Dystopia In The Film 'V For Vendetta'

Although set in the near future, James McTeique’s V for Vendetta (2005) serves as an allegory of historical and contemporary political climates. The film depicts an autocratic government that rules over an oppressed society through means such as mass media mediation and corrupt state-sanctioned police. The negative political environment in the film draws parallels to past dystopian regimes, highlighting the negative environment that society is living in today.

Originally a graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd published in the late 1980s, the apparent political dystopia in V for Vendetta presents parallels to Britain during Thatcherism. Throughout the film we see “detention centres,” an obvious reference to Thatcher “building concentration camps in which [she] intended to house HIV-positive patients” (Shepard, 2006). The film emphasises the authoritarian government’s abuse of power by showing the barbaric tests run on the

prisoners at these detention centres where the prison population comprised of political nonconformists, various non-white ethnic groups, and, in particular, homosexuals. Within the first five minutes of the film, we are introduced to this idea of state-sanctioned homophobia through a broadcasted news channel on the television, another reminder of Thatcher’s fascist control where “Thatcher and her cronies were poised to stamp out homosexuality in Britain” (Shepard, 2006).
There are constant reminders that this dystopian autocratic government is not something new to our world.

In addition to references to Thatcherism, the film’s dystopian political environment also reflects upon Nazi Germany. The constant reiteration of the barbaric practices carried out at the detention centres, such as the scene showing bodies being thrown into a mass grave, mirror those of the concentration camps that existed during Hitler’s reign. Many characters in the film, such as “the agency of the Gestapo-like Fingermen, who black-bag the heads of their victims,” as well as the film’s tyrannical leader himself, High Chancellor Adam Sutler—a portmanteau of “Susan” (the High Chancellor’s last name in the graphic novel) and “Hitler”— are blatant references to this dystopian environment’s similarities to Nazi Germany (Shepard, 2006). The masked antagonist, V, also clearly references Nazi Germany during his “pirate television broadcast” where he speaks “against a backdrop which shows images of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini” (Call,

2008).
Although set in the near future, the film establishes a post-figurative culture by referencing past autocratic regimes. The similarities between the reactionary dystopian environment emphasized throughout the film and our current political cultures it references give rise to the idea that political systems present in the world today could “easily lead to totalitarianism” (Davidson, 2007). The integration of security service and mass electronic mediation present in the film are possible with technology that already exists, possibly commenting on the lack of technological progress in the coming future. The dearth of technical progress and constant reflection upon past dystopian political environments suggest that rather than progress, our society will likely return to a previous dystopic state of anarchy and dictatorship.
Set in a post-war autocratic British empire, V for Vendetta draws significant parallels between this near future totalitarian world and the past. The dystopian political climate presented in the film can be seen as a commentary on how present-day political structures are similar historical tyrannical regimes such as Thatcherite Britain and Nazi Germany, suggesting that in the near future, governments could possibly revert back to these dystopian political environments.