Anarcha-Feminism in Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta JENNIFER MACFARLANE
journals.uvic.ca/index.php/albatross/article/download/13402/4281
In 2012, only 24.6 percent of elected Canadian Members of Parliament were female, illustrating a modern-day discrepancy in the political representation of women (Parliament of Canada). This statistic demonstrates the deep-seated effects of patriarchy which are still very much at play in modern institutions of power in western society. The insidious effects of male hierarchy figure heavily into Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s highly politicized graphic novel V for Vendetta, which serves as a warning against patriarchal power. Published in full form in 1988 and first conceived of at the height of Thatcherism in England, V for Vendetta places emphasis on feminist issues and the oppressive patriarchal system that continues to be pervasive today. Although V for Vendetta carries a political message that champions anarchy, feminism has a strong presence in the graphic novel; the text deals self-consciously with feminism through both the storylines of the female characters, and through the sexist, gendered language used by the protagonist and antagonist parties. In order to convey a pro-feminist message, the text presents patriarchy as an evil that goes hand in hand with authoritative power structures; power that is exemplified by the objectification and violence towards woman by many of the antagonists and men in positions of authority throughout the graphic novel.