V for Vendetta - there are no coincidences

[laura888]

Why DID this movie disappear from the theaters so quickly?

I just saw it, and its clear why.

[JackORoses]

1. the Revolution was briefly Televised

by mistake it slipped through...

Now it is up to us to spread this far and wide. Remember the 5th of November!

We are all V, the Vox Populi

Tell your Friends
Tell your Enemies

Freedom Forever!

[laura888]

2. You are obviously...

...way, way ahead of me.

[cool user name]

20. What is the movie about?

[laura888]

33. See Generator's post #31

There are many references to what's happening today.

Just as an example - orange-jump-suited prisoners who are tortured.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. I don't think it disappeared so quickly

at least not in my market. I went three times, and just bought the DVD.

V for Vendetta box office:

TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic: $70,511,035
Foreign: $60,900,000
Worldwide: $131,411,035

Widest Release: 3,365 theaters
Close Date: June 29, 2006
In Release: 105 days / 15 weeks

It's the 18th highest grossing film of the year so far.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

4. I actually wait to buy the DVD's of good movies because, if I am

correct, most of the $$$ goes to those that make them. I am taking the same approach with Mr. Gore's movie. If I am correct, did F-911 make the greatest impact after it was out on DVD?

Edit to add: and V for Vendetta

[Just Me]

5. We just rented it today. I'm watching it a second time.

It's succinctly impactful: like taking current events and wrapping them around "1984" then projecting all that 20 years into the future.

I am "wowed". The film almost reflects an instinctive prophesy mixed with an obsessive accumulation of knowledge and, a really weird feeling of peace that, somehow, with or without my concerns/fears/disgust about what's happening, all will work out, be all right.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people".

Yes. But, governments should never behave in such a way TO fear their people; but rather, act in such a way to BE its people.

[misanthrope]

23. I thought the same thing...

...when governments fear their people, you get what we have in this country right now. Those in power seek to insulate the mechanisms of government from the people. The electoral college is a perfect example of such a result.

[jerry611]

27. Not totally true...

They didn't have an electoral college in Germany when Hitler became dictator. The electoral college has nothing to do with how a government gains power.

The electoral college technically gives power to the states to control the executive branch of the federal government. Technically the states have the power to choose the electors "in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct" (Article 2, Section 1).

Democracy is not a modern form of government. It has roots that go back more than 3,000 years. And if you look at history throughout the centuries...democracy makes just as many mistakes as dictatorships.
A 500-man Congress can trample the rights of the people just as easily as a 1-man dictatorship.

Now our founding fathers were intelligent enough to understand this. In fact, they feared mob rule more than King George III.

[misanthrope]

30. In my opinion, the electoral college was devised...

...to insulate the will of the ruling class from the will of the people. It's obvious in the framers' debates from the original Consitutional Convention that was a major concern.

Why are the electors not bound by law to cast their votes as the people within their states cast them? There have been presidential elections wherein the electors completely ignored the votes of their state's citizens and cast their electoral votes for another candidate altogether. Check the 1960 election.

"The electoral college technically gives power to the states to control the executive branch of the federal government. Technically the states have the power to choose the electors "in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct" (Article 2, Section 1)." Don't the same power brokers who manipulate and exploit the system for their own advantage work their way up through the state level first? Why should they be trusted at that level anymore than they are trusted within the Beltway? They're the same "fat cats" taking things under the table, but with less national cachet.

Haley Barbour is now a state level politician. Do you think he should be trusted to do what will empower the "everyman" in Mississippi?

[Just Me]

34. I sincerely believe it was intended to insulate "the people" from,...

,...the "ruling class".

However, even those founders were not fortune-tellers and could "NOT" have anticipated the evolution of "elitist" abuses that would/have/will take place. EXCEPT, there were those who anticipated inevitable revolutions necessary to keep "governance" in its place: beneath NOT above the people.

