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P for Phenomenal [Pacific Sun](Pacific Sun Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A few years back I promised two hours of pleasant diversion for renters of the Wachowski brothers' V FOR VENDETTA, little knowing the cultural impact this dystopian thriller would go on to have on the world. At this writing droves of rioters have trashed London wearing the film's iconic Guy Fawkes mask, U.S. protesters now assemble regularly in front of surveilled buildings wearing the trademark mustache and grin, and online sales of the disguise are way beyond brisk (user review:Tits comfortably with an adjustable strap, forehead high, tape black stocking behind the eyeholes"). But all that pales in comparison to the use made by hacker groups like Anonymous, who upload viral video-screeds of the caped bandit standing alone in an empty sound studio, railing against government intelligence groups with a haunting, disembodied and computer-synthesized voice - persuasively, I might add. Anonymous claims they'll bring down Facebook on Nov. 5, the very date that figures so strongly in the film (and English history). So to watch V again five years later is to realize what damned strong tonic it was, and to read dense layers of irony into the offhand tea party comment and dialogue, like "If our own government were responsible for the deaths of 100,000 people, would you really want to know?" Alan Moore's crafting of a fascistic future England had all the makings of a phenomenon - in retrospect - Richard Gould In the him, V is a charismatic freedom fighter - a persona hackers in Anonymous, at top, believe they emulate. (c) 2011 Pacific Sun |