Graphic novels are something that I have never really shown much interest in before. I didn't think that I would be able to engage with the story in the same way as I do with reading regular books. However, I have seen the film adaptation of V for Vendetta and something about it has always struck a cord with me. I have tried to stay away from dystopian fiction for a while, largely because I feel like we're already living in the worlds that exist within the stories but this one continuously kept coming to mind.
I read that the author disliked the film, because it was too different, it's message was too different. So I finally caved and decided to have a look at the original material.
It's terrifying. It's terrifying because when I was reading, I was actually struggling to remember what was in the novel and what was reality. That isn't good. We're on a path to this becoming real. The world is slowly being destroyed through human action and we are absolutely sleep walking into the kind of world shown in V for Vendetta. It feels entirely too close now.
Some parts of the story I didn't fully get. I couldn't make out what some of the images were, I didn't always see the point of some sections. That's most likely down to me, how I interpret things and not being used to graphic novels.
We're presented with many ways of viewing the world that exists within the novel. Evey, a sixteen year old who has grown up in a world stricken by Nuclear War, has lost both her parents and is forced to turn to prostitution to make extra money. She is saved from rape and murder by V, the first person to make her feel safe since she was a child. We see Eric Finch, a police officer who has always believed he is doing the right thing, but goes on a journey that causes him to question everything. Rose, a woman who was once protected, though not entirely safe and will do what she has to do to survive. Helen, a woman who is entirely different, who uses her body as a weapons. There are a few others as well, though they don't really feature prominently and they're linked to the others.
The adaptation drastically changed the plot and limits it to the stories of V, Evey and Eric Finch. Evey is older and does not cling to V in the same way her original literary counterpart did. Despite helping him at one stage, she later tries to betray V and runs away. She seeks refuge with a colleague who it turns out is homosexual as well a collector of various contraband items, and therefore Evey is the least of his problems. Originally, V abandoned Evey and Gordon was a stranger who took her in and later became her lover. Evey's big ordeal was the same in the film as the novel, but the film chose to have Evey walk away from V afterwards and almost begrudgingly thank him for what he did. She returns at the end and plays her part, but does not take over completely. Finch's part was changed. In the novelisation, he never met Evey. In this version, he doesn't confront V (though he did once talk to V without realising it) and meets Evey instead. Curiously, in a brief scene when Finch has a vision of the future, Evey is seen to be tending a vase of Scarlet Carson's and Finch can be seen in the mirror. This indicates the pair have a relationship in the future.
The biggest change was how exactly Britain came under the control of Norsefire. The film added a virus that became known as St Mary's virus, as it started at a school with that name and wiped out many people, including children. The virus turned out to be created by the government as a result of experiments performed on V. This was a change from the graphic novel which told of long running problems and a nuclear war that eventually allowed one particular party to take over. I think V was held in a facility where medical experiments were conducted on certain humans instead of animals. My understanding is patchy, but the graphic novel didn't mention a specific virus. It indicated that the experiments were probably to do with radiation treatments.
The ending was changed a fair bit as well, though I suppose it generally comes to the same. The same people die, Evey finishes V's work. Triggering the beginning of the end. The start of something new.
Honestly I think that the novel and film share elements but are essentially very different stories. Alan Moore says that the messages are different.
One question I've seen a few times is: Was V a good guy?
V's morality was clearly always painted as grey area. He saved Evey, gave her a home, but he also abandoned her and later forced to endure a scenario that changed her forever. He was a killer, though not without reason or mercy. We don't know if he killed innocents as the casualties of some of his actions in the novel are not explored.
Like the real Guy Fawkes, like Oliver Cromwell and probably countless other figures in history and literature, V cannot be labelled a hero, as good or bad. This is a story with no one categorised as either, in a world in which there is no true right or wrong, good or evil. When the choices are being ruled by fear or ruled by anarchy. The difference between being blind and held in a cage, and living with pain, and danger and choice. It depends on what you believe in, on who's side you're on.
Who was V? The whole point is that we don't know. V could be literally anyone and anyone can choose to be V.
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