Comments on: Are you sitting comfortably?

Are you sitting comfortably?

256 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:25:53 -0800

By: FAMOUS MONSTER

FAMOUS MONSTER — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:39:12 -0800

In addition to being a well-done piece, I'm also really glad that the caption gives a shout to Voice of the Fire. Hopefully a few more people will check out that book as a result.

By: Celsius1414

Celsius1414 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:44:59 -0800

"terrorist outrage du jour" Oh how I love Alan Moore. :D

By: oulipian

oulipian — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:50:22 -0800

How timely - apparently the signing of ACTA has just been postponed by Germany.

By: dng

dng — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:54:37 -0800

One thing I still don't understand is if the imagery in V for Vendetta started like this When this notion was enthusiastically received, he decided to buy one of the commonplace cardboard Guy Fawkes masks that were always readily available from mid-autumn, just to use as convenient reference. that we could end up with this the character's enigmatic Time-Warner trademarked leer

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:05:42 -0800

The irony is it was actually the Watchawski brother's movie, which he was totally against, that really caused the image to become popular. What are the odds that a random comic from the 80s would have suddenly entered the zeitgeist without the film being made? Not that the movie wasn't flawed. I mean I enjoyed it, but I'm sure the comic is better (Actually, I should probably check it out. I really enjoyed The Watchmen, which i also would probably never have heard of if not for the movie - I'm not a comic buff by any means) I'm not really a fan of any kind of dishonest propaganda. but I think a lot of people, at least on the liberal side (but probably the conservative side as well) disdain unfairly the sort of emotional appeals that actually do have a lot of impact. Just off the top of my head, there was the thread the other day about how madonna's Superbowl halftime show called for for "world peace" or something during the Superbowl halftime show, and a lot of people thought it was cliched stupid, and maybe it was - but just because it's cliched and stupid doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. World peace, after all, is a good thing and pointing that out -- even in a clumsy way -- is still good. Or the environmental message in Avatar, which wasn't subtle at all. Okay maybe Avatar wasn't high art but what's wrong with reaffirming the basic moral principle that people should care about the environment? Or people complaining about the 'santorum' jokes or people making jokes about Sarah Palin. Finally, V (the movie) wasn't all that subtle or intellectually nuanced. But so what? It obviously had a huge impact on people. And the message of standing up to authority was a good one. A lot of the "propaganda" videos that Anonymous puts out seem cliche'd and ridiculous (and immature) to the extreme. But ultimately that stuff works on a lot of people. I think a lot of people would prefer if political discourse were limited to stuff like Matt Yglesias's blog or something (which I haven't read since his last move broke his RSS feed) The obviously flip-side of that, though, is that propaganda that is both stupid and dishonest also works. Which is a huge problem. But anyway, the point is people like dumb stuff, and politics is the ultimate mass market. You have to have stuff that appeals to Britney Spears or -- maybe I should update this -- Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber fans.

By: oulipian

oulipian — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:10:33 -0800

the character's enigmatic Time-Warner trademarked leer V for Vendition.

By: charred husk

charred husk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:14:25 -0800

Has anyone explained to Moore that an essential step between the movie and the adoption of the mask by Anonymous is it's use by Epic Fail Guy on 4chan? I think he'd appreciate the random absurdity that was truly at work for the mask's selection.

By: MikeWarot

MikeWarot — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:23:46 -0800

Some day humanity will extract itself from under the boot of "The City of London"... but I suspect it will be quite messy.

By: meandthebean

meandthebean — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:25:26 -0800

Breaking news: Alan Moore happy about something.

By: jb

jb — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:03:16 -0800

Not that the movie wasn't flawed. I mean I enjoyed it, but I'm sure the comic is better (Actually, I should probably check it out. I really enjoyed The Watchmen, which i also would probably never have heard of if not for the movie - I'm not a comic buff by any means) You should read the comic, it's great (indeed - I should re-read it, I haven't in a few years). I've not seen the V movie (I had a mini-boycott because, like Alan Moore, I am not fond of movie adaptations of books and graphic novels), but I was dragged to the movie of Watchmen and in that case, the comic book was much better - even if the movie's storyboard did slavishly follow the comic.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:11:18 -0800

One thing I still don't understand is if the imagery in V for Vendetta started like this When this notion was enthusiastically received, he decided to buy one of the commonplace cardboard Guy Fawkes masks that were always readily available from mid-autumn, just to use as convenient reference. that we could end up with this the character's enigmatic Time-Warner trademarked leer

Traditional Guy masks could look like this or this or these. The ancestry between them and the comic book version is clear in most cases, but I didn't take "use as a convenient reference" to mean "copy exactly."