Hacker Cinema
V for Vendetta
2006 · Film · 132 min
Directed by James McTeigue
In a world in which Great Britain has become a fascist state, a masked vigilante known only as “V” conducts guerrilla warfare against the oppressive British government. When V rescues a young woman from the secret police, he finds in her an ally with whom he can continue his fight to free the people of Britain.
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66 comments on Hacker News
But it’s not about critical thinking or governing well it’s about getting re-elected.
So the argument will go to “think of the children” which is a guise for more control and then pretty soon we are living in the dystopian future of 1984 or the UK where the film V for Vendetta took place.
This same kind of thinking gets idiots like Trump elected because people don’t have any sense of the commons and become single issue voters (sic). “Oh just reduce my taxes on my carried interest… reduce my taxes… I’m a xenophobe I hate immigrants let’s not do anything systematic let’s just hard close the border or the world is flat America only exists we don’t need allies or trading partners (JD Vance) … and so on”
Ironically, Stephen Rea was in V for Vendetta, a film about a British surveillance state.
I don't think it's fair to characterise all "comic book" films as being immature, although there's a lot of shallow super-hero films being pumped out of Hollywood these days. Maybe if more people in the U.S. were familiar with "V For Vendetta" (despite Alan Moore's loathing for that film) then their attitude towards government might well be different.
(Trying to think of another good example and the Watchmen series tackled racism head-on, also Persepolis is a great animation covering the Iranian revolution)
I have the vague feeling like the last 40 years of movies must have contained at least one scene where a villainous figure makes conductor-motions as things explode to music, but I can't recall anything specific.
There was the V For Vendetta movie where landmarks exploded to the 1812 Overture, but no gesturing was involved.
Movies I think I truly great I usually only watch once, sometimes twice. If a movie ends and I just sit there thinking to myself… “wow”… I will probably never watch it again.
Movies I watch over and over again are movies that I relate to in some way or find comforting. These are ones I’ve watched at least 5 times, and some I’d bet more than 30 times.
- Back to the Future
- Home Alone
- What About Bob?
- It Could Happen to You
- Matilda
- As Good as It Gets
- Office Space
- Cruel Intentions
- Boiler Room
- Finding Forrester
- Training Day
- Super Troopers
- 8 Mile
- The Transporter
- Elf
- Bad Santa
- Mean Girls
- Saved!
- Garden State
- V for Vendetta
- Thank You for Smoking
- Stick It
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Idiocracy
- Hot Rod
- Run Fatboy Run
- The Other Guys
- Wreck-It Ralph
To name a few.
Depends a little on the time of year. I don't read for leisure very much. During a study semester, I will read 30+ journal articles a week (20-40 minutes per paper), but very few books, maybe just one or two chapters a week - usually boring textbook stuff. However this year for leisure I have read a few books including Teo Te Ching, Meditations, The Art of War, Civilizations and Discontent, Confucius, The Communist Manifesto, Utopia, The Prince, The Art of Being Persuasive and How to Win an Argument, Beyond Good and Evil, The Game of Life and How to Play it, Big Panda and Little Dragon, Utopia, Determined: A science of life without free will. Next i'm going to tackle my first graphic novel and read V for Vendetta - I don't even like fiction, or graphic novels, but V for Vendetta is one of my fave movies, so I decided to have a crack at it. I should read more, but sometimes I just can't be bothered.
I’ve almost finished ‘Determined A life of science without free will’ - which I see keeps being posted about on here and other places. I really like the writing style. I also think that the author makes some really good points, that are relevant whether you believe in free will or not. However, it may be that I think that because I am a hard determinist so it’s easier for me to agree with what the author says.
Then next will be V for Vendetta, the graphic novel which was delivered to my house yesterday. I don’t usually like to read fiction but I accidentally impulsively bought it online after watching the movie for the 3rd or 4th time, so I’m looking forward to reading it and curious as to how much the movie is like the book. I’ve also never read a graphic novel before so wondering if it’s a better or worse reading experience than normal fiction books.
Edit: Movies, unsorted, from the top of my mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_of_Control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Bone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(2011_film) , seen before Covid, deemed to be realistic, and therefore better than stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Sign_(film) somewhere in between. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film) The remakes of the Planet of the Apes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Weeks_Later a little less so, though it had some great scenes of flying into London City Airport and the modern parts around that. Bladerunner in the original versions, the remake not so much. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intro and first parts, spaceflight to the moon and such, the rest not. Too boring. I liked the sequel 2010: Odyssey Two better, actually. Avatar. Part one only. All of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise) with the exception of the crossover stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film) for the almost cyberpunkish fuckedupness of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_Untold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropia_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_(1975_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Tales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist_(2015_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2000_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(2007_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_(1987_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Zero_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_18_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timecop Ron Silverman Badass! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Blonde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_Night_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombiana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowing_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(1998_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adjustment_Bureau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeforce_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(2009_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypher_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_Conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anderson_Tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Seduction
TV-Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series) and the remake linked from there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Train_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayward_Pines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_(American_TV_series) and its prequel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_(TV_series)
WESTWORLD!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series) Praimfaya! Yeehaa! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon_(TV_series) All of Black Mirror! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devs_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peripheral_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_by_Wolves_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_83 and sequels. ÄXZÄLLÄNNT! JAWOLLJA! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Night_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(2019_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_(miniseries) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dome_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(2009_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprica
This all began about 2006 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series) after having abstained from possessing a TV, or watching that by other means (with some exceptions for news and documentaries) since 1996, and mostly no cinema either.
