V for Vendetta

[Dave Monroe]

I finally got 'round to it yesterday.  A very
Pynchonian lineup, in fact: Tristram Shandy, Why We
Fight, V for Vendetta and Dead Man (which I haven't
seen on the big screen since it was first shown here).
 Had I not already seen Cache (q.v.), I could've gone
five for five, but ...

Well, V4V was the weakest of the lot, and I still
liked it okay, so ... I haven't read the damn thing in
a while, though a class at the nearby university is
using it this semester,so maybe I can score a used
copy ... note John Hurt, having played Winston Smith
in 1984, as the Big Brother figure ... in fact, saw
both John Hurt AND Stephen Fry twice yesterday (much
enjoyed Benny Hill spoof in V4V, esp. gorilla [=
guerrilla?] suit) ... not movie about terrorism in a
fascist Britain opening on St. Patrick's Day ...

I haven't heard much fanboy bickering yet, certainly
not on the (udnerstandable, justified) scale of From
Hell or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so ...

But do y'all see both Tristram Shandy (postmodern
premodernist postmodernism) and Why We Fight (war as
business by other means, not to mention by business),
not to mention Dead Man, if you haven't already ...

Rosenbaum, Jonathan.  Dead Man.
   London: British Film Institute, 2000.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/booksvideo/books/catalogue/details.php?bookid=230

Conveniently excerpted @ ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0107&msg=57435

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0107&msg=57435

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0107&msg=57488

By the way, last i'd heard, my rommate'd goten through
the first two stories of yr Steampunk Trilogy,
decalred them "brilliant" or somesuch.  Meanwhile, I
haven't had time + money to get down to the comic book
shop to pick up my pile in a while, so I'm backlogged
on Top 10 ...

--- Paul Di Filippo <pgdf at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I don't believe I've seen anyone on the list mention
> that Pynchon was an influence on Alan Moore and his
> V FOR VENDETTA.  Specifically, of course, for all
> the letter V riffs in the comic.  As I recall,
> there's a panel in the original graphic novel that
> shows a character actually reading V.  Alas, that
> image has not made it to the film--at least as 
> far as I could see.

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