A great film with an eminently political scope of burning topicality, “V for Vendetta” has widely popularized the mask of Guy Fawkes, which has become a planetary symbol of resistance to oppression. But also an ambiguous symbol.
“Remember, remember November 5, 1605, the Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes and Jacques 1er, remember because I will never be able to bring myself to forget it”.
If you’ve seen V for Vendetta, you’re bound to remember these words spoken by V, which actually quotes a famous poem celebrating an event known as the “Gunpowder Plot.”
A tribute to a historical fact that occurred on the night of November 5, 1605, when a certain Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Parliament, with the aim of killing the king and deputies. 36 barrels of gunpowder were stored in the cellars under the building.
One of the conspirators betrayed his comrades and sent the authorities an anonymous letter to warn the king of the plot. Soldiers searched the cellars of the building on November 5 and found Guy Fawkes preparing to set fire to the fuse. He was arrested, tortured and executed.
Warner Bros. The rose, symbol of England, combined with the dagger.
Released in 2006, V for Vendetta brilliantly adapted the work of Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. The political purpose, of great power, resonates more than ever today. And has enough to give some big sweats to the governments in place: how legitimate is it to use violence to overthrow a government that oppresses its people and deprives them of the most fundamental freedoms?
As a kind of echo to the famous article 35 of the Constitution of June 24, 1793 in France, which was then in the midst of a revolutionary period: “When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is, for the people and for every portion of the people, the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties”…
If masks of Guy Fawkes, who has become a popular figure in British culture, have been created over the years, it is really with the design of David Lloyd and even more with the film by James MCTeigue that his popularity has become planetary.
Everyone has in mind the extraordinary end scene, when an army of British citizens, decked out in the mask of Fawkes, rise up and march against his fascist government, completing V as the symbol and union of a whole people breaking the chains of bondage.
Movement Occupy Wall Street in New York, via the demonstrations of support for Julian Assange in London, from Australia to Venezuela, Germany or even France, the movement of Hackers Anonymous in 2008 which continues to be talked about, the opposition movement to the rigged elections in Belarus in 2020, the protest movement in Hong Kong… The mask of Guy Fawkes has become the very embodiment of rebellion in the four corners of the world. A creation that seems to have long since escaped its creator. Which didn’t seem to displease him.
“The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common mark and a handy sign to use in protest against tyranny – and I’m glad people are using it, it seems quite unique that a popular culture icon is being used of this way” declared Lloyd at the microphone of the BBC, in October 2011, while he was visiting the Occupy Wall Street movement.
A peaceful protest movement that denounced the abuses of financial capitalism. Started on September 17, 2011 when around 1,000 people demonstrated in the vicinity of Wall Street, the stock exchange district in New York, it quickly spread.
ITAR TASS / BESTIMAGE
Demonstration against the result of the elections in Belarus or the Republic of Belarus in Moscow on August 11, 2020.
Extending to the whole of the United States where similar demonstrations were held in 70 major cities, the movement gained even more momentum from October 15, 2011, the date chosen to be the first world day of protest for true democracies. The Occupy movement then spread to around 1,500 cities in 82 countries.
And received the support of the Hackers Anonymous movement, whose members stage themselves in videos where they wear the Guy Fawkes mask. “My feeling is that the group Anonymous needed a versatile image to hide their identity and also symbolize that they stand for individualism – V for Vendetta is the story of one person against the system” Lloyd commented.
David Lloyd explained that when he and screenwriter Alan Moore created the character of V, their original idea was to expose an urban guerrilla fighting a fascist dictatorship. But they wanted to inject more theatrics into the story.
“We knew that V was going to be an escapee from a concentration camp where he had been subjected to medical experiments, but I had the idea that in his madness he would decide to adopt Guy’s character and mission. Fawkes – our great historic revolutionary”.
Manufacturer of the Guy Fawkes mask, the company Rubies Costume Compagny explained that it was an absolute bestseller, with 100,000 copies sold each year, and 16,000 just for Great Britain. Very, very good deals also for Warner, who collects royalties on each mask sold.
Stephane Lemouton / Bestimage
Rally in support of Julian Assange of Wikileaks, November 5, 2019 in Paris.
Some do not fail to point out the idea that the mask, far from symbolizing passive resistance, is on the contrary a symbol of active terrorism, determined to overthrow a government by any means. Hence no doubt the regular nervousness of the police forces, as happened last year in London.
On the night of November 5-6, to commemorate the memory of the Gunpowder Plot, hundreds of activists, wearing Guy Fawkes masks, gathered in Trafalgar Square, burning a puppet bearing the likeness of the former Prime Minister , Boris Johnson. A show of force against the police which resulted in a dozen arrests.
“It is to Madame Justice that I dedicate this concerto, in honor of the holidays she seems to have taken very far from here and in recognition of the impostor who stands in her place” loose V in the film, while he plays the conductor contemplating the explosion of the British Parliament and the fireworks which follow. Words that have not finished resonating in the minds.