, so you just took-down the facist dictatorship, and the people will settle for nothing less than a rebirth of democratic freedom. So you destroy the UK's greatest symbol of democratic freedom?!

Yeah, I heard the nonsensical lines "This country doesn't need another building. It needs hope." and "blowing up a building can change the world."

I guess, given the whole Guy Fawkes thing, the movie makers had to blow-up Parliament, even though, within the context of the movie, it's pretty stupid. The country will just have to build a new one.

But, hey, it sure looked bitchin!

[–] Line-of-Flight 9 years ago

You seemed to have missed the fact that V is not a believer in our traditional parliamentary democracy. He's an anarchist.

[–] RbDeraj 9 years ago

You seemed to have missed the fact that V is not a believer in our traditional parliamentary democracy. He's an anarchist.

I would disagree. His movement did involve chaos but the end goal was returning power to the people to run their country themselves. That's why he left the end decision in their hands. There really wasn't any hint that he was a political anarchist.

[–] RbDeraj 9 years ago

You do have a point and I understand your reasoning but he addresses it earlier:

A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. Alone, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world.

Basically blowing it up symbolized the people's fight against tyranny. Guy Fawkes and the related conspirators attempted to blow up parliament and the King as he was anti-Catholic and didn't allow Catholics to hold office and other such things. So this was basically the same idea. Even though we see it as a symbol of democracy, in their world it was a symbol of Chancellor Sutler and his regime.

[–] Matthewkay 9 years ago

It's entirely understandable that you missed the point of V being an out and out anarchist, as this awful film misses out that crucial plot point. In the vastly superior graphic novel V isn't the good guy that he is portrayed in the film, he is in fact a cold blooded psychopath hell bent on vengeance. Also the fascist government isn't the Hollywood bad guys as the film portrays them , the government is the only thing keeping Britain (post nuclear holocaust)from tearing itself apart. So the final act of V destroying parliament and the population of Britain turning on each other in a riotous orgy of destruction isn't the happy ending the film shows (which is why it completely cops out and shows some happy clappy Hollywood ending instead). So you are forgiven in mis-understanding V's motives for destroying Parliament and believing that he wanted to bring democracy back.

[–] generationofswine 9 years ago

Well, neither Parliament nor even the Senate here in America are really Democratic or symbols of democracy.

They are more symbols of oligarchical tyranny disguised as Republicanism

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