Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

The older I get, the more I think about what my legacy will be. How will I be remembered? What will I have done to make the world better in some way? And that’s the thing. The meaning of life, if you want to call it that, is to transcend life. It’s to have created or supported something that is greater than yourself.

On some level, I’d like to believe that my writing will be my legacy. My words will live on through my books and via the archives of the Internet, long after I’m gone. The hope is that my writing will have made a difference in people’s lives. I strive to inform, to entertain, to effect positive change. I just might not do it in quite as explosive a fashion as the anarchist in the Guy Fawkes mask.

My feelings toward V for Vendetta have shifted since I reviewed the movie 11 years ago. Maybe I’m interpreting the film through rose-tinted glasses and I should probably watch it again. Based on the graphic novel series by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta is both cerebral and visceral.

It’s not just violence for violence’s sake. There is a lesson that extends far beyond the pages of the comic book, one that is perhaps even more applicable in today’s political climate than when the movie was released in 2006. The people should not fear the government; the government should fear the people. Why do laws and rules exist?

A similar line of commentary can be found in Watchmen, also by Alan Moore. The impact that these words and images have on readers and audiences is greater than Moore. He will have also inspired many a would-be writer or artist to do the same. This is his legacy.

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

More likely than not, what I enjoyed most about V for Vendetta was the clever wordplay. While some people might find it vexing, I think it is delivered with very vivacious vivacity, vocalizing volumes about how vapidly vacant the vitriolic and venomous verbage is invariably voiced by the vain, vile and vulgar. It sure beats bad dad jokes, don’t you think?

Did you like V for Vendetta? Should I read through Alan Moore’s graphic novels?

Image credit: Adapted from Matt Biddulph on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)