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Dazza wrote:Children of Men was closer to what I wanted from V.
So in the film you've got an evil government that is clearly bad, lead by a simple villain of a man. Whereas the government in the novel was elected by the people and might, even though they are facist in nature, be good. And the leader of the party really believes he's doing the right thing.
Most of the characters get that simplifying brush taken to them, including V and Evey. V is a LOT more morally grey in the novel. He's, in a lot of respects, just as bad as the government. When all is said and done in the novel, there's no happy ending. It's anarchy and the future is completely uncertain.
And while there is a bit of doubt around Evey's transformation, the way V shapes her in the novel is incredibly ruthless and really leaves you wondering if she's had her eyes opened or if he has effectively brainwashed her.
I still think the film is pretty good and it does make some good changes, but the choices in the scripting and the overall fake hollywood sheen of the film disappointed me quite a bit.
Children of Men was closer to what I wanted from V.
vfan wrote:Sounds realistic to me, most dictators only have simple demands. I do not believe a one party state can work for the good of the people, as the people at the top are simple, corruptible human beings.
vfan wrote:I prefer the film's vision, the GN's V would not be able to inspire followers. Why bother revolting if the end result is even worse.
vfan wrote:If this had been shown in the film I would not have felt comfortable even watching the film, it would have become something truly evil.
Whereas in the film, I really believed V was trying to help Evey, not destroy her or turn her into a programmed slave. I am still troubled by doubts over how much damage was done to Evey and whether she really is still essentially the same Evey that we saw at the start of the film, (only with less fear of death), I certainly would not encourage the use of torture as a practical psychological treatment.
Dazza wrote:I don't believe any human being is simple and I don't believe anyone is 100% bad or 100% good.
From what I remember from the novel, he doesn't really have anything like the following he does in the film. It's essentially just Evey.
"Its funny, they're not the terrorists followers or anything. They're just rioters...but he's become some sort of all purpose symbol to them, hasn't he?"
"People need symbols, Dominic. He understood that. We've forgotten it. Those people outside lost families during the war. We've kept the lid on their bitterness for years, but we haven't helped them deal with it. Maybe he didn't either, but he certainly took the lid off."
That exchange from the novel is the crux of it. People were suppressed and deep down they were angry. V helped give them the freedom to vent, even if the result was a lot of really horrible things.
Birth is incredibly painful and violent, perhaps the country needed to go through that in order to emerge in better shape eventually. Or perhaps they were better off under a fascist government. That big old question mark is part of what takes the novel into the realm of greatness, imo.
I'm all about the moral grey. I find black and white pretty boring most of the time. As you say, that hint is certainly still there in the film, but it ends in such a euphoric and uplifting "take that bad guys" ending that it never amounts to much.
Again, its these questions that made the novel great. For me, its what the material is all about. To just focus on the surface of the story is sorta missing the point.
It's like the whole Will Smith and Spielberg remaking Oldboy debate. Will they be willing to go to the dark places that the material demands? It may look like Oldboy on the surface but if you don't walk out of there with your head spinning and feeling like you've been punched in the gut...well whats the point? Go adapt something else.
Carlotto wrote:Broadly speaking, I don't like remakes... if the original was that good, why do a remake ? Plus most of the time the remake is worse (not always of course)
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