To what extent do V for Vendetta & Children of Men conform to film stereotypes and what messages are behind these representations?

To what extent do V for Vendetta & Children of Men conform to film stereotypes and what messages are behind these representations?

The two films that I am studying both do conform to film stereotypes to an extent however they both have aspects that go against these traditional stereotypes which I will be exploring throughout the essay. However the film V for Vendetta appears to conform to these stereotypes to a greater extent than that which Children of Men does.

Both films follow the typical ‘horror’ characteristic of having a ‘final girl’ despite both being hybrid genre sci-fi thriller films. In V for Vendetta the final girl is the character of Evie, although she does fit many of the guidelines of a final girl she does differ in some ways. Evie reaches the end of the film and achieves her goal due to being smart, and through masculating herself. This is a common characteristic of how final girls reach the end of films and how we know that they are the stereotype of a final girl. Evie however achieves her objective through well planned out efforts and a strategy which does not conform to the stereotype which is that final girls normally defeat the final obstacle they face by accident or by some streak of luck. This shows that much like the genre of the film Evie is a hybrid of the final girl stereotype, she has lost her girlish characteristics and achieves her goals through planning but does survive to the end as the last significant female making her fit into the stereotype nonetheless. The film Children of Men however does not have this stereotype of a final girl, despite Kee surviving to the end of the film she does not do it through any of her own actions, the only reason she reaches her destination and survives the problems she faces throughout the film is through the actions of a male (Theo) and sacrifices others have made for her. She survives through to the end but does not meet any of the physical or mental stereotypes of a final girl so I do not feel that she should be placed into this category showing that the film Children of Men does not follow the common stereotype of genre of a final girl, and does so to convey the message that although women are necessary to keep the world going they need men to help them reach this goal and outcome.

The next stereotype i will focus on is that of a hypermasculine protagonist. The film V for Vendetta immediately meets this stereotype through the character of V. The character possesses super human speed and strength which immediately shows him as a hypermasculine alpha male. And scene which displays this to the greatest extent is in the conclusion of the film where V fights multiple soldiers in the underground and kills them all whilst being repeatedly shot at. This demonstration of his power shows his hypermasculine characteristics and representation perfectly meeting the traditional stereotype of a hypermasculine protagonist. You can also read into this in a psychosexual way as V uses large knives to repeatedly penetrate his enemies to show his dominance over them, this again supports the idea of him being hypermasculine as i shows his superiority as an alpha male. V for vendetta also turns the stereotypical female character of Evie into a hypermasculinised heroine who completes Vs Vendetta. When she becomes masculinised Evie loses her fear and also her hair, masculinising her personality and physical appearance. The way that both protagonists fit the hypermasculine stereotype conveys the message that only males can complete the important actions in the world, and gives the idea that women almost need to change and become like males to make an impact on the world. This message can be interpretated differently but that is how i personally read into the film. Children of Men however has no predominant hypermasculinised characters to fit into the stereotype, the only characters that i felt portrayed these characteristics were the revolutionary group ‘The Fishes’ during the scene in which they chase Theo and Kee as they try to escape. The fishes however are robbed of this hypermasculinity when they display feminine traits during the scene in which Kee is wandering through the battle ground with her baby and all fighting hold a ceasefire. This stop in fighting and consideration is a feminine trait of weakness which would not be portrayed by a hypermasculinised character. This leads me to the conclusion that V for Vendetta conforms to the stereotypes of a Hypermasculine protagonist whilst Children of Men does not conform to any extent.

The next main stereotype is that of a positive British National Identity. As a Hollywood film it is to be expected that even though it is dystopian V for Vendetta will still present Britain in a more tourist appealing attractive way than the film Children of Men will. V for Vendetta shows all the iconic locations of Britain such as the houses of parliament and the old Bailey, despite being a dystopian film we see very little evidence of this in the physicality’s of the buildings and locations in which the film is set. The majority of characters in the film are very well spoken in a typical British accent showing that the film follows these stereotypes of the British national identity. However the film has a totalitarian government with strong Nazi symbolism which goes against any stereotypes and traditional representations of the British. This is put in the film to show the dystopian theme of the film and means that the film cannot fully conform to the typical Representation of the British national identity so only meets the stereotype to a certain extent. The film Children of Men again goes against stereotypes and does not follow any stereotypes of British National Identity other than the accents which all of the English characters throughout the film possess. These are none of Britain’s typical tourist attractions shown and the country is presented in a negative light so would cause no desire for potential tourists watching the film to visit. I feel that the film goes against these stereotypes because it is a British made film rather than a Hollywood made film so it has no influences or pressures from outside sources to include a positive presentation of any aspects or buildings of the British.

In conclusion V for Vendetta conforms to the stereotypes of Characters and British National Identity to a much higher extent than children of men does. I feel that it does this because it is a Hollywood film so follows more typical conventions to attract a wider audience unlike the film children of men which was a British film and therefore aimed to give a truer representation of Britain and what the future holds rather than to simply create as much money as possible for those involved.