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Complacency Leads to Chaos and Confusion in "V for Vendetta"

By Anonymous

           The main themes and arguments of “V for Vendetta” can be seen whether discussing the movie or graphic novel. Themes such as freedom, government control, and anarchy are just a few ideas addressed in this work. However, the medium in which these ideas are delivered makes an important impact on how the audience perceives them. For example, although both the graphic novel and movie version of V for Vendetta have similar themes, an audience that has only seen the movie, might feel differently about what they experienced compared to an audience that is only familiar with the graphic novel. This is because of the differences in how the message is being delivered. 

Comics and graphic novels require much more participation from their audience than film does. This phenomenon is what Scott McCloud refers to as “closure” in his book Understanding Comics. In between each frame of a comic, there is a small gap before another image appears. Comics are not all one large picture nor do they have the ability to play continuously like a movie does. The audience is only seeing pieces and fragments of a situation with a blank space in between. It is in this “gutter” that the audience becomes pivotal in making closure take place (McCloud 63).  Closure in comics is what helps move the story along and allows for many changes to take place that would normally be happening quite naturally and smoothly in a movie. Transitions such as time, motion, and scene are just a few of the shifts that are a direct result of closure in comics (McCloud 65). Audience involvement is what allows these transformations to occur, and without them, the message can be misconstrued or completely misunderstood. Due to the very nature of a graphic novel, the audience must not be too complacent or uninvolved, otherwise they could miss out on some very important ideas and happenings. This is exactly the kind of message that the character of “V” is trying to deliver to the citizens of London in the graphic novel V for Vendetta. This can be seen throughout the graphic novel, but specifically the scene were “V” interferes and intercepts the television stations across England. In this scenario, “V” calls out England’s citizens for just standing by and letting their government turn into the suffocating authoritarian system that it is currently ruled under. “V” declares that it is not only the leaders that are to blame, but the contented citizens who elected them in the first place that are at fault as well (Moore 112-118).  It is appropriate then, to deliver this kind of message in a medium that requires its own audience to be active participants in order to understand the intent and outcome of V for Vendetta. Just as the citizens of England will need to be dynamic contributors to making a change in their government, so will the readers of this graphic novel to make changes and create closure to comprehend its message. One can see the chaos and confusion that was a result of complacent citizens in V for Vendetta. A similar outcome will be the consequence of a complacent reader. Thus, the medium is the message as Scott McCloud can confirm.  

McCloud, Scott, and Mark Martin. Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art. William Morrow, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2018.

Moore, Alan, and David Lloyd. V For Vendetta. DC Comics, 2012.

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