That stuff rehooked me in a binge-watching session. Shit happens :-)
Do yoo vanna häff fries wiff thät?
/nerdsnipe off
Others answered you in many interesting ways, so I'll just try to address this:
> Maybe I should be asking Gene Roddenberry but I'll ask all of you: do you think there's something lost by eliminating scarcity?
I'd like to think Gene would tell you, there's always going to be a scarcity of something - the adventure is in chasing it, but it's much more enjoyable when you aren't coerced into it by the need to feed and shelter yourself and your close ones. Basically, scarcity of food, healthcare, housing and opportunities is bad. Scarcity of unique experiences and relationships is enjoyable, and it's always going to be there.
I emphasize with how you feel about your kids, but I think this is less about scarcity per se, and more about your kids not wanting to participate in your tradition. It's possible they still might - after all, these kinds of traditions aren't really about a movie, but about the time spent together. Perhaps when they grow up, they'll voluntarily abstain from rewatching that movie on their own, outside Halloween.
Personal and much more childish example: in my more naive years, I've established a tradition, and roped a few friends into it, of watching "V for Vendetta" on the 5th of November. That was way back when the "oh fuck, the Internet is here" meme was funny, and not a stuff of nightmares. It was a completely random and voluntarily tradition, that lasted a couple years before naturally dissolving. My point being, the availability of the movie had little to do with it - it was all about voluntary choice of a group of people to do something together.
>I'm not sure about V for Vendetta - that's a film released in 2005 so a retrospective of {something}.
I think he was referring to the 1982 graphic novel of the same name that the film was based on.
EDIT for spelling
The V for Vendetta movie was only an adaptation of the 1982 comic series written by Alan Moore.
"My understanding is that the late 70s and early 80s in England was a hopeless place."
That's not quite how it felt as a 52 year old Brit off of mostly England wot lived here at that time, as well as West Germany. I got the full Cold War experience.
I'm not sure about V for Vendetta - that's a film released in 2005 so a retrospective of {something}. "Ghost Town" by the Specials is of its time and an absolute belter and it does evoke emotions.
I can understand that a Canadian that wasn't even born at the time might find it hard to usefully engage with the past of a foreign country.
However we as Canadians and Brits and many others shared a Queen and she has passed away to all our loss.
Vigilantes or stalkers without evidence? – Anyone can claim to be Anonymous. As in the film V for Vendetta from which this informal nebula is inspired, it is normally a force. But clearly, the “Anonymous” of recent years is far from their first fights – ideologically neutral – on the freedom of the Internet and the fight against paid criminals. After the recent small hacks against Russia, delving into the life of Do Kwon, founder of Terra (LUNA), seems to be their new passion.
Everything that you, a person with a paintbrush, could paint "in the style of" something else is informed by what your model (your brain) has been exposed to. There's no getting around that, and commissioning you to paint something "in the style of postwar authoritarian England" does not infringe the copyright of V for Vendetta (even if I told you "make it look just like the movie"); it's an original painting.
Stylistic inspiration is not an infringement of copyright, in either that case or the "do it on a computer" case here.
The Kermit the Frog aspect though is interesting - it applies equally for both the human and machine made works - if an argument could be made that the subject of the work sufficiently resembles the character, maybe there's a trademark issue at hand?
But in any scenario, nothing legally novel about the work being created by machine.
I do sincerely hope you're joking; the guardian got absolutely crucified by the british government at that time.
Their HQ was stormed by police along with forced compliance of the destruction of information:
https://www.techdirt.com/2013/08/19/uk-govt-forces-guardian-to-destroy-hard-drives-with-snowden-info-guardian-says-reporting-continues-ny/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/01/edward-snowden-gchq-visit-guardian-destroy-computers
That said; in theory D-Notice's are voluntary, but non-compliance is vaguely threatened with "increased scrutiny".
D-Notices themselves are not exactly secret; they even get a mention in the movie V For Vendetta.
I don't think it's much of a cycle, there has been a constant undercurrent of "mature" cynical superhero comics and movies for decades now. In the '00s we had the Christian Bale Batman movies, and adaptations of V for Vendetta and Watchmen. In the '10s we had Deadpool and the Zack Snyder DC movies with their unprecedented cynical take on Superman. It all continues today with Venom and Batman spinoffs.
