Cross-Comparative text study
V for Vendetta - Animal Farm
In many great texts concerning the politics, it can be observed that the context in which the piece was created greatly influences the ways in which values and themes are presented and the form in which it is produced. Major ground shaking events have the power to transform paradigms of individuals and whole societies, and in turn morph and influence the themes a text created in the same time period implores. Warner Brother's 2005 film "V for Vendetta" and George Orwell's 1945 novelette "Animal Farm" both deal with concepts present in the political climates of their times and the problems associated with them; the cost of apathy towards injustice, propaganda and its influence, and the crippling aspect of fear. The representation of the themes present in the two texts contrast and compare in many ways due to the diversity in the contexts under which each was created and the universal continuity of the themes present.
Orwell's 1945 text was created at the end of the Russian social revolution that left the once optimistic Russian people in tatters and under the boot of a brutal fascist regime, while the Hollywood movie was created post 9/11 in a time where people turned to their government for protection from unknown threats, willing to sacrifice their liberty for safety. It was situated in a future dystopia as opposed to Animal Farm's historical setting and warned of what could be the outcome of choosing to blindly follow the neo-conservative politics of film's time such as Bush's and Thatcher's parties. Both texts make political statements that are influenced by the historical and personal context of their creation and contrast and compare greatly in form and values.
Primarily, the theme of apathy, and the cost...