Go See V for Vendetta

by Justin Raimondo
Culture and resistance to imperialism
...
The catalytic revolutionary moment occurs when the public stops believing the lies of the regime – a moment V for Vendetta brings closer to realization in our own world. The value of the media as a political weapon is clearly understood by the makers of this movie, and they utilize it to make their effort a resounding success.

I have to add that V for Vendetta seems to be part of a larger trend in which political analysis of a "subversive" sort is once again becoming embedded in popular culture, not only in the movies but in song lyrics – particularly rap music. Now, I'm no fan of Eminem or Public Enemy – this guy is more my style – but I'm glad to see that song lyrics are now becoming concerned with something more than odes to sex, drugs, and a relentless narcissism.

In his famous essay "The End of History," Francis Fukuyama predicted that the arts would degenerate, under a regime of global American hegemony, into something that Alexandre Kojeve, his mentor, likened to "the buzzing of bees." "In the post-historical period," wrote Fukuyama, "there will be neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history." And indeed this has seemed to be the case, recently, particularly in the field of music, where the cult of sensuality has seduced Americans away from anything that might upset the Regime too much – except for an occasional reprimand from the FCC for a too-brazen display of sexuality.

In short, I am thrilled to learn, via this movie and other cultural phenomena, that history has apparently not ended, at least in the cultural sense – and for that we should all breathe a sigh of relief.