>That's what Image Comics was (owned by Marvel)
Image comics was never owned by Marvel - it was founded when 7 of the big marvel/DC artists realized they didn't need marvel to publish them and left to do their own thing. Each artist had his own company (like Silvestri's Top Cow, Liefeld's Extreme Studios, Todd Mcfarlane's Todd Mcfarlane Productions, Jim Lee's Wildstorm, etc). Image's job was to act as a publisher that took minimal financial value from the project away from the creators, and didn't own any of the IP.
DC comics did have some smaller publishing houses - Vertigo comics, Wildstorm Comics after they bought it from Jim Lee, etc. Vertigo owned IP so it wasn't creator owned stuff, and I think Wildstorm was a mix. Vertigo imploded after a woke reboot that lasted from 2018-2019, and DC consolidated its adult oriented lines to DC Black Label.
Marvel had Icon Comics with creator owned stuff like Kick Ass (that later got a movie) but it was really about stopping Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar (netflix acquired Millarworld Limited in 2017) from shopping those IPs out to other places.
>good literature isn't supposed
99.99% of comic book writers today don't know how to write good comics, let alone good literature. DC has imploded and gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and there are very few of the people who were involved with the comics you remember left there anymore. Marvel is happy to make garbage if it hires people with the right diversity checkboxes (see Vita Ayala, who somehow keeps getting more work while being completely unable to write stories people want to read).
>V for Vendetta
Originally published in the UK, later put out by Vertigo Comics (DC) in its hayday. But Alan Moore is better writer than almost everyone left at either of the big comics houses these days, and he was writing in a time where it was less culturally acceptable to write blunt propaganda into comic books.
>Again, from the 80's /sigh ... it was a freer time, when risks could be taken
This is because our society has switched. In the 80s the left was fighting right wing christian censorship and largely winning. Today we have inverted.
I was never a DC fan, so I can't speak to them, but Marvel used to give their writers much more freedom in the 80's and early 90's (coincidentally, when comic sales were doing great) as well as owning smaller "independent" publishers, to let their talent publish small, offbeat, "risky" comics with subversive themes. It was GREAT. That's what Image Comics was (owned by Marvel). It was like how Large movie studios would own small art house film studios in order to entice good directors (like Spielberg and Lucas) to make blockbusters for them.
Besides, good literature isn't supposed to hit you with their message so hard. Good literature isn't a blunt instrument to be wielded like some dullard wielding a sledge hammer in a slaughter house. It's a gentle and subtle poison that changes your mind from the inside. V for Vendetta is a great example. On the outside it just shows how government is corrupt, but it also shows the risks of human experimentation, the problems of corporate and government cooperation, how easily people are swayed by a compliant media, how easily small things in the beginning can have huge consequences far down the line that were never suspected, even in a time of conflict and rage the need for human connection is important... and all of these things are laid out in the sub plot of a comic book. Again, from the 80's /sigh ... it was a freer time, when risks could be taken =)
film critics tend to be "connoisseurs" which means that they prise the unusual, technical or some other subtle feature that's only really obvious after lots of repeat viewing.
Not only that, they are intensely competitive to heap praise on cool stuff and dump shit on stuff that's not "cool"
For example Crash one the best picture oscar in 2006. Its a shit film. Yes it talks about racism, and that perhaps the racist isn't that bad because he's got a sick dad. But still he can feel up a black woman though, thats allowed.
Its just such an unsatisfying movie.
near that time https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/worldwide/all-movies/cumulative/released-in-2006 all these came out, and there are some genuinley entertaining movies in there. V for vendetta, The queen, casino royal
All sorts.
But the critics loved crash because it was "brave"
was it fuck. It was a mashed about script that barely survived the gazillion re-writes and "tweaks" from producers that have more money than sense.
In short, most critics should be ignored, and placed in the same bin that contains "film theorists"
As someone who was both forced to take a film theory module in uni, and then went to work in the movies for ten years, I can firmly tell you that film thoery is mostly wank
1) author theory. Nope, its a massive team effort, no such thing
2) Feminism in hollywood: there is none. there are like 6 female directors of rank, of which at least two are only there because of their dad. Most screen writers are male as well. Any female script will be "tightend" by a committee of men, you known to make it sell.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-lawmaker-says-850-books-ranging-race-sexuality-cause-discomfort-rcna3953
> includes well-known titles like the Pulitzer Prize-winning William Styron novel, “The Confessions of Nat Turner” and best-sellers that were turned into movies or television series, such as John Irving’s “The Cider House Rules,” Alan Moore’s dystopian “V For Vendetta,” and the graphic novel version of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
> The list of books also includes titles from Black writers, such as “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and “Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot” by Mikki Kendall.
> Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” which, among other things, made the case that Nazi Germany modeled its anti-Semitic policies on the segregation of Black people in the United States, also made Krause’s list.
https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06
> This June, a parents’ group in one Tennessee district challenged the use of an autobiography of Ruby Bridges, who in 1960 was one of the first Black children to integrate an elementary school after Brown v. Board of Education. The parents complained that in depicting the white backlash to school desegregation, the book violated the state’s new law in sending the message that all white people were bad and oppressed Black people.
All of this is possible because "Critical race theory" was not defined precisely when it was banned. And by introducing these bans, it gives parents and legislatures the ability to define any concept they feel uncomfortable with at the time that they see their children learning about as "banned CRT".
The very foundations of this movement were founded on bad faith, in many cases as part of backlash to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1619_Project
An inaccurate totem of what children were learning was created, and then filed under "CRT".
They wrote the screenplay for 'V for Vendetta', which I thought was a pretty good movie.
V for Vendetta is classic.
Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite films of all time. It's incredibly divisive, but if you appreciate its deep symbolism and rich interwoven storytelling, it's beautiful. The wide dynamic range of genres it attempts to fit - romance, comedy, science fiction, murder mystery, spy thriller - is not only ambitious, but absolutely works to establish the symphony of it all.
Resurrections surpasses the mediocre second and third Matrix films and manages to troll both the studio and the audience in a deliberately tongue in cheek, yet equally trippy way. It's clever for working with the tools they had.
Movies: - 12 angry men - Whiplash - Prestige - American Beauty - The Thing - V for Vendetta - The Grand Budapest Hotel - Gone Girl - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Parasite - ... Tarantino or Scorsese movies
Anime: - Howl's Moving Castle - Spirited Away
Not a movie but both great series: - Love, Death & Robots - Black Mirror
Sounds to me like people will have to overthrow their governments to "go back to normal" anytime soon. The lack of normalcy increases the power of those imposing lockdowns and restrictions dramatically, and they aren't going to let go of that. There's no precedent for any government ever willingly ceding significant power. Just watch "V for Vendetta" - it's the same thing, except in the movie it was called the "St. Mary's virus". Incredible foresight.
Everytime I see the news about our countries slowly moving in that direction, usually helped by the new wonders of technology now used to circumvent the protections europe put in place after world war 2, I'm reminded of this quote for the v for vendetta movie
> How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
> I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to [the politicians asking for more power]. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.
The situation is always more complex, but still, had "child abuse" to that list and it fits almost too perfectly.
At the end of the day, we demand solutions, and when the leadership says "for that I need more power" we're all too eager to give it to them. Because we don't really care, we're complacent, we just don't want to be interrupted in our relatively pleasant little lives so we agree to give them whatever they say they need to stop it. Of course, it doesn't actually stop the bad things from happening, but little by little it erodes our control and freedom, and we are not getting them back.
And some of the licensing conflicts are because of an alliance that existed and made sense in say 1995 and today seems like inexplicable nonsense.
For example indie creator studio makes video game for the PS1. It's a huge hit, they go on to make other popular games, and one day Microsoft buys them, morphs them into an in-house team. And then one day you realise you're arguing that, Microsoft (now the owner of the license) should release this Sony Playstation game. No. Not going to happen.
When this stuff happens for individual humans, often even if the money doesn't mean anything to one person who is an obstacle, it does mean something to their co-creators and they'll do it for that. For example it would be possible for Alan Moore to have blocked a lot of stuff that uses his work, from the V for Vendetta movie (which lots of people liked but I felt missed the whole point) to the re-issues of Miracleman, but while Alan doesn't care about money, the artists on that work do, and him blocking it would hurt them. So e.g. that's why modern copies of Moore's seminal run on Miracleman say they're by "The Original Author" in big text but never mention Moore by name, that's his condition, he doesn't want the Mouse's money, but his artists do.
Corporations don't care though. If they can inconvenience a modern competitor by snuffing out an important cultural artefact that is exactly what they'll do.
I'd actually advocate outright abolition of copyright. The associated moral rights have some place, but copyright is almost entirely a means for corporations to try to control culture for their own profit and we don't need it. But 28 years is a more acceptable middle ground I guess.
Let's appreciate that this project try to give visibility to personal self-hosted blogs (not mediums, linkedins, substacks, dev.tos) and is using (I guess) good old RSS tech to get the articles.
Cheers! * opens google.com/reader and plays the 2005 Gorillaz hit song Feel Good Inc before going to the cinema to see V for Vendetta *
November is the month to re-watch V for Vendetta (which if you haven't seen it is an excellent movie based much on this premise).
Different from the comic, but still pretty accurate turn of events :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film)
I saw the "BCG might the magic key" articles back in March, but the numbers/countries didn't add up.
The MMR-version of the same "this is the magic key" story seemed much more promising (except for Iran) ...
I'm not sure how countries that routinely did BCG vaccinations such as the UK and Italy ended up getting hit so hard? Or is it only very recent BCG vaccinations that "work" for C19 (which is great news for Sanofi shareholders).
