Dredd And V III

One advantage of blogging is that second or third thoughts can be added ad infinitum or, if you prefer, ad nauseam.

At the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, we had an embarrassment of riches:

a short film about Judge Minty;

a feature film about Judges Dredd and Anderson;

Judges Lemmy and Bane patrolling the Festival;

Dredd creators, Wagner and Ezquerra, present and approachable;

V for Vendetta on sale, screen and stage (something for everyone here - I had bought the comic and seen the film but had not yet seen the play).

In the feature film, two Judges would not have been so distracted by a couple of armed kids that they would let their prisoner jump one of them. Anderson was inexperienced but not Dredd.

A Judge's gun explodes in the hand of a bearer with the wrong ID. That makes sense.

Back to Dredd's opposite number: Codename V. In the play, V tells Evey, "'Anarchy' means 'without leaders,' not 'without order.'" I think he is wrong. I kidded a couple of people that, after a talk, I would stand up and make a political speech instead of asking a question. But a political argument is certainly appropriate after reading or seeing V For Vendetta. That is what the text invites us to do. So:

"monarchy" means "one ruler";
 "patriarchy" means "male rulers";
"matriarchy" would mean "female rulers";
"anarchy" means "no rulers."

A ruler is able to enforce his will whereas a leader gives a lead which we are free to follow or not; it's our decision. V is certainly a leader and, equally certainly, not a ruler. No society is without leaders. Each of us gives a lead, which may or may not be followed, every time we say, "I think we should...," "Why not...?" or "Let's..."

Dredd And V

Finally saw the second Judge Dredd feature film, Dredd. What can I say? Dredd and Anderson are perfect. John Wagner, introducing the film at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, hoped that the fans would be able to get past the fact that the vehicles in the opening car chase are recognizably from the twentieth century.

Why should we have to get past it? I would not have seen this as a problem. These recognizable vehicles look far more authentic than any fake futuristic cars or vans would have done. It looks as if the action occurs in a real place. Dredd is exactly as in the comics. I am less familiar with Anderson but she is good here.

The cinema was patrolled by two Judges. Since we went straight from the film to a stage adaptation of V, we saw the authentically costumed Judges, then V, in the flesh. Since the "stage" was simply the floor in front of the first row, in which we were sitting, we could have touched V and Evey.

Valerie's letter was extremely moving.

Dredd and V have in common that we never see their faces. It seemed appropriate to go directly from a Dredd film to a V play.