V For Vendetta

V for Vendetta

Your Name (First M. Last)

School or Institution Name (University at Place or Town, State)

V for Vendetta

1) The heroic cycle consists of various steps from leaving ‘home’ to the end towards ‘graduation’. During the journey, the hero discovers a truth that was unknown to the hero before the journey. When the hero realizes the truth, he/she tries to explain it to other people for their benefit. This ultimately culminates in more people realizing the truth that the hero discovered during the pilgrimage.

Jake Sully suddenly receives news of his twin brother’s murder and is offered to replace his brother on Pandora. Since, their DNA’s match, Jake can pilot the avatar that was made for his brother. Thus began Jake’s journey to Pandora. In actuality, his hero journey started when he is accepted into the Na’vi and taught their ways. This represents him leaving “home” – his place among humans. He is tasked with learning about the alien race so he can help the military personnel defeat the Na’vi and extract the unobtanium. However, Jake realizes that the Na’vi are not savages, rather they are much more civilized than humans in the aspect of respect for all life whereas humans would kill each other for the smallest of reasons. He attempts to explain the truth to other humans but most of them don’t understand. Therefore, Jake’s ‘graduation’ is when he jumps in the sky onto the back of a ‘toruk’ – emphasizing that he has truly embraced his identity as one of the Na’vi.

V in ‘V for Vendetta’, has a troubled past because he was tortured and experimented on in a laboratory. He came out of the lab as a much stronger person, both mentally and physically. V left ‘home’ when he is taken to the lab and his journey can be described as the time period both before exiting the lab as well as when he was inside it. V disseminates the truth about the Fascist regime and attempts to change people’s opinion about the government. The time at which he starts his vigilante activities can be considered his ‘graduation’ as he was no longer the same person he used to be. He has evolved and changed into V.

2) In V for Vendetta, a mysterious war has ravaged the planet and England is shown to be ruled by an oppressive party that is led by Adam Susan, an authoritarian person known as the Leader. The Leader has curbed free speech in the country and people are not even allowed to draw or use art as a form of expression. Adam Susan is a characterization of an oppressive authoritarian father figure. The Leader rules through an iron fist and uses his police to quash any possible dissent. All rebellious elements are dealt with before they have a chance to create a law and order situation.

Another major characteristic of this dystopian England in V for Vendetta is that technology is used to rule over humans, rather than serve their needs. The technology in question is the Fate Computer – an advanced computer that the Leader turns to in order to control the people of England. Fate Computer can predict crime and weather patterns. Instead of using this technology to serve the masses by reducing crime rates and preparing to deal with natural disasters like floods and hurricanes, Adam Susan uses the technology to suppress people. He discovers rebellious elements and dissenters and has them executed so they do not attract other followers.

In Avatar, mass delusion is employed by the corporation Resources Development Administration (RDA). The company has mining interests on Pandora, the alien planet and wants full access to unobtanium, a precious metal RDA wants to exploit for profit. The local alien population however, stands in their way. The company developed a narrative that this alien population is savage and has no morality. Owing to the communication gap between humans and aliens, most humans unconsciously believe this to be the truth. However, this is far from the truth as the movie explains later on. The Na’vi are peaceful people with the most upright moral standing. They believe all life is sacred and are so peaceful that they even pray for the animals they must hunt and kill for meat. Thus, mass delusion is at play here because the whole ‘truth’ about the Na’vi is in fact a lie and it is the humans who are savage, not the other way around.

3) The Resources Development Administration has whipped up a strong narrative that establishes the local alien population, the Na’vi as savages and brutes that must be eliminated for the safety of humans. This narrative helps RDA in pursuing their goal of exploiting resources of Pandora, the alien planet that they are all on. RDA is looking for a precious element, unobtanium and their goal is to derive maximum profit from it. The narrative about the aliens is the means employed by RDA to achieve the end – profit.

In order to achieve maximum profit, they have to minimize costs. Some of the associated costs could be soldier hesitance in fighting Na’vi if soldiers think they are living creatures that must be respected or the cost of delaying extraction of unobtanium if things don’t go as planned. Therefore, it is crucial to establish that the locals are savages and cannot be reasoned with so soldiers fight them without regret or guilt. The means employed (the factually incorrect narrative) are justified by the ends (unobtanium and profit maximization). Therefore, this is the instrumental rationality Weber discussed and Adorno and Horkheimer built upon.

In V for Vendetta, England is ruled by the Norsefire government led by Adam Susan, an authoritarian figure who is a brutal and oppressive ruler. Adam Susan, also known as the Leader, has maintained absolute control over the people with suppression of free speech and sanctions against art. This renders people voiceless and helpless. The Leader does this on the pretext of security as he argues that this is ultimately for the benefit of the people. This false notion is the means employed by the Leader so he can achieve the end of maintaining his grip on power. Thus, Weber’s instrumental rationality is employed here as the ends (maintaining grip on power) justify the means of using such brutal tactics.