Children of Men, V for Vendetta, and the Holocaust
Julianne Arnstein
The films Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, Japan, U.K., and U.S.) and V for Vendetta (James McTeigue, 3/17/06, U.S., U.K., and Germany) do not have alien others or non-humans, but there is a clear separation of certain people from the main population that is reminiscent of the Holocaust. In Children of Men illegal immigrants are the targets of a military government; in V for Vendetta a military government keeps its citizens in check. These films address ethnicity by showing scenes that display common stories of genocide. Futuristic technology is hardly present in either film, but they are set in the future: the films show a futuristic world that is not moving forward because of how it is run. The two endings of the films are very different but both convey change. The “alien others” of each film are regular people who are condemned because of a category they are put in.
In Children of Men the alien other is the pregnant woman and the child when it is born, but the illegal immigrants are the ridiculed “others”. Although the immigrants in Children of Men are a mix of races, they are treated as a group of similar people facing genocide. They are gathered by the military government and put in living camps which are like concentration camps and ghettos merged together. The image above is of immigrants in prisons, some being tortured. After this scene the main characters are taken to broken-down living quarters, which are surrounded by war zones. This is how Jews had to live during the Holocaust. At first they were put together in broken-down ghettos, though not as destroyed as those in Children of Men. Then they were moved and tortured in concentration camps. In V for Vendetta the human test subjects of the past, including the main character V, are even more similar to the Jews. The military government in the film has a party symbol, like the Nazi swastika, there is a liberty-taking police force, like the Gestapo, and there is one leader who has complete power, like Hitler. (This can be seen above) There is a curfew for common citizens: in the beginning the main character Evey is harassed by the police as if she is a rebel, but she is still a regular citizen as this point. The test subjects from the past were tortured and then used for scientific experimentation: this happened in concentration camps in a much more gruesome way. Also, the woman who lived next to V in the facility was gay (seen above); this is a clear reference to the Holocaust where homosexuals were killed without question. Children of Men and V for Vendetta both have military governments torturing and concentrating certain groups of people.
Technology is most present in the giant flat-screen televisions in both films. The second-most popular technology is the military’s guns and trucks (seen above). Then there is the new science: home suicide kits in Children of Men and testing vaccines on humans in V for Vendetta. There are no flying spaceships or hovering cars or laser weapons. Why is this? Why do two science fiction films, set in the future, hardly show new technology at all? It is a message. In Children of Men there are no new humans so there is no need for new technology. In V for Vendetta the military government is too secretive. The point of each film is that if the common citizens cannot move forward in their communities then technology will not move forward. Each film also has a message of the persistence of nature. In Children of Men the countryside and the city are very different. The country is very dangerous: there are crazy people there and rebels also live there. In the city the people are supposed to feel safe but it is dirty, packed, and also dangerous. Humans have destroyed their natural environment and made it unliveable. So nature has in turn made sure that humans will be destroyed so that nature can someday rebuild itself. In V for Vendetta science is unable to fuse with nature. Human test subjects are not helping sick people; they are just being tortured to death. Scientists think that they have finally found a source of perfect experimentation, but V breaks out (seen above) and they see that they cannot mess with human beings. The lack of new technology in both films is a message that people who are not in a fitting environment will not be able to prosper.
The ending shot of Children of Men (seen above) is a beacon of hope: no matter what humans can still find their natural side, and nature will always dominate. At the end of V for Vendetta the military order is destroyed and the science lab is destroyed. When the military order is destroyed it is a victory of the people. When the science lab is destroyed it is a message that science will not dominate. It is not a victory but a sign that unnatural order cannot last when there are victims.
In Children of Men and V for Vendetta certain groups of people are separated, tortured, and killed just as the Jews were in the Holocaust. The “alien others” in Children of Men were illegal immigrants and in V for Vendetta were rebels of the government turned human test subjects. Each film makes references to things that happened during the Holocaust, addressing ethnicity in science fiction. The lack of technology in each future is a message that the destruction of humanity will lead to a loss of innovation, and ultimately nature will return. In the end both films break free of the ordered environment and lead into a new society that the audience will not see. Children of Men and V for Vendetta are reminiscent of events from the Holocaust and display ethnicity through science fiction. (1)(2)
1. Children of Men, dir. Alfonso Cuaron, perf. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. 2007. DVD, Universal, 2007.
2. V for Vendetta, dir. James McTeigue, perf. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. 2006. DVD, Warner Bros., 2006.
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