V for Vendetta

This weekend, after coming across a number of YouTube Shorts about it, I rewatched V for Vendetta. It was a film I had first seen in high school, through some sketchy streaming site. I was absolutely blown away by it. Even at fifteen, I cried several times, rewatched certain scenes time and time again, and had a couple of lines imprinted on my mind, never to be forgotten.

Alan Moore might be one of the most influential writers I’ve ever read. Watchmen has helped me come to terms with my Christianity by giving me a profound understanding of both a God made man (by presenting me with the opposite: a man made God, in the form of Dr. Manhattan) and the nature of time and our place as humans within it. However, even though I believe Watchmen is one of the greatest works of literature ever written, I believe Moore’s V for Vendetta is surpassed by its film adaptation by James McTeigue and the Wachowskis. The film drives home a different, more powerful message of hope, built upon a remarkable adaptation that remains remarkably close to the source material.

This weekend, during this particular (and probably tenth) rewatch, it dawned on me what V for Vendetta has meant to me.

I don’t like (loath) protesters.

Let me expand on that and explain what I mean. I have little regard for people who live in the Netherlands in 2026 and call the country ‘fascist’ while being perfectly free to march and shout ‘en masse’ through the streets of the nation’s capital. You’re not oppressed if you’re allowed a voice, the freedom to protest, or even the occasional riot. Stop pretending you are. Be grateful for once.

V for Vendetta is very important to me because it keeps me on my toes. It reminds me that everything can turn to shit. Be aware when it does, because a Nazi regime doesn’t seize power in a single day. Fascism isn’t announced. A government can gradually evolve into a fascist regime when ‘safety’ is allowed to outweigh ‘freedom’.

The film is important to me because it is a story I need to keep close. I need it available to me when I see protests I disagree with and have to remind myself that protests I don’t agree with are not protests that should be forbidden. V for Vendetta is sometimes necessary to remind me never to forget that people should not be afraid of their governments, but governments should be afraid of their people.

And that is true even though I still believe some people could learn to appreciate and respect the institutions and structures that make good governance possible.