Saturday was the fifth of November. If this phrase rings a bell, it’s probably because it populates the incredible movie “V for Vendetta.”
I absolutely love this movie. It features cool accents, the stellar acting talents of Natalie Portman, and the one of the coolest heroes I’ve ever seen.
After watching this favored film of mine a second time recently, I’ve come to realize that, despite his kind words and killer sword skills, V is not necessarily morally ideal. He imprisons Evey against her will and therefore, he is, in fact, kind of an abusive ass.
Still, for the sake of enjoying the ridiculous “badassery” that V adds to this film, he "epic-ly" slays his enemies in the futuristic, dystopian fascist British government.
This film is really cool because, according to Wikipedia, “V for Vendetta deals with issues of homosexuality (and its complement homophobia), criticism of religion, totalitarianism, Islamophobia and terrorism.”
The movie is inspired by Guy Fawkes and his day of celebration, November 5th. If you’re like me (I feel like this phrase is in a lot of my articles – but you know, write what you know, right?), you may have no idea who Guy Fawkes is. I decided to look up the story and it’s pretty interesting.
So Guy Fawkes was a member of the Gunpowder Plot, and the very first “fifth of November” was in the year 1605. Fawkes and his club of spirituous rebels plotted to stash gunpowder in the House of Lords in Parliament. This was in an attempt to assassinate King James the first.
Incredibly, King James admired Fawkes’ dedication and passion for his cause, and ultimately described Fawkes as one with “a Roman Resolution.”
In celebration that the fact that this plot did indeed fail, and Guy Fawkes was arrested, the “Observance of 5th November Act” was enforced, as “an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.” It came be known as “Gunpowder Treason Day.”
Originally, this holiday became associated with a strong anti-Catholic sentiment in favor of Protestant pride. Celebrations used to be complete with festivities including burning effigies of the Pope, and of Guy Fawkes. By the 1850s these religious tensions had calmed.
This is interesting because Guy Fawkes was born Protestant, but apparently became an enemy to the Protestant establishment and later, converted to Catholicism like some of his family.
To close this brief history, here's one more fun fact about the Fifth of November: Parliament is still annually searched to avoid any pesky conspirators in the cellars getting in the way of the fireworks and festivities. (The danger isn’t really a concern, however; this is “more of a tradition than a serious anti-terrorist precaution.”)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Fifth of November.
Here’s a friendly reminder to go vote on Tuesday: Let’s prevent this bigotry and discrimination that the heroic V fought so hard to save us from! (Whoop!)