I don't know, maybe I'm getting jaded ... or maybe I have been watching too much "V for Vendetta" (vis-à-vis the St. Mary's Virus & "cure")! Such a good movie ...
Exactly right! It amazes me how close to our current reality the movie "V for Vendetta"'s reality was.
> The UK government is criminally insane to the point that they should be locked up and shot.
This plan may end up with a coup once the body count starts racking up and people get angry.
BTW. this new plan reminds me of the plot of "V for Vendetta" movie.
(spoiler below)
In it, a fascist government took over by causing an epidemic that killed a hundred thousand people, used that to get itself into power, and promptly buried the evidence.
Do we benefit from drawing lines between "cinema" and... whatever you might call a Marvel film? What do we call a Marvel film, if not "cinema"?
Further, why isn't anything at risk? Infinity War got about as close to real risk as any MCU film has so far, and I think if Mr. Scorsese watched that film he'd realize it's actually possible to create emotional drama within the context of a "Marvel Movie".
Also, are we really drawing the line arbitrarily at Marvel specifically? Where does "Joker" fit? Watchmen, The Dark Knight, Wonderwoman, 300, Scott Pilgrim, V for Vendetta? What about undeniably "Marvel" films like Logan, and Into the Spiderverse? Do we dismiss all media sourced from the pages of comics, or just the MCU specifically?
I ask both to make a rhetorical point, and because I genuinely don't understand. Mr. Scorsese writes this opinion piece like there's a shared understanding of what a "Marvel movie" is, but I don't know that there is such an understanding.
Isn't this the plot for various Mission Impossible and James Bond movies? (and the sub-plot behind the ever-excellent V for Vendetta)?
... couldn't they at least give them good names? (e.g. Chimera & Bellerophon from MI:2).
V for Vendetta springs to mind, depending on how young the kids are. Although it's too clear early on that it's the regime that's bad not our bad guy hero.
Grendel, Grendel, Grendel[0] Superb children's animation from the 80s. Though you might be very hard pressed to find it. A retelling of Beowulf from the monster's point of view whilst paying homage to Monty Python. He's big, bad, misunderstood and ultimately dies when our human hero Beowulf ambushes him. Never full of Disney shmaltz and cute, deep enough to give you plenty of talking points.
[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082478/
>"Remember Citizen, your worth as a human being begins and ends at how much more measurable value you provide than average. If you can't do better than average, your existence was a mistake!"
Apologies for the pedantry, but doesn't that make half the world a mistake?
I think the roses comment is from V for vendetta (the comic book not the movie) but it's probably quoting from something better.
> [popcorn time] proves that it can be more reliable and easier
I don't think this is true... My friend used popcorn time and I can tell you that it is not easier or more reliable. The movie comes in somewhat random chunks so most of the time you are stuck having to download a large portion of the movie before being able to view it. The content discovery is lacking too. You have to rely on people hosting old movies and most of the time only blockbusters or recent movies are available. If you do get lucky on more obscure films, downloading it becomes an issue because of lack of seeders, and seeders come and go.
It is close to Netflix quality, but still not quite, which moreso is evidence for my "will always be at least as costly" point. Pick a not-super-recent and average-popularity film, say V for Vendetta, and see how Netflix and Popcorn Time compare.
You can also think about the tech: one ensures it's hosting high quality content on reliable servers that have the highest possible connectivity to its users. The other relies on users' good-will and connectivity, and both of those come and go.
Honestly, it's like Theresa May watched the first hours of V for Vendetta and Children of Men respectively, and mistook them for instructional films.
Can you elaborate on this? I'm not a member of Anonymous, but I've read the graphic novel version of _V For Vendetta_ as well as seen the film, and I didn't get that impression at all.
If you're adding (the excellent) Equilibrium, I'd say V for Vendetta too due to its influence on "Anonymous". And Fight Club because of what their end goal is.
That said, I can still remember seeing eXistenZ in the cinema:
>Death to the demoness, Allegra Geller.
Matrix was late 90's. Same people turned a 1980's graphic novel into V for Vendetta movie. They did become hacker symbols but Anonymous rode on their fame rather than other way around. Just as they rode on, but didn't contribute to, the anonymity, privacy, and Internet tech that came before The Matrix. People owe 60's-90's computer nerds and hackers way more than Anonymous. :)
True. Don't forget that the whole "Matrix" and "V for Vendetta" movies that came around the same time as Anonymous attacks. They got culturally embedded as hacker symbols.
They don't have rights to stream any decent movies
That seems hyperbolic. Just browsing around (I decided to cap this at 5 minutes):
The Interview
Forrest Gump
Major League
Pirates of Carribean
Hot Fuzz
Armageddon
Kingpin
A League of Their Own
Inglorious Basterds
Scarface
Django Unchained
Legally Blonde
E.T.
