“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof’’ –V
“Remember remember the 5th of November”. It is obvious what V was trying to portrait by the words he chose to use wisely. He had his reasons for every move he ever made and an idea that no one could ever kill because “people can be killed but ideas are bulletproof”, meaning ideas never die.
V’s mask transcends the limits of human mortality. While an individual can easily reach his/her death, it is their ideas that will continue to make a difference regardless of the face behind them.
The mask he wears is a symbol of defiance against the government in the name of civil rights. His purpose is to wake the citizens up from their oblivion state of mind and conscious to the corruption and control.
The ideas throughout V for Vendetta continue to grow and are still significant even 14 years after the movie’s release. Various countries fighting against oppression have begun to use the mask as their identity. This is shown specifically in the October 17th Lebanese revolution. Many Lebanese citizens donned the mask to show that regardless of which religion or political party they follow, they are all one.
14 years later and V for Vendetta still carries its meaning around the world.
What V did to the totalitarian government has great meaning behind it. For those who have not yet found the meaning yet, or at least understood it, it is that people live freely and not under the government’s control. He wanted to change history. Unfortunately, as much as things have changed over the years, corruption will always crawl around the roots of the government.
The Lebanese government is one of the most corrupt in the world. Stealing money from its people, paying 300 government workers on a nonexistent railway, and no free healthcare are only some of the examples of how the Lebanese government failed its citizens.
V found the government’s system abysmal. He wanted to overthrow the regime and allow people to decide on their own fate.
He wanted to do what Guy Fawkes failed to do, even if it meant him dying along with the parliament.
The Lebanese wanted to put an end to sectarianism which has been the foundational structure of the government. The Lebanese revolution was done for the same reason as V’s. The people should decide their own fate without being controlled by different sects of the government. The people should be allowed to elect whoever they deem fit to rule them and not have their government made based on the different religions or political parties.
There are people who find him insane, and others who find him incredibly genius. His ways of working and displaying his character tends to be extremely pleasing and satisfying in the world of the masterminds. V’s scene where he would be inside the building yet no one knows where he is drove the parliament crazy.
The system grew sick of V’s perpetual behavior and how it affected the whole country when they found everyone wearing masks. Even after V died, the people still wore his mask because as he believed, ideas never die. He made sure his purpose was beneficial and unchanging enough to live on after his death.
Little by little, millions of Lebanese citizens took to the streets to fight against the corrupt government. Even as the system violently tried to take them off the streets, as was similar with V, the citizens were bound together by a cause that was stronger than anything the government could throw at them. Just like with V, the ideas of the Lebanese revolutions infiltrated every city and village. It continued to grow and spread throughout the country and as such keeping V’s ideas alive.
Just like that,” We are told to remember the idea not the man, because man can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world.” With that being, it doesn’t matter who started the revolution, what matters is the idea behind it.
V for Vendetta 