A ‘reality’ that desensitises the society
we live in is extracted from the ideas that are subliminally incorporated into
the same realm of existence using its culture by the rulers of modernity. To
conceptualise the film ‘V For Vendetta’ with a classical Marxist viewpoint, it
is imperative to understand the theory foremost before interconnecting the
terminologies that can be used to identify where the Marxist themes exist
within the reality in which the producers of the film potentially tried to capture
This in turn can construct an understanding of the Marxist theory and apply it
in the economically driven society we live in.
The concept of the Bourgeoisie and Proletarians is the foundations
to understanding classical Marxism. The class struggles that exist within modernity
are relative in the way society functions and
regulated by governments and corporations under what can be perceived as a capitalist
ideology
Marx states “Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord
and serf, guild-master(3) and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in
constant opposition to one another” (Marx, 2011: 11)
The new oppressor’s (Bourgeoisie) of today’s
societies, such as the corporations are in a constant class struggle on how to
maintain a hierarchical position to that of the oppressed (Proletarians).
The plot summary of the film ‘V For
Vendetta’ is derived from the conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament on
5th November 1605, also known as the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot and
how the film that bases itself off of this event depicts the future of
capitalism. The film is separated with a class system that resembles the ruling
class - the capitalist government and the everyday people, the mass audience
that portrays the working class. The protagonist ‘V’ attempts to break free the
working class from the grasps of the bourgeoisie/superstructure by revealing their
ideologies, by showing the masses the ‘real’ that keeps the proletarians/base
in the false consciousness state and thus, from creating an uprising from not
only realising that they the mass were being exploited but because they desire
freedom.
“Since mankind's dawn, a handful of oppressors
have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted
for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it
away. We've seen where their way leads, through camps and wars, towards the
slaughterhouse.” (V For Vendetta, 2005)
The Bourgeoisie control the means of production
(resources) that is used to exploit the Proletarians, as it’s these means of
production that defines the hierarchy within the economical system of today’s
societies.
“The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of
the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in
every country.” (Marx, 1848)
The ruling class because of its high status
within the economic society pre globalization means that in today’s society, the working class
is continued to be exploited by the ruling class and it is the ruling
class who owns the
wealth; the
economical basis of
the idea that we need to work to get money to survive and that hopefully one
day we will become rich enough not to need to work to survive. This is
the ideology that was
first set about and then constantly recycled by the bourgeoisie.
“If the capitalist mode of production presupposes
this definite social form of the conditions of production, so does it reproduce
it continually. It produces not merely the material products, but reproduces
continually the production relations in which the former are produced” (Marx,
1967: 879 citied by Terray, 1975: 90)
The means of production that would once exist to
control the working class such as land is now done through alternatives such as
media consumption of ideas and it’s from owning these means of production that
can keep the mass audiences in a false consciousness that make them unaware or
idle to act on the exploitation by the ruling class that keeps them in this
oppressed state.
“In
the culture industry this imitation finally becomes absolute. Having ceased to
be anything but style, it reveals the latter’s secret: obedience to the social
hierarchy.” (Adorno,
1997:131)
Marxism references a system that uses
the terms ‘Base’ and ‘Superstructure’. “The superstructure is characterised by
the presence of an ideological factor: it consists of all institutions, except
the directly economic-productive or the solely existential, as well as the
artistic, literacy, scientific, religious, and political activities”
(Rossi-Landi, 1990: 60)
The Bourgeois utilise the tools
created by television to establish their ideologies to desensitise the mass
audiences. The governments and corporations that form the ‘Superstructure’ acts
as the hierarchical presence within the system that feed these ideologies to
the ‘Base’. The ‘Base’ consists of the mass audiences that are constant awe of
trying to establish themselves as the ‘Superstructure’. This is also known as
false consciousness, as the process of recycling different ideologies and
beliefs to the ‘Base’ gives the idea of becoming something more than they are,
a ‘reality’ that won’t ever materialise from the dreams in which the oppressors
cant conceptualise the differences from afar and within.
A scene within the film shows the
government covering up the attack on the building that was orchestrated by the
protagonist by claiming it was a planned demolition that had unexpected
complications. Prior to this, these oppressors were in conference claiming ‘V’
as a terrorist because they are concerned with how this individual can unify
the masses and cause a revolution against the capitalist society they reside in
as he is oppressing the notion of a superstructure.
“This is the BTN, our job is to report
the news, not fabricate it. That’s the government’s job”. (V For Vendetta,
2005)
The quote refers to the conversation
the producer of the news station has where he claims that the bourgeoisie use
media (means of production) to drive the false consciousness to the mass
audiences.
It could be perceived that the masses are victims
of an alienated capitalist society that is split between two classes. The class
struggles of being tied to an economically driven society in which the ruling
class that controls or owns the resources (means of production) create and
constantly recycle ideologies to drive the superstructure principle which means
that the working class or the ‘Base’ as it is also known, can only identity
themselves as their own separate group within society.
The constant class struggle that
continues to present itself in society today is always on the verge of
revolution but due to the ideologies that shield our outlook on the world we
live in, puts the revolution into a recycled state of sleep that is only waiting
to be lifted. In the film, ‘V’ acts as a savoir to the masses. Its this ‘Base’
through ‘V’ that enables a unified front against capitalism in overthrowing the
government by martyring himself and giving these masses an idea of hope and
freedom. “You cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it or hold it, ideas cannot
bleed or hold pain and they cannot laugh.” (V For Vendetta, 2005) implies that
although ‘V’ as previously mentioned martyrs himself for his belief of freeing
the people from the false consciousness constructed by the oppressors, the
legacy he left behind, by showing the masses the ‘real’ in how they were
oppressed created a revolution against the government that they are free people
and that ideas will always be free and can never die.