Days of Thunder
The Princess Bride
Crocodile Dundee
Clear and Present Danger
V for Vendetta
Galaxy Quest
Running Man
Big Trouble in Little China
Talladega Nights
Kill Bill (1 and 2)
Star Trek Movies (including The Wrath of Kahn)
Tommy Boy
Team America World Police
Lilo & Stitch
Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
Wayne's World
Clerks
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure
Almost everyone I know outside the HN echo-chamber is more worried about terrorism (and dozens of other things) than they are about surveillance. In a nutshell, they saw "V for Vendetta" as a fun movie, but not any more of a plausible future outcome than any of those movies set in a post-nuclear winter.
I don't have any evidence that the government is doing anything other than what people want with regard to surveillance.
Keep in mind that the composite median voter is basically my mother: thinks the world would be chaos without authority; thinks drugs make people morally bankrupt; wants a big SUV; wants to ban guns; is nearing eligibility for Social Security and Medicare, etc. She loves Hilary Clinton. And of course, she's going to vote. I'm not.
imo, the dark knight is a good movie despite it being a comic book superhero movie. v for vendetta too.
> What concrete things do I gain from opting out?
But why is privacy not enough? Why should I have to convince anyone else that privacy is important? If they don't care, then they don't have to be private themselves, but don't force it on other people.
If you want an actual reason, then just look through the history books about how governments were using private information against their citizens (WW2 being the best example).
"Oh, you look forward to watching V for Vendetta? New stats show that 90% of violent anarchists have watched that movie. Please come with us, citizen."
The article's lead photo shows a frame from a movie version of 1984. The actor depicting the freedom-seeking protagonist, standing in front of an image of Big Brother, later depicted a near-identical Big Brother character in the 1984-ish V for Vendetta.
All too often those young idealists morph into the power structure they seek to topple. They may not start out with the objective of dictatorship per se, but they know no other path than to impose their own.
I'm consistently astounded at England's ability in the last couple of decades to move towards the fictional UK societies we see in 1984 and V for Vendetta. It's almost like the people have come to the exact opposite conclusion that the authors were trying to impress upon their audiences.
> "Wow, censorship, totalitarianism and mass surveillance are great ideas. We really should implement them."
Secondly, it is impossible to filter information within a society that doesn't have North Korea like tendencies. As soon as this filter goes up, people will just rent servers overseas, and get their internet via encrypted lines that aren't subject to censorship.
Banning porn is like trying ban alcohol. Everyone knows that it's a vice, everyone still does it (isn't 20% of global internet bandwidth porn?), and banning it just puts money into the hands of organized crime.
Thirdly, won't a bunch of mainstream award-winning films that come out every single year become illegal under this act? Games too for that matter. Say good bye to crime shows and violent film in the UK.
Finally, this is just one step away the Great Firewall of China. The argument that we need to protect children from the "corrosive" aspects of society might expand to other political parties, or ideas that aren't in the interests of those already in power.
The thing with censorship is that as soon as a you do a little, it's funny how quickly that becomes a lot. You just have to think of the children now then don't you?
His opinions on the films made from those comics are relevant as well; for example, about V for Vendetta:
It's a thwarted and frustrated and perhaps largely impotent American liberal fantasy of someone with American liberal values [standing up] against a state run by neo-conservatives — which is not what "V for Vendetta" was about. It was about fascism, it was about anarchy, it was about [England]. The intent of the film is nothing like the intent of the book as I wrote it.
http://www.mtv.com/shared/movies/interviews/m/moore_alan_060315/
Re the chosen analogy: Fair enough, it does however present the problem of many engineer/programmer types taking such analogies a bit too literally.
Re Sinclair: I agree, probably not the best example, but when trying to think of a book with an intended social commentary it was the first that popped into my head. There are almost certainly better examples.
How about V for Vendetta then, the original book had a much clearer idea of anarchy, totalitarianism and the consequences of each than that watered down movie.
I understand what you're saying - that most of it is crap - just like in any particular ecosystem or class of content. Most of it will always be crap.
However think about the impact some productions could have in some cultures - like say the V for Vendetta movie in China.
Text of the post, for those who do not want to access facebook.com.
«Group participation: what's wrong with this picture?
I ordered some video-editing software from Hitfilm in the UK which also comes with some instructional videos. So a few days later I get a call from FedEx saying that the DVDs were being held at U.S. Customs until I filled out a Video Declaration Form, which she said was now standard practice. Now, I'd never heard of this before, so I called... back to ensure that this was indeed FedEx and not someone phishing for information. Had them email me the form.
This is what the form said: "I/we declare the the films/videos contain no obscene or immoral matter, nor any matter advocating or urging treason or insurrection against the United States, nor any threat to take the life of or inflict bodily harm upon any person in the United States."
Now, the first clause I can kinda see, though "immoral" is weird and there's no standard definition of obscenity in the US, but let that go...what made my eyebrows go up my forehead and down the other side was clause two. So I called back the nice lady at FedEx -- who was only following instructions given to her by Customs -- and asked what this was all about.
