V's speech vs. Murrow's speech
Comparative between V's speech and Murrow's speech
V for Vendetta is about a futuristic dystopia in London. London’s government has several flaws in their government and the secret police watches their every move. The protagonist V, tries his best to destroy the government and take revenge on the people who mistreats him at Larkhill camp. Edward Murrow is an American broadcast journalist. In 1951, he began his own
television journalism program which exposes Joe McCarthy. Both of these righteous men share similar and different speeches about the problems they feel that is unjust.
V’s purpose was to talk about the corruption which takes place in London’s fascist government. When V says,“...mark this November the 5th”, he wants the citizens of London to all join hands and fight against the corrupt government. This quote is significant because November the 5th is the day Guy Fawkes tried to plot the death for the king. The government has a lot of control over the people because they have systems of surveillance, which is a huge obstacle citizens face. V is aware people are afraid of the government, so he wants other individuals to build up their confidence as he gives this speech on BTN. V mentions in his speech, “ Words offer the means to meaning”, which shows that V wants people to speak against the government and not to be afraid of what may come, but to prepare. V says the chancellor, Adam Sutler, promises peace and order, but in return the outcome is silence. Therefore, V decides to end the silence by destroying the Old Bailey.
Aside from that V mentions, “But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek…” this shows that V felt pain and hatred at the Larkhill camp. The premise of V’s speech is to use vengeance against the Parliament and fight them by using violence, so the citizens could have fairness, justice, and freedom.
Murrow’s purpose is to challenge the broadcast industry to live to its potential and responsibilities. Murrow believes television can be fantastic tool, but should be handled in a mannerly way. To support Murrow’s statement, he mentions, “...television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us” this tells how Murrow feels about television and how it affects people. This quote is important because Murrow uses a list of verbs to put emphasis on how television can be bad. Murrow is not against television he just believes that it could influence humans toward a bad direction. Murrow believes television has made people fat surpluses and he does not tolerate laziness. However, Murrow does mention the pros of television. When he says “ This instrument can teach, it can illuminate - and yes, it can even inspire” Murrow says television is an incredible weapon and it can be useful in several different ways. Also, Murrow uses alliterations such as “instrument, illuminate, and inspire” in his quote because he wants to make television sound like it’s the greatest invention created and those words all have positive connotations in his speech.
One major similarity between V’s speech and Murrow’s speech is they both agree on the distaste of conformity. V wants the citizens to stand up for themselves and not to feel oppression by the government. He mentions in his speech, “...you now have sensors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission”, he is upset with how the government causes the citizens to conform with the rest of society. Murrow does not want people to be consumed to their T.V. and to become lazy people. He says, “ We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent” which tells he does not want people to conform into distracted and fat surpluses. The quote is significant because he uses several adjectives to describe people who watch too much television.
One major difference between V’s speech and Murrow’s speech is they both have different tactics to solve their problems. V wants to target the government by using violence. When V mentions, “we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot”, which sounds like he wants to get ready for a battle or rebellion. As for Murrow he doesn’t have an issue with the government but his concerns are about social media. In addition, Murrow uses peaceful arguments such as, “ But even if they are right, what have they got to lose?”
The writers of V for Vendetta are trying to warn us about a particular type of government and technology. The writers want us to aware of a particular group obtaining too much power because then the people would be under dictatorship. Technology usually starts problems within the government because people abuse it in wrong ways. For example, in V for Vendetta the government has surveillance systems everywhere, so they can watch your every movement. Their warning today is slowly becoming pertinent in our society. Our technology continues to improve and kids become lazier day by day which is exactly what Murrow feared.