V for Vendetta/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: The filmmakers must have been tempted to omit V's horrible imprisonment and torture of Evey to make the movie black and white instead of ambiguous. Once Natalie Portman's head was shaved, it was obvious that they'd kept the scene.
  • Complete Monster: The Norsefire Government.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: V.
  • Ear Worm: "This Vicious Cabaret". Good Lord.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Finch has a lot of fans especially among readers that aren't entirely convinced of V's virtue.
  • Genius Bonus: In the film, when V drops in on Creedy's residence, their conversation is masked by Beethoven's 5th Symphony -- the viewers only hear the first bar but, when interpreted as Morse Code, it's the letter V (...-).
    • The first bar of the 5th Symphony opened BBC broadcasts throughout WW 2 as part of the "V for Victory" campaign, making this more of a Shout-Out or nod of the head than a genius bonus for those with knowledge of the era.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: One of the first actions of open rebellion and anarchy by the citizens against the Norsefire government is when a Norsefire officer kills a little girl for making a spraypainting of V on a Norsefire Propaganda sign. On August 7th, 2011, London started suffering from a continuous riot by the population over a police officer shooting someone during a dispute.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: In the film, the Norsefire symbol ressembles a Cross of Lorraine, the Free French Forces symbol. The Free French Forces fought Nazi Germany.
  • Magnificent Bastard: V.
    • The graphic novel has Helen Heyer on the other side.
  • Memetic Mutation: Like you wouldn't believe. From a single Epic Fail Guy comic to the face of worldwide protests. Today, V is the face of Anonymous. Along with the infamous "V" speech. Evidently, Moore is actually quite proud of this fact, but is a little annoyed that it was sparked not so much by his comic as by "the rubbish movie".
  • Misaimed Fandom: Meta-example, as it did this to Guy Fawkes. It's true that Fawkes entered Parliament with honest intentions, but few actually know what those intentions were. He wasn't trying to take down an authoritarian government, but instill one. He wanted England to move back from the more egalitarian Church of England to the more conservative Catholic church.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Line Art: It was originally released in black and white, and then recolored by a different person. With watercolors. In quasi-impressionistic colors. Without paying attention to the lines.
  • The Woobie: Poor Rosemary...