1984 and V for Vendetta... very much similar?

So I just completed reading 1984 (very good, the ending was very... can't describe how it made me feel...a sort of helpless sickening put off feeling... amazing how something can be written so beautifully but yet be quite terrifying) but throughout the enitre book, I kept flashing back to bits of V for Vendetta (the movie, I haven't been fortunate enough to get the book yet).

It seems to me that many, MANY things in 1984 inspired V4V. It was crazy the sheer amount of details that I can recall from the movie, little things like comments about butter (other stuff in 1984) being kept from the public but being used for the top guys in government...the government fabricating the news and deciding what goes out to the public (the fear mongering and whatnot...or for example, V becomes an "enemy" so they use that to create a hate for him by blaming him for the virus epidemic)

Any thoughts on this? I like the movie very much, want to read the book as well, but I was slightly disappointed that so very much of it was paralled by 1984 (was was great). But maybe I make too big a deal of it? I suppose many dystopian film and literature must carry very similar themes especially when dealing with futuristic society.

 

They are similar, I suppose. Obviously, the distopian utilitarian government, the girl, the untimate death of the character. I think that 1984 was largely just an argument against untilitarianism, trying to make us realize that 'survival' is not the only thing that motivates people, and therefore utilitarianist organizations are flawed because they lack an ultimate purpose. (we are all individuals and all have different needs and goals, essentially...) V for vendetta explored the same phenomenon a little bit differently by personifying that 'alternate motivation' within human beings- our need for art and philosophy, general things that serve a purpose other than simply continue our own existence. It was more of a portrait of the internal forces that drive us to rebel, whereas 1984 was more of just a statement that they exist.

Although, it has been a very long time since I read 1984 :-/

 

In his Afterword to the "graphic novel" of V for Vendetta, Alan Moore gives a long list of influences, and 1984 heads the list.

 

I just finished 1984 and I agree it left me quite shaken.

 

there are quite a number of books with the same theme as well. Brave New World, a few of the Atwood books, Dan Brown, etc. Also, Matrix anyone?

 

yeah theyre similar, i also noticed some references in the film itself (when he dresses as the old man, hes named after one of the resistance leaders from 1984, apparently) also its a lot like some stuff from brave new world and fahrenheit 451 (both of which are brilliant) on the other hand, i reckon that 1984 is actually more about communist/ socialist style dictatorship, whereas the government in "V" is clearly taking more tips from the NAZI's and fascist ideals, which i imagine was a response to thatcher's right-wing views at the time. seriously tho, man u have GOT to read the book of V for vendetta, it is SO good. it follows a lot more characters than the film does, and places a lot more emphasis on the police inspector. you really feel sorry for a lot of the government characters, and the end is a lot less rose-tinted than the film. i guess its good cos it portrays the government as being human, i always said that the scariest thing about the NAZI's wasn't that they were monsters, but that they weren't. i would seriously reccomend it, man. every time that someone tells me im wasting my time, cos comics arent a valid art form, thats one of the first books i point them towards.

 

A lot of stuff borrows from 1984, and 1984 itself probably borrows from other dystopian works to some extent.

I think ultimately they take different angles though.
It's also worth bearing in mind that Moore rejected the film version of his graphic novel which I think was meant to be more a satire of Thatcherism.

V4V was a film about rebellion and resistance, it had an ultimately upbeat message. It was to an extent a satire of attempts to seize total power, and how ultimately such states cannot be held together.

V4V the film could be called an optimistic 1984 I think

The film was also designed to be more modern, using themes like Islamophobia, homophobia, heavy anti-americanism and terrorism to bring the story up-to-date.