November 5, 2011

A Revolution With Dancing

"...a revolution without dancing is hardly a revolution worth having"
In the spirit of today, I decided to revisit one of my favorite movies - the 2006 adaptation of V for Vendetta.

In all honesty, yes, much of it was that the Guy Fawkes-symbolism seemed appropriate today, when I was encouraged to remember, remember, the fifth of November....when something dawned on me towards the end:

At this moment in time - in 2011 - our nation is actually living out the themes of this movie.


Well, no, there's no guy in a mask who's murdering government higher ups....no overt censorship of television or power-mad dictators....but at its heart, the film version of V for Vendetta provides a much stronger, clearer call to action than Alan Moore's graphic novel could - or did.

On a superficial level (for me, at least), it's very heartening to see some of the participants in movements like Occupy Wall Street. It's great to see "regular" people deciding to take on a greater, more oppressive force. And much like V for Vendetta, there is no great single individual leading this - what makes my heart swell is that this is one of those rare art-meets-life moments.

And I'm so glad I'm living through it. So much so that as the new lead organizer of Chicago Net Tuesday (or #net2chi in December), I'm seriously tempted to start wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and cloak.

The revolution seems to be starting. And I'm happy to be a part of it, in a small way.

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