I wanted a country and world bent on peace. It fucking SUCKS I get,...to witness the human climb back up from the bottom of human barbarianism. Stupid, greedy, TAKERS!!!!

Edited to add: "NOT"

[MadMaddie]

6. I am going to go buy it...the movie was dead on...

and just a great movie....

[NMMNG]

7. I'll be buying the DVD very soon

:thumbsup:

[ChicagoRonin]

8. Guy Fawkes Masks

Anyone else out there thinking of marching around wearing one of these this Halloween?

Or perhaps . . . election day?

[laura888]

9. Yes! I was thinking the same thing! n/t

[WinkyDink]

10. My birthday, maybe? November 5!!

[laura888]

11. Here's one on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/V-FOR-VENDETTA-WONDERCON-PROMO-MASK-WITH-BONUS-ITEMS_W0QQitemZ290013135710QQihZ019QQcategoryZ197QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[leftchick]

15. $56 Dollars??? Plus $10.00 Shipping?

V would be very disappointed. :(

[Ani Yun Wiya]

12. Why Fawkes?

How about Geronimo ?

[scarletwoman]

14. Why Guy Fawkes is because the V story takes place in Britain.

I agree that here in the U.S. the image of a native resistance fighter would seem more appropriate. I must say, however, that as a white woman, it would feel presumptious and innappropriate to me to don the visage of a hero of the First People. Just too close to the line of white Indian wannabes.

sw

[ChicagoRonin]

16. Whose Face Would You Wear

That part didn't cross my mind initially: What visage would be the most appropriate U.S. equivalent to the use of the Guy Fawkes face in "V for Vendetta"?

[Ravenseye]

38. Patrick Henry

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Seems pretty applicable to today...

[paparush]

24. Interesting that J.K. Rowling uses "Fawkes" the phoenix as one of

her characters in the Harry Potter series. Rising up from the ashes and all that....

[chat_noir]

18. Homemade mask

I created this one from an ebay pic. Just print out on heavy paper - I glued two card stock sheets together.

[cool user name]

21. Wow ... fantastic.

What did you use to create the mask?

Nice work, by the way!

[chat_noir]

29. primitive photo software (PhotoStudio 2000)

I just downloaded the pic, and enlarged it. Cleaned it up a bit...to reduce ink used when printing it out.

Put one mask on a "stick" (12" wooden garden stake) like this, after cutting eye holes:




I'm going to use the image on protest signs as well...

V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

V: Fear became the ultimate tool of this government.

V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

[cool user name]

32. Brilliant!!!

Love the quotes!

[laura888]

28. Fabulous!

REALLY nice job!

[marmar]

13. It hung around the Detroit market for a good while...

And I went to see it in New York City more than a month after its release, and the theater was packed.
Perhaps it disappeared faster in other places?

[sendero]

17. I bought the DVD last night..

... and watched it with (2/3) of my kids. I really like the movie, and it certainy hits the right notes about where we are headed.

I was particularly impressed with the performance of John Hurt as the Chancellor. Chilling, perfect.

[ikri]

19. Whilst it wasn't a major blockbuster

It's the only film I've ever seen at the cinema where people in the audience applauded at the end.

The film may not have had a huge impact in the film industry but it had a major impact on the people who have seen it.

[misanthrope]

25. I remember in the '70s...

...people in the theater also stood up and applauded "Rocky."

Just saying...

[misanthrope]

22. Uhm, because not everyone thought...

...it was the "end all, be all" that some did?

If it's so unpopular, then why did megacorp Blockbuster stock so many copies in their stores? Why are all those copies hard to find on the shelves?

Look, I was finally able to see it last night and I still don't see what all the fuss was about. It was too much like a comic book (yeah, yeah, I know what its origins are) for my tastes and I still think that "1984" and "Brave New World" are far better expositions on government out of control.

