V for Vendetta: Post-Class Reaction

Towards the end of class a concept struck me. Humans as individuals or in groups need to feel safe or in control, and often those two overlap. This came to me because in this novel and in other cases we have seen that when a disaster happens there is always someone who pulls everything together and tries to keep it together. In the case of Moore’s graphic novel the Leader pulled everything in too tight and the level of control he thought was necessary, was actually ultimately too much and detrimental. But think about it, even on a personal level, when things are going on that are distressing to you or feel bigger than you, don’t you wish that you were able to have full control of the situation or maybe that someone else took control of the situation? When things get overwhelming and there are tons of reading for school, tests, internships and whatever other things that tend to pile up become too much, then one becomes edgy, uncertain and stressed. The chance for a negative outcome is too distressing of a thought, one wants to know that it will all be alright in the end. Or maybe if some accident happens or things are a mess, like maybe you just suffered a bad car accident and you are panicking; some people would want for another person to handle the mess because it is too much for them in their state of panic. This is on the micro level of what happened to Britain due to the disaster of war and destruction around the world; some people wanted someone to fix it for them and others wanted to take control and do the fixing their way, which is what Leader must have done. And later V took control, and transformed Evey from a meek sheep that wanted someone to keep her safe (and control and make sure that everything in her life is ok) to someone who was able to assume that control. I just found that an interesting idea, because there seems to be need for that control on one level or another, and of course everyone wants different levels of control. But I can say that everyone (except maybe for a very small number) want to live in a controlled situation either by their own hand or by the hand they trust to keep things under control. Because very few people would say they want to live in chaos where nothing is certain, and the risks and dangers are high, because that’s like living your whole life with the ground ripped out from under your feet, always falling and twisting and not knowing what to do or what is coming at them next. People need a certain level of certainty in their life in order to stay sane, and control they accept (no matter who wields it) lets them live more at peace.