Rambles on V

According to the Official Website, "V’s use of the Guy Fawkes mask and persona functions as both practical and symbolic elements of the story. He wears the mask to hide his physical scars, and in obscuring his identity, V becomes more than just a man with a revolutionary idea – he becomes the idea itself":

Anarchism versus fascism

The two conflicting political viewpoints of anarchism and fascism permeate the story. The Norsefire regime shares every facet of fascist ideology: it rules by fear and authority and worships strong leadership (i.e. the führerprinzip). However, the regime was put in place by democratic means, just like the regime in Nazi Germany. As in most fascist regimes, there are several different types of police and military police who engage in power struggles with each other yet obey the same leader.

The fascist regime embraces total corporatism. An important aspect of corporatism is the total identification of society with State, and to think of society as a body where the different institutions are organs. This is reflected by institutions named after parts of the body: the police (The New Scotland Yard) is The Nose, the surveillance organizations are The Ears and The Eye, the secret police is The Finger (and those who work for them are called Fingermen), and the state-controlled media is known as The Mouth. In creating this system of control, Moore provocatively evokes mainstream English political thought, namely Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, which imagined the state as one vast corporate gestalt, with its legitimacy founded on the need to maintain order and prevent indiscriminate violence (as was hinted at in the Norsefire backstory). The sovereign formed the natural 'head' of the society, which perhaps explains the anatomical nomenclature of the various arms of state government.

In order to keep this "body" healthy, fascist ideology generally prescribes that it be cleansed of "unhealthy elements" (as exemplified by the motto Strength Through Purity), thus the totalitarianism and concentration camps. In issue #5 (see below), Delia Surridge recaps the Milgram experiment as an explanation as to why ordinary people like herself can engage in such obedience. The connection to Anglican Christianity and Purity Through Faith is a typical feature of clerical fascism in Catholic countries (such as southern France under the Vichy regime 1940-4, Spain under Francisco Franco 1939-75 and Austria under Dollfuss and Schuschnigg 1933-38); such a form has taken hold specifically in England where, in reality, the Church of England (which is Anglican) is 'established' with the Queen being its head as well as the head of state. This may explain why, in story continuity, non-Anglican parts of the UK (such as Scotland) are engulfed in violent uprisings against Norsefire's rule.

The anarchism proposed by V is classic and built specifically around the ideas of Mikhail Bakunin, who is often associated with the idea that the old society has to be torn down before a new one can be built upon its ruins. In issue #2, V has a fictional dialogue with Madam Justice and concludes that anarchy has taught him that "justice is meaningless without freedom", a phrase which closely parallels similar statements by Bakunin.

Several anarchist (or similar) traits encountered are related to 1960s counterculture. V's tactic to humiliate and make fun of the fascist regime to destabilize it is similar to the ideas of the situationist movement. In issue #8, the phase between fascism and anarchy is called Verwirrung, a German word meaning "confusion" but used here probably as a reference to The Illuminatus! Trilogy (Book One of the first part of the trilogy has this title). It also may be a direct reference to Discordian philosophy in general, as many other aspects of the series (chaos, the creative arts, anarchism, and the obsession with the number "5") draw similar parallels. An aspect of 1960s counterculture was the idea that domestic partnership and its legal forms can constitute a power imbalance between two people where one controls and dominates the other. This is exemplified by the relationships of Mr. and Mrs. Almond as well as Mr. and Mrs. Heyer, but this aspect is not developed theoretically. When Mr. Finch eventually uses LSD to clear his mind and uncover V's hideout, this is probably a reference to Timothy Leary who repeatedly claimed that this particular drug could be used for loosening stiff thinking in general.