However, I do think the world would be a much better place if the fans of this flick took a cue from the film's namesake and immersed themselves in actual literature, forsaking the screen and graphic novels for real books.

[jerry611]

26. It's too smart for most people

I've know co-workers that went to see it, and they had no clue what was going on. They didn't understand it and they didn't like it.

Most people don't like movies that provoke thinking or force you to think to understand it.

[jpkenny]

37. It's sad but you have said the truth. It's beyond the critical thinking

abilities of most Americans. They had no one standing in the pulpit to tell them what to think.

[Generator]

31. I think it must have been a little too close to the truth for comfort

The critics were very mixed on it. I was shaking and on the verge of tears the whole time. My theatre was almost empty and I saw it on a weekend matinee in it's second week.

It was a parable, a metaphor, a warning, a reflection of the past five years and the future that I fear. No, it's not that bad YET. But using FEAR to terrorize it's citizens and maybe even killing them outright (9/11) to further it's goals was too close to home. It was like finally! It's always fiction and over dramatizing that comes closer to the truth. 1984..Handmaid's Tale...ect.

Also it dared to say that maybe (Who woulda thought it?) you have to fight fascism with violence. I hope it doesn't come to THAT. But I don't see much representation going on these days that gives us any fighting back.

Imagine if 9/11 really was a let it happen-what is the American's take on that? Your government considers YOU collateral damage. That's how I feel. It's not any fun. Maybe that's why the movie wasn't "fun."

[IChing]

35. Saw it this weekend the script is available on-line HERE !!

It is the original script before the movie was edited

My favorite line was his speech he did taking over the fake news station.

They are afraid that
I am going to
say the things that are not
supposed to be said. They are
afraid that I am going to say the
truth.

V
The truth is that there is
something terribly wrong with this
country, isn't there? If you look
about, you witness cruelty,
injustice and despotism. But what
do you do about it? What can you
do?
V
You are but a single individual.
How can you possible make any
difference? Individuals have no
power in this modern world.
That is what you've been taught
because that is what they need you
to believe. But it is not true.



V
This is why they are afraid and the
reason that I am here; to remind
you that it is individuals who
always hold the power. The real
power. Individuals like me. And
individuals like you.


http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/V-for-Vendetta.html

I loved it and read the the graphic novel years ago.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

36. It Didn't. Its Lifecycle Was All It Was Expected To Be.

Not sure why we need to attach a conspiracy theory to everything, especially when the premise is completely inaccurate.

[Just Me]

39. Be more specific.

The testing on African Americans was NO conspiracy theory. The testing on Jews was NO conspiracy theory (and included dissidents).

The testing taking place in "secret prisons" across the world are not conspiracy,...since those places secretly TEST human rights laws (and you have no fucking idea what is being imposed upon those people because YOUR GOVERNMENT WON'T EXPOSE WHAT THE FUCK IS TAKING PLACE!!!!).

The minute anyone speaks, "conspiracy theory", is the moment I wonder just how far away we ALL are,...from the truth about our governance and our existence.

So, hang me, crucify me, diminish me, dehumanize me, disrespect me, hurt me,...even when you can't but do so because it's all about you.

Beg your pardon.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

40. What On Earth Are You Blathering On About There. Holy Cow.

My point is that some jump at the slightest thing and attach a conspiracy theory to it, such as the notion that there was a giant conspiracy against V for Vendetta.

As far as all that other stuff you rambled on about, I fail to see its relevance in response to my post.

And please don't beg, I don't like when people beg.

[AntiFascist]

42. When I saw V for Vendetta in the theatre...

the center speaker was turned down and it always sounded like V was mumbling and you couldn't even make out what he was saying most of the time. I'll attach a small conspiracy theory to that, thank you very much.

[otherlander]

43. All those things were in the comic book, too...

which was written before the * regime.

[1932]

41. It was in US theaters for 24 weeks. Worldwide gross was $130Million

Its opening weekend was $24M.

It didn't do too bad.