Anarchy in UK
Tuesday night is a good time to see a movie in a theater, away from yappers and babblers. We used our free tickets to go see "V for Vendetta",
which wasn't quite as horrible as I expected based on what I had read
about it so far. At least it didn't have any bullet time. We had both
re-read the comic a few weeks ago in preparation for the movie,
although perhaps I shouldn't have bothered.
As usual, the differences between the original story and the movie were the most revealing thing about it. Anybody who has read the original comic knows what I mean, and it's hard to explain them to those who haven't, so let's skip the topic. Many of these differences were by necessity, obviously. For example, in the original comic written in early 80's, Mr. Susan (in the movie, Mr. Sutler) was basically the only person who had a real computer in his use, "Fate", whose "voice" Prospero was on the radio. I guess the story needed a bit of an upgrade there. And naturally there had to be some kind of quick explanation what had happened to the rest of the world so that they wouldn't intervene with Britain, or that Evey wasn't a prostitute but worked for the Beeb (in that case, where was she going in the beginning of the movie at 11PM?), and so on.
I was also a bit disappointed that not once did anybody utter the line "De white debil got him a Laser-Luger!" I guess that lots of stuff had to be left on the editing room floor, such as the Storm Saxon scenes. There are limits to how transgressive one can be, even in Hollywood.
However, the unnecessary differences were obviously a political statement, and it's not like the filmmakers had even tried to be particularly subtle. What do you know, drug companies and Western militaries again turned out to be evil, Muslims turned out to be innocent of terrorism, gays turned out to be morally superior etc. So I can see why conservatives would be miffed with this. But it's not like we're not used to this already.
I also honestly have to wonder how the Muslim community will react to that scene where Gaylord (you know, the character played by that guy who played Jeeves and who wasn't in the comic, and I can't remember the character's actual name) praises both the Quran and the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, which he keeps close together. I guess we'll see what happens when that movie opens in Islamic countries or the word about it reaches their mullahs some other ways. Now there is one audience whose reactions will be interesting: we might even get another Danish cartoon debacle in our hands. I can already imagine the Muslim men watching this movie and becoming even more confused about the West.
I also wish that the filmmakers of near-future dystopias got some imagination. What the heck is it with leaders who use giant television screens to communicate with their underlings? And could we at least once see jackbooted thugs who didn't burn classic books and paintings for the heck of it, but instead enjoyed and appreciated these things? It's not like the masses care about old stuff that much nor does it rouse them to anything, so it just harmlessly collects dust in libraries.
The unintentionally funniest part of the movie was at the TV studio, when we both simultaneously realized that the strangely familiar-looking actor playing the evil nazi was that guy who plays Patrick in Coupling and started laughing.
As usual, the differences between the original story and the movie were the most revealing thing about it. Anybody who has read the original comic knows what I mean, and it's hard to explain them to those who haven't, so let's skip the topic. Many of these differences were by necessity, obviously. For example, in the original comic written in early 80's, Mr. Susan (in the movie, Mr. Sutler) was basically the only person who had a real computer in his use, "Fate", whose "voice" Prospero was on the radio. I guess the story needed a bit of an upgrade there. And naturally there had to be some kind of quick explanation what had happened to the rest of the world so that they wouldn't intervene with Britain, or that Evey wasn't a prostitute but worked for the Beeb (in that case, where was she going in the beginning of the movie at 11PM?), and so on.
I was also a bit disappointed that not once did anybody utter the line "De white debil got him a Laser-Luger!" I guess that lots of stuff had to be left on the editing room floor, such as the Storm Saxon scenes. There are limits to how transgressive one can be, even in Hollywood.
However, the unnecessary differences were obviously a political statement, and it's not like the filmmakers had even tried to be particularly subtle. What do you know, drug companies and Western militaries again turned out to be evil, Muslims turned out to be innocent of terrorism, gays turned out to be morally superior etc. So I can see why conservatives would be miffed with this. But it's not like we're not used to this already.
I also honestly have to wonder how the Muslim community will react to that scene where Gaylord (you know, the character played by that guy who played Jeeves and who wasn't in the comic, and I can't remember the character's actual name) praises both the Quran and the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, which he keeps close together. I guess we'll see what happens when that movie opens in Islamic countries or the word about it reaches their mullahs some other ways. Now there is one audience whose reactions will be interesting: we might even get another Danish cartoon debacle in our hands. I can already imagine the Muslim men watching this movie and becoming even more confused about the West.
I also wish that the filmmakers of near-future dystopias got some imagination. What the heck is it with leaders who use giant television screens to communicate with their underlings? And could we at least once see jackbooted thugs who didn't burn classic books and paintings for the heck of it, but instead enjoyed and appreciated these things? It's not like the masses care about old stuff that much nor does it rouse them to anything, so it just harmlessly collects dust in libraries.
The unintentionally funniest part of the movie was at the TV studio, when we both simultaneously realized that the strangely familiar-looking actor playing the evil nazi was that guy who plays Patrick in Coupling and started laughing.
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