While the man behind the original V for Vendetta graphic novel – Alan Moore – is hardly known to be a fan of its movie adaptation, anarchy is clearly in his blood. He's demonstrated that today by debuting a musical track of his own creation, with strong themes throughout.
Clearly inspired by the George Orwell essay of (almost) the same name, “The Decline of English Murder” looks at British habits and the hypocrisy of politicians, authorities and the general society as a whole. It describes those in power as being two faced in their efforts to fix problems, saying “your average psychopath, at least kills with a hammer or brick, not with greed or incompetence. And after two or three years, may even express remorse.”
On the subject of the British people, he swings at their cowardice and unwillingness to help change. The scenario described talks of a woman washing her hands below a missing person's picture and in another, a man pretending not to see people pushing in a line ahead of him.
This melancholy few minutes seems to generally be an attack on a culture of inaction. Mr Moore has previously praised the efforts of the Occupy movements around the world, saying to critics that it was like a, “tidal wave, [it] cannot be said to have succeeded or failed. All that it can be said to have done is changed things.”
The song is available to listen on the NME soundcloud and discussed here.
KitGuru Says: Mr Moore makes some good points, though they don't seem as original as they must have done when V for Vendetta was originally serialised. Maybe I'm not smart enough for this one guys, but this song took some real concentration to pull meaning from it. If it's supposed to be a rallying cry of sorts, wouldn't something more intellectually accessible be of more benefit?