Some comic book adaptations work as films and some don’t, that’s no secret. The list of really terrible ones is a long and ugly one and includes such gems as Catwoman, Batman & Robin and, interestingly, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Why is that interesting? Because the comic book was written by Alan Moore, the graphic novel creating genius behind, among others, Watchmen. Batman: The Killing Joke and the subject of today’s post, V for Vendetta.
V for Vendetta (2006), like much of Moore’s work, contains social subtexts but the conversion from comic book to screen altered much of the message here – gone was the Anarchist references and gone was much of the dystopian imagery – the drug taking on the streets and the sense of mid-1980′s depression.
The set of comics that made up the graphic novel were actually written in the 1980′s, partly as a comment on Thatcherism and Fascism. This was lost in the film as it was moved 30 years or so into the future and Moore (who distanced himself from the finished product) regarded the plot as having been changed to an allegory of an American fight between Liberalism and Neo-Conservatism.
Director James McTeague said of the movie:
“We felt the novel was very prescient to how the political climate is at the moment. It really showed what can happen when society is ruled by government, rather than the government being run as a voice of the people. I don’t think it’s such a big leap to say that things like that can happen when leaders stop listening to the people.”
That’s fine as far as it goes but should a director really be messing about with the script of someone like Alan Moore? It’s subjective but a comparison to Watchmen, another of Moore’s masterpieces suggests that they shouldn’t. That film followed the graphic novel as well as could be imagined and the result was a critically acclaimed success.
Part Two follows…………