As previously stated the masses
gathered to unify against the government to show that they are free people and
gather to watch the houses of parliament (and ‘V’) get blown up. This scene in
the film reveals that the people that unified on the belief of ‘V’ and him revolting
against the governments exploitation and control over the people are now ‘free’
from the restraints of the ruling class.
“People shouldn't be afraid of their
government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” (V For
Vendetta, 2005)
The film sets itself up to release its own idea
that ties in with the film and the Marxist views to us ‘the mass audiences’
that consume the media in our own ‘reality’. And that is like it has already
been mentioned, the notion that governments exist to regulate society, not to
rule society. Whilst this could be perceived as we are separated from our
freedom in a sense, we must not forget that true freedom is knowledge.
“Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like
air, no one should be denied it.” (V For Vendetta, 2005)
An idea within society is not freedom, for
there to be true freedom, many ideas must exist. When globalization can coexist
with more than one idea, the overarching idea within some economic societies e.g.
Capitalism as it could be perceived, then there will always be an alienation
within that society and because of this, the working classes (‘base’) of today
will never truly be free people and escape from the idea of a hierarchical
system, the ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’.
It is explained earlier, that the bourgeoisie
feed ideas that create the false consciousness to desensitise the masses and
create the exploitation within many societies. The overarching idea that can be
perceived to be, not only present within the film ‘V For Vendetta’ but also in
relation to many societies of modernity is Capitalism. This idea is a construct
of the Bourgeoisie and if the masses come to a realisation and break free from
the hypnotic state we are apart of whether they are not knowing of or ignorant
then they can create an alternative such as a revolution that could change the
class system dynamics to create an equality or a free society where there is
not just one overarching idea but many.
“Behind this mask there is more than just
flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea... and ideas are
bulletproof.” (V For Vendetta, 2005) The protagonist ‘V’ in the film
addresses the notion that ideas are immortal and as stated above it is from
this idea of revolution, the idea to be free from oppression that will one day
become a reality.
“A commodity is an object full of theological,
even metaphysical, niceties. Its presence always reflects an invisible
transcendence.” (Zizek: 2014) Zizek describes ‘Commodity Fetishism and by this
pinpoints the idea that an item transcends from an object, an item that is
classified as the ‘real’. He uses the example of ‘Coca-`Cola in the film
‘Pervert’s Guide To Ideology’ and explains that this item is just a drink but
it can change into an ‘idea’ because the taste of the drink itself can be more
satisfying based on climate and temperature of the drink itself. Expanding on
this the item can then develop further by not just an individual thought but
into a social ideological construct. In the film ‘V For Vendetta’, the
protagonist ‘V’ wears a mask to cover his identity. As his actions against the
government in revealing their actions of exploiting the masses unfolds. At the
end of the film the masses unify and wear the same mask that ‘V’ himself wears.
The symbol of the mask turns into a proletarian fetish, the symbol of the mask,
that being of ‘V’ and what he was trying to accomplish by blowing up the house
of parliament i.e. by removing the false consciousness state that the masses
were put under by the government and on some ‘reality’ create a freedom where
ideas could exist, shows that this symbol stands for revolution. This in todays
society contrasts with the group ‘Anonymous’ a group of people that claim they
stand against the Capitalist society we live in by hacking the digital media
spaces on the internet by using the same ‘V’ masks to cover their identities
and represent themselves as Proletarians fighting for a revolution.
“The first step to freedom is not just
to change reality to feed your dreams. It’s to change the way you dream and
again this hurts because all satisfactions we have come from our dreams.”
(Zizek: 2014)
Zizek states that our society is
driven on dreams and desires. When we remove them, this creates a paradox
because an outlook into today’s society could suggest that the masses rely on
the recycling of bourgeoisie ideologies; dreams and desires, and it is this
what grants us the satisfactions. By removing these ideologies and thus, creating
freedom, it would be difficult to accomplish as the ‘reality’ that we exist
upon is co-dependent on these notions of happiness that also imprison them.
“Happiness is the most insidious prison of
all.” (V For Vendetta, 2005)
The film does incorporate the Marxist themes
thoroughly and this can translate not only into a comprehensive understanding
of Marxism but also how currently our own societies could relate the notion of
capitalism and could spark revolution if the masses become sensitised to the
exploitation they feel they are apart of.
“I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall
perish. Except one. An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only
thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it
away. We must never let them take it from us.” (V For Vendetta, 2005)
A highlighted concept that flows throughout the
film, as suggested above, and elevates itself to something more than transient,
is that ideas are everlasting. An idea will pass through time and out live the
societies of globalization and so a dream or desire of freedom that imprisons
us because of our own satisfactions will continue to remain in a hypnotic state
within our consciousness. An idea that could one day set the foundations of a
revolution by the masses that will create freedom.
Bibliography
Books:
Adorno,
T. Horkheimer, M (1997). Dialectic
of Enlightment. London: Verso. p121-145.
Balibar, E (2007). The Philosophy of
Marx. 2nd ed. London: Verso. p59.
Bloch, M (1975). Marxist Analyses and
Social Anthropology. London: Malaby Press. p90.
Marx, K. Engels, F (2011). The Communist Manifesto. London: Penguin Books Ltd. p11,
Rossi-Landi, F (1990). Marxism and
Ideology. Translated By Griffin, R. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p5.
Digital:
Marx, K. (1848). Manifesto of the
Communist Party. Available:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/. Last
accessed 5th May 2014.
Zizek, S. (2014). Pervert’s Guide to
Ideology. Available: http://www.critical-theory.com/tag/perverts-guide-to-ideology/.
Last accessed 5th May 2014.
Film:
V For Vendetta, 2005. [DVD] James McTeigue, London, United
Kingdom. Potsdam, Germany: Warner Bros. Pictures.
