V for Vendetta subverts the stereotypical aspects of gender within a Hollywood film. These, stereotypical gender roles are therefore subverted to portray the message of the film which is not to be passive (feminine) but to be active (masculine). The film is shown to be sexist against women and femininity as the film doesn't approve of these traits however, the deeper we go into the film the more we are wrong. After looking at V's gender traits it is clear that the film actually thrives of passiveness and femininity. The film also explores into many mother father figures expressed through many characters. In order for the film to express their feminine messages and traits it uses specific aspects of hyper-masculinity, phallic and yonic imagery, mother and father traits and roles, re-birthing, procreation, nurturer, the theory that men act women appear and also the oedipal complex. All these different aspects are crucial to delivering the messages of gender across within the film and through V himself.
Point 1: Men act women appear & Mother and Father roles.
Examples: Evey's parents being kidnapped & Dietrich and Evey.
Analysis 1:
Evey's parents being kidnapped shows a mother, father role as she envies to find somebody just like them. Evey being scared within this scene makes her need and want a masculine father figure around her to protection that't why she connects well with Dietrich and V as they portray the mother and father figure she is looking for to guide her through life down the right paths. V is a very motherly figure to Evey; he cooks her breakfast, he dances and he guides her to become fearless and strong again; he re-births Evey back into the world strong again just like before her parents were taken.
Analysis 2:
Within the scene Dietrich and Evey it shows that men act women appear as well as the fatherly bond between himself and Evey. Dietrich is shown to be a strong fatherly figure towards Evey however it subverts that trait once they find out that in fact he is a homosexual. Dietrich therefore gets kidnapped, which shows he is weak and feminine and unfortunately gets killed. Therefore; Dietrich, was never that strong, masculine fatherly figure towards Evey that he was portrayed to be in fact he was also the feminine motherly figure.
Dietrich is a passive character as he is hiding his true identity - homosexuality - therefore he is not acting active which is why he gets taken to the concentration camp and killed.
Dietrich was also Evey's boss so she confides in him as if he was the fatherly/motherly figure she never had.
Point 2: Motherly figure & Re-birthing
Example: Evey's Torture
Analysis:
Evey's torture scene shows a form of re-birthing as she is becoming a less fearful woman and V is the motherly figure throughout this scene as he guides her down the right path to become fearless and strong. He is acting the mother that Evey never had; although he does it in a painful, torture filled way it worked and allows Evey to be re-born again. She looses her identity and femininity when having her hair shaved off, as soon as he hair goes she becomes a more masculine, powerful and fearless woman which V the motherly figure to Evey has created in order to survive in life. It was all done in Evey's best interests and also partly to relive the torture that V himself had to go through within the concentration camp. Maybe that's why he is so fearless himself?
Point 3: Father & Son traits
Example: Sutler and Creedy
Analysis:
This scene shows Sutler 'telling off' Creedy; this shows Sutler to be the father figure, this is due to the dominance he holds, the fact that he is the largest most central person in the room due to being on the large screen and he is also looking down to Creedy whilst telling him what to do. However, the roles reverse when Creedy takes on the power and kills his 'father' - Creedy. He does this to gain power - Oedipal - power is a male dominated scene and Creedy ends up taking over the public.
Point 4: The re-birth of Evey and V & the use of phallic and yonic objects/imagery
Example: Evey's awakening
Analysis:
This scene shows Evey being re-born into the world as a fearless women just after being released from the fake concentration camp V had put her through. It uses phallic and yonic objects (fire and rain) to represent a passive and active birth of both Evey and V. Fire which is associated with V's re-birth represents an active firey birth; whereas the rain which is associated with Evey's re-birth represents a purified re birth that brings life. This scene also uses juxtaposition showing V coming out of the fire and Evey herself coming out of the concentration camp V had put her through linking the two re-births together.
Conclusion:
Typical gender roles are not present, the only way of going forward is to not have these typical gender roles; being passive (feminine) results in problems and being active (masculine) also results in problems; there is no winning. No one person, individually has one full gender trait, they are made up of many. As shown in the revolution scene the dialogue that Evey is showing at the very end she talks about how V was her 'mother, father, brother friend, her and everyone'. Nobody has just one single gender trait, gender doesn't even matter in some sense its just a stereotypical thing that you have to be either masculine or feminine. This film is a great film to give that message across that gender doesn't matter.
