Equality In V For Vendetta And Anthem

"We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world"(V for Vendetta). In V for Vendetta and Anthem, the identities of protagonists are shrouded in mystery. We know next to nothing about these people, so how can there be entire movies built around them? The answer is simple: the movies are not about their protagonist, but rather the idea that the protagonist represents. The main characters could be anyone, yet the integral components of these works would remain the same. The symbolism and metaphors used in both movie and book demonstrate the insignificance of the protagonist's identity through images of discarding the

One of the ways in which they are different is their methods. V is a terrorist, he uses destruction and violence to achieve his goals. In the movie, one of the first things we see him do is overpower several officers, brutally and effectively neutralizing the corrupt men, who threatened a young woman. Throughout V for Vendetta, V chooses to take action and is proactive in his retaliation against the unethical and depraved. Destroying the parliament building, a symbol of the government, is a symbol of itself, a show of one idea destroying another. Compare to Equality, who is not as fervent in his rebellion, attempting to conform at first. He "strive[s] to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike"(Rand 19). Yet, he learns of individuality, of ego and I, and decides he no longer wishes to be oppressed by the collective. Equality renames himself Prometheus, after the titan who brought fire to humanity at the cost of his own body. Equality liberates a select few who he knows would prefer the salvation of individuality, bringing them into the forest and teaching them. Through this, he sets up the beginnings of his uprising against the government. Though he may never lead the charge to abolish the collective himself, he ensured the continuation of his idea through generations. Despite their differences in method, the motives of V and Equality are analogous. V's goal is a revolution, taking

Both of them have been tortured in a government facility. V had been used as a test subject for a biological weapon, forced to suffer through painful experiments until he could no longer remember anything about himself. Kept in a cell labeled with the Roman numeral V, he takes that letter as his name and breaks out of the facility in a blaze of fire. Years later, V would emerge into the spotlight with a mask, to free the masses from the oppression of the government. The years he spent in captivity gives him reason to destroy the people in power, the people who killed thousands of innocents to gain that power. In Anthem, Equality was detained when he was confronted by the Council of the Home about his absence. He had refused to reveal where he had been, and was taken to the Palace of Corrective Detention, where he was to be lashed until he confessed. Equality endured through days of systematic torture, holding on to the one thing he had placed his hope in: the light. Equality decides to place his faith in the knowledge that there is more to the world than what the Council says there is. Totalitarian governments feature in both V for Vendetta and Anthem, but in different ways. V for Vendetta presents a fascist government, all authority falling under a single, oppressive dictator. Fear and censorship are used to keep people in line, and