Apparently -- and this is only her understanding of the situation -- this is a new thing being done by Customs and Homeland Security with FedEx, UPS, and other carriers to make sure that films and videos with ideas or stories that were at odds with the United States Government didn't get into the country, as it was a form of terrorism (as further elaborated upon in the third and final clause.) She added that some DVDs showing Occupy events in London and elsewhere had gotten bounced because of the concern that these were being used to coordinate activities here (as if with the internet people actually need physical DVDs for that sort of thing but that's neither here nor there).
Under this new stipulation, if V for Vendetta had, for instance, been produced in the UK (instead of just filmed there), importing it into the US would be considered subject matter "advocating or urging treason or insurrection." And if you lied about it on the form, you could be held liable for this.
So there are now very literally guardians at the gate ensuring that the wrong sorts of ideas, movies or DVDs are not allowed into the country without investigation and/or prosecution. And most pernicious of all, they don't actually define what they mean by advocating treason or insurrection, any more than they define what "immoral" means, it's whatever they decide it means, so you could be breaking the law without knowing you're doing it, until they decide you're doing it.
Thoughts?»
I assume the op is much like myself in that I need some sort of background noise, and movies can be a great source. I personally enjoy Anti-Trust as well, and Tron: Legacy, but stuff like V for Vendetta or Hackers where I have seen the movie enough times to know the lines are great background noise that I don't have to pay attention to.
"We demand his release," says the Anonymous spokesman, who is wearing a mask like the one worn by the shadowy revolutionary character in the movie V for Vendetta, which came out in 2006. "If anything happens to him, you sons of (expletive) will always remember this upcoming November 5."
Particularly in light of the reference to November 5, V for Vendetta has nothing to do with this in context. Why do we care that it's the same mask and that the movie came out in 2006?
As far as what my coding zone looks like, ours are very similar.
I have found working at night is the best for me.
When I'm coding I find that interruptions don't bother me, because I usually become hyper focused and I block out everything around me.
Strangely enough, I like to watch movies while coding. Preferably ones that motivate me like Limitless, or V for Vendetta, or the Social Network.
Turns out, if I have music or tv playing in the background that works just as well.
I try to eat health and, I don't drink pop or coffee (they make me crash hard once I break out of the zone.)
Finally, once I start coding I must finish what I sat down to start. That way each time I code, when I'm done I feel like I have accomplished something. Which in turn makes me want to do it again.
"V for Vendetta" is becoming real!?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film)
Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't get the point of this article. If the Church of Scientology owned a significant share of Time Warner, then there would be some irony. Or maybe I missed it and Anyonmous is an anti-capitalist organization?
Frankly, I think this is the right mask to use. It is consistent with the role the mask portrayed in the movie V for Vendetta. Further, this image is mostly free of the negative political implications of just about any other mask (e.g.: Imagine in Anyonmous used a Richard Nixon mask... they'd look like bank robbers or the topic of richard nixon would muddy the waters. Nobody is debating Guy Fawkes when they see people in the mask, because the mask is the supposed to be a mask and the original mask wearer was using it as a symbol of fawkes protest, not fawkes politics, etc.)
From V for Vendetta (2006) :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/quotes?qt=qt0450655
From the article:
"Instead, he believes that Anonymous has "decided to continue their antics. They're in it for the laughs… this is a real funny game for them." Not content with the damage they have inflicted, they "harass a company that's trying to get back to work." Each time a new story about the company appears in the press, Butterworth said that these attacks spike again."
If the press is bad for HBGary why do they participate in it? A no comment would have been sufficient. I think HB Gary is participating in the press to incite attacks so they can present themselves as victims, collect evidence, have someone charged, and declare victory. Seriously, a sheet of paper written in sharpie. They're expecting me to believe that the RSA holds a security conference with out badges, with out video monitoring and that some anon in a Guy Fawkes mask walks up to the table and places a threatening did it for the LULZ paper on their booth with no one noticing. Maybe, V for Vendetta is a real movie and such a person really exists who can easily pass through intelligence services and evade video monitoring. If I was HB Gary I'd have extensive surveillance on the booth to catch just such a thing. I'll use the Aaron Barr method of finding anons and assume the anon who placed the paper is employed by HB Gary. This from a company whose services are retained for their ability to plant false documents. The sign should read 'We got laughed out of the security conference for using weak passwords, storing them weakly, and reusing passwords in addition to being vulnerable to basic SQL injection.'
