Books2Movies Club discussion

“Good evening, London. It's nine o'clock and this is The Voice of Fate broadcasting on 275 and 285 in the medium wave... It is the fifth of the eleventh nineteen-ninety-seven...”

Those are the very first words of V for Vendetta, the comic book series that made its first appearance in 1980s, but is still compelling for its contents, depicting post-nuclear-war dystopian world and totalitarianism fighting revolutionaries. The story at first glance isn't so remarkably innovative today, as almost every second novel (and trilogy and quadrilogy) tries now to rehash the same theme over and over again, but I doubt they’ll ever have such cultural impact as this graphic novel series has now even three decades later.

It was written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd, and published in ten volumes. Today you may have them all collected in one, with additional previously unseen material, published by Vertigo (US) and Titan Books (UK).

....

It must be noted however that Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta dues a bit of its popularity to Hollywood’s adaptation of it also, although the author vehemently renounces the movie. The script for V for Vendetta was written by the Wachowskis, now renown for their daring success with supposedly unfilmable Cloud Atlas. The story was transferred from near-future United Kingdom to the United States, and added few bits that seem to have offended the author. Shall we have the same problem with it after reading the comic books and watching the film later, it remains now to be seen :)

Clotilde wrote: ""The story was transferred from near-future United Kingdom to the United States"

I am pretty sure both the comics and the movie are set in London."

Really? Ahh, serves me right for not checking the description of the film itself. I assumed from Moore's comment of the film, as americanised (and misinterpreted) version of the story, that it is set in US. Thanks for noting!

They would have to have drastically changed the original plot to have set it in the U.S. instead. It's much better in the original England.

I read this back when it was first voted, forgetting we wouldn't actually be reading it until now! I put my review in spoilers:

(view spoiler)[I was trying to keep an open mind when starting this book and not base my rating on the movie because film and source material are often very different. I am not a fan generally of graphic novels, although I can understand their appeal and subtle nuances of story that can be told with pictures, which is how theater and film came about the first place. I did like the film, but as the goal of both is the same, I struggle as to how I feel about the theme. V describes anarchy not as chaos, but as people ruling themselves, not having a government making choices for them. Ok, that's good, in theory. I am the first one to stand up for a smaller government and giving people freedoms. However, we know that in society with so many people who without government and rules do not manage to show respect for the rights of others, it is very difficult to function. There is always going to be someone out there who is not going to respect the rights of others, whether of life or property, and without a system to try such individuals, justice is difficult to maintain. Sure, the wronged person can try to mete out justice to the perpetrator, but one person's justice does not always equal another's and then you end up with nothing less than a blood feud, which I doubt is anyone's ideal of a good justice system. Of course, there are those who fall through the cracks and the courts do not function perfectly, but it is vastly better than an eye for an eye meted out by individuals.

Government, however, does need to be highly watched by its citizens, and if this is the primary theme of V for Vendetta, then its message comes across loud and clear. The United States was founded by throwing off a government that the citizenry did not find had their best interests at heart. But constantly keeping a wary eye on the government is what keeps its power in check, which is a strong message in the story.

The personal vendettas against individuals and killing them off one by one is not something I personally can support and therefore find very troubling with the story. It is treated as heroic and necessary, but it hearkens back to my earlier statements about individual justice. Who is to decide where it ends? For a better book about the consequences of revenge, check out The Count of Monte Cristo.

For story development and creativity, I give 3.5 stars. For content and theme, two. So I gave it an average of three stars. (hide spoiler)]

I've not yet got my hands on a copy of this book, but saw the movie a while back and found it very confusing! Wonder if the book is easier to follow...

I am still on the first pages of the story (sounds really intriguing so far), but was so captivated by Shadow Gallery books on page 14, or better said, spines of books in one frame, that I had to figure out what were they, from bottom left to top right - please tell me which I missed (if you care, of course ;):
(view spoiler)[
- Human... Comedy? (Balzac?)
- I Am Legend (yay, one of my favourites :)
- Divine Comedy
- Golden Bough
- Ivanhoe
- Shakespeare x2
- Dune..? (terribly hard to read!)
- next four books can't decipher
- V (Thomas Pynchon)
- Odyssey
- Faust
- Arabian Nights Entertainment
- French Revolution
- Hard Times
- Don Quixote
- Essays of Elia Lamb?
- Decline (and Fall of the Roman Empire?)
- ?
- Gulliver's Travels
- Frankenstein
- W..? (Wuthering Heights?) (hide spoiler)]

Zeljka wrote: "I am still on the first pages of the story (sounds really intriguing so far), but was so captivated by Shadow Gallery books on page 14, or better said, spines of books in one frame, that I had to figure out what were they, from bottom left to top right - please tell me which I missed (if you care, of course ;):

In my version of the book, it's on p.18:

Bottom row:
- Human... Comedy?
- I Am Legend
- Divine Comedy
- Golden Bough
- Ivanhoe
- Shakespeare
- Shakespeare
- Illiad
- From Russia with Love
- Dr.No
- (can't read next 4)
- V (Thomas Pynchon)
- Odyssey

Top row:
- Faust
- Arabian Nights Entertainments
- French Revolution
- Hard Times
- Don Quixote
- Essays of Elia (Charles Lamb)
- (can't read next 2)
- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
- (can't read next 1)
- Gulliver's Travels
- Frankenstein
- (can't read rest )

So maybe a few more legible ones than in your copy, but still can't get them all... and maybe we are not supposed to:)

I liked the idea/plot and really liked the movie based on this comic/graphic novel; however, even though I tried - I can't make myself like comics!! I seem to be "all over the place", I find myself distracted and looking over the drawings and seeking out random details (look at the post above - although Zeljka seems to be doing the same thing:))... So it takes me forever to get through a page and makes me wish it was just simply all written out for me to read and know i'm not missing anything...

Otherwise, a very original idea of post-nuclear war England which has become a totalitarian police state. People and their freedom are being suffocated and the mysterious "V" is the only one who can help...

Considering how complicated the plot is, how many characters, dark events and twists there are - I can't help but imagining it written as a thriller novel. It would be so much more satisfying for me!

My impatience with comics/graphic novels made me like the movie version more... Although, I am not sure what the big controversy is - why did the original author feel so offended and why does he "renounce" the movie? Can someone shed some light on this? Overall, very entertaining, good acting, extremely interesting plot...

All this said - I do agree with Alana's comments about personal vendettas not being a positive part of the story and not something I can support (even though they do make up an entertaining movie!). If "V" is trying to do all of this to help the "poor suffocated people" then acting out his own vendetta seems a bit shallow and makes him more of an outlaw than a saviour...

Elena wrote: "Although, I am not sure what the big controversy is - why did the original author feel so offended and why does he "renounce" the movie? Can someone shed some light on this? Overall, very entertaining, good acting, extremely interesting plot..."

Last night I've seen the film again and was amazed how it is visually stunning. The story was really masterfully told, quite poetically (the word I do not use much... I think)!

Maybe I may tell you (my opinion though) why the author didn't like the film - because the whole world in the film the people inhabiting it were softened down and even ideas were presented more plausibly than in the book. The purists might feel offended for what filmmakers made of Evey and V - here she seems more intelligent (there I can't complain, I adore Natalie's performance here!) and he (proportionately) less enigmatic than in the original story.

Those are also the points why I liked the movie more. It achieved to convey to me the basic ideas of the story through more likable characters and through plot-lines that were easier to absorb. Moore's world is too violent, too dark and impossible to identify with. There wasn't any person worth caring for at all. I liked graphic art and basic premises in the novel, but Wachowskis' version suited me much more.