Grinding Out Sausages

Last night, Jen, Manish and I saw V for Vendetta. My first thoughts were that this film was going to under-perform, especially since we were seeing the 8:00 show opening night yet there was no line outside. (Inside was a good-sized crowd, although not the sell-out I was expecting.)

The movie, however, was amazing. I wasn't familiar with the graphic novel, but I loved the world and the characters the film set up - a very cool update on the fascist future dystopia genre and reminiscent of Orwell's 1984. Natalie Portman is brilliant - just like in Closer, whenever she's on screen, the film is at its best.

There are plenty of not-so-subtle references to the current political climate and leaders, complete with Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, and our own anti-V, W.

But I think it'd be easy to make too much of that. Just as when 1984 was first published in the late 40s, readers saw every character as a thinly veiled WWII figure. I think the real point is that fascism isn't going anywhere and we must maintain a constant vigil against our govnernments and ditto-heads.

It is just too easy for people to surrender their individual liberties as soon as their fear level gets high enough. And it's human nature, at least as a first reaction. (After all, who in the middle of the LA Riots wasn't relieved when the national guard arrived and implemented a city-wide curfew?)

But the real danger comes when politicians try to prolong this state of fear and emergency so that they can keep their unlimited power. Our current administration and its supporters are obsessed with emphasizing that we are at war and reminding us what the current terror alert level is and that the enemy is out there lurking.

This too is nothing new. The McCarthyites did it during the early cold-war. Or as Big Brother put it, "Eastasia has always been at war with Eurasia."

The entire notion of a "War on Terror" is absurd and dangerous, just like a "War on Poverty" or a "War on Drugs".