In my opinion, officers of HBGary Federal were engaged in stalking people online and selling private information about individuals for commercial purposes, as well as engaged in defaming these individuals with false information to the FBI. Given the demographic of anonymous it's quite likely that some of these individuals were children. I'm not sure if this is illegal in the US, but if they collected and prepared to sell personal information without consent about Canadian citizens they'd likely be in violation of Federal Law. (PIPEDA)
Also, regarding the millions of dollars in damages, these claims would be impossible to verify with a private company. Public companies on the other hand are required to file damages to the company both tangible and intangible. In a lot of hacking cases you'll see millions of dollars claimed, but if you look at the 10-Qs (SEC Required docs) you'll see no such filing. If you want a case to look at in particular for this, look at what happened to Kevin Mitnick. Why is it ok for HBGary to take money to compromise computers, but when Anonymous engaged in expression of speech they are targetted by federal investigators?
This is a company that used intelligence assets against pro-union websites. My personal feelings regarding unions aside, this is attempting to violate the rights of individuals to peaceably assemble. Even if it isn't illegal per se, it's highly unethical.
If HB Gary only engaged in ethical business practices there would be little damage from the disclosure of the emails. The damage results from the conspiracy to commit activities that are likely criminal.
A better question to ask is given the emails why Federal charges have not been laid against HBGary?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Relations_Act
I think they mean the movie "V for Vendetta".
I agree - the article kind of lost purpose midway in the first paragraph, so I skimmed it too and found it with an atrocious closing paragraph.
My wife is generally averse to sci-fi, so what I always make sure to do is point out when an 'ordinary' movie is using sci-fi and it becomes disturbingly long.
I like to point out movies like Inception (being a big one people don't see as sci-fi even though it is pure sci-fi), Donnie Darko (a movie about time travel), V for Vendetta, Frankenstein, Jurassic Park and the funniest I've had to point out has been E.T. And that's without even having to step out into the 'grey area' where movies are using sci-fi 'concepts' or just using mild sci-fi elements.
It also works to point out that almost 3/4 of horror movies are still solidly sci-fi.
I think sci-fi's death will be when it becomes so mainstream it's rarely differentiated from regular fiction, which with a lot of movies it's still hard to convince people it's sci-fi. I mean 'Click' with Adam Sandler is a great example. It's sci-fi through and through, but because it's using only 1 element people won't believe it's sci-fi.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/V_for_Vendetta
""" V for Vendetta is a ten-issue Graphic-Novel series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s about the 1990s. A mysterious revolutionary who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters. Warner Bros. released a film adaptation in 2006. """
V for Vendetta starred Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, and Steven Fry. It was a mainstream Hollywood movie which took over $132 million at the box office. It was a Warner Bros film, a subsidiary of Times Warner which is "the world's second largest entertainment conglomerate in terms of revenue (behind Disney and ahead of News Corporation and Viacom), as well as the world's largest media conglomerate".
Your dreams of anarchism were manufactured in a bottle and sold to you on a silver screen.
Grow up.
(Edit: as acknowledged below, the final 'grow up' is a bit snarky. Sorry, that's withdrawn)
IMDB reports that 2322 movies were released in 1939 alone, is it really surprising that there were a handful of good movies among them?
1980 for comparision, IMDB lists 6007 movies (8000+ if you include TV movies), and contains modern (popular) classics such as Stir Crazy, Superman II, Empire Strikes Back, Airplane!, The Blue Lagoon, Ordinary People, Urban Cowboy. The Shining, Caddyshack, Raging Bull, Friday The 13th, The Fog, The Blues Brothers.
Hmm, looks like 1980 was a much more 'classic' era than the 40s for hollywood, but you wouldn't have heard that from film buffs in the 80s.
Hollywood has always been a great abuser of the 'sling lots of shit at the wall and see what sticks' approach to 'greatness', they're just slinging a lot more shit these days.
Even if we take a really contemporary year and do the same study, we see a pattern of greats no matter what year, take 2005 at random:
Batman Begins, Sin City, V for Vendetta, Revenge of the Sith, King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire, Serenity, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr & Mrs Smith, Wedding Crashers, Munich, Saw 2, Hostel, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Madagascar, Pride & Prejudice, Land of the Dead.
Ah, but the movie buff will point out that they're not established classics like Gone with the Wind, or Wizard of Oz. Not yet, anyway.
Edit: Btw, for 2005, the number of movies was 28,000+. Is it any wonder that there is a lot of formulaic stuff in there as well?
Maybe he doesn't mean a word of them. But history is full, absolutely jam-packed, with examples of people seeking violent, terminal retribution for the injustices they perceive to have ruined their lives. Heard of a movie called Braveheart? Heard of a little comic book called V for Vendetta? Both examples of an aggrieved party fighting willingly to the death in an act of, essentially, revenge.
This is a real human emotion and downvoting will not just make it go away. How about some rational counterarguments, such as the injustice of taking innocent people with you, or the long-term futility of such an approach.
Pretty disappointing to see this kind of morally outraged pile-on here.
There maybe a lot of films that you can take the colour away from with relatively little cost to the viewer.
But some of the best films: Schindler's list, The Matrix, V for Vendetta, etc would lose a lot if the had to be entirely black and white. I would say that most films would lose quite a lot of humanness if they where to be presented in anything but colour.