Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

 

This is the day for me yearly viewing of V For Vendetta. It's the day I wish I could be a kick-ass damaged vigilante with an insanely grand view of himself and his world. Couple that with an equally insane belief that one man can change the world and you have the makings of one of the great films of my life. Sure there are the purists who say that it's not like the graphic novel from which it's based but I say it's better. They took the ramblings of the madman Alan Moore and synthesized the essences of the tale - a unique tale of freedom from oppression - all forms of oppression and in that way it's as important a story as 1984 or Brazil.

 

 

(click to enlarge)

 

Here is a jaunty group of revolutionaries. It's the hats right? That's how they got caught I'll bet. They all dressed like goofs. There is a lesson there I think. I do like all the bonfires and fireworks they inspire these days. Fire makes any public celebration better.

 

 

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

 

 

I also can never get enough of V's final dance with death. It's operatic and glorious



A government that uses fear as a tool to cling to power is an enemy to its own people. It will use fear to undermine the rights of the people and to aggrandize its power over them. It will promise to protect, and will claim that it will take rights and offer security in exchange. But this is a fool’s bargain. A people who will surrender their essential liberties for an illusory measure of security are not worthy of being free. The lesson of Guy Fawkes is this:

It is not the People who should fear the Government, but rather the Government which should fear the People.

So today is my one day that I wish I could take on the man single handed with my knives and my 'fancy karate'.