A Fistful of Dead Roses

     Art, music, and books are the way that people have always expressed their ideas and thoughts. Now think if it was all gone just one day. There was no more art to appreciate, no more music to lose your self in, no more books to create new worlds for you. The only art known are government posters, the music is a military anthem, the only written words are "Strength through purity,Purity through faith".  This is the world that Alan Moore created in V for Vendetta a world with no more inspiration. Allen Moore created a character, V, who would not stand for this type of world with no more beauty in it. He had begun to fight back far before he plotted to destroy the government. The Shadow Gallery was more than just a place for V to live in it was where culture had taken refuge. When Evey sees the Gallery she stunned by the immense amount of culture the world once had "You couldn't be expected to know.They have eradicated culture...tossed it away like a fistful of dead roses" (Moore 18). The Shadow Gallery is the  home of lost knowledge, of rebellion and revenge, and the hidden hope for a world to once again express itself without restraint, V protected culture through the shadow gallery by storing it away so that one day we could have culture once again.
     When the new government took over in V for Vendetta they eliminated knowledge that could destroy the government. Art, music, and books are a way to learn and fight. They express the lives of
different people, the way they think and see the world. This knowledge inspires you to look at the world through the eyes of the artist and in turn take your own perspective on the world. Artist do not create great
 works just to create, it has a purpose to show the world a different side, idea, or way. This is so that people can make their own decisions in life. This fascist government in the graphic novel on the other hand wanted people to be controlled. They watched  people twenty-four hours a day telling them that it was for their protection. They took away knowledge so that  people could not fight back. The words and thoughts of people before them that were once controlled just as they are was taken away, their voices silenced. So that people never even thought about a revolution to stop the tyranny that took place. In the shadow gallery there were books, classics, one of them was the french revolution. How different would it have been if people had that book in their hands. To read the fights and a victories of people that fought against their government. Even paintings that depicted wars and victories would have been taken from this world. Music that  only inspired obedience was played to citizens. What about music that said I could do anything, that I was free. There were different works created that even depicted what their government was doing, such as Fahrenheit 451which was a novel that talked about the burning of books. To silence the ideas that were written and for people to only learn from what the government produced. In Lessig's Free Culture he explains that  "At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated. Of course, if your stories were lewd, or if your song disturbed the peace, then the law might intervene. But the law was never directly concerned with the creation or spread of this form of culture, and it left this culture“free”"(Lessig 8). Culture was spread by word of mouth, but in this fascist society spreading your words was impossible. The eyes of the government were everywhere ready to send officials down and lock you away.  People had lost this form of knowledge if they had it they would have fought back years ago. V was inspired by these great works and new that he could fight back he kept the knowledge hidden in the shadow gallery until the day when he could use them.
      The Shadow Gallery in itself was a form of rebellion. The government had forbidden or destroyed these works and V had run off and found them. It was a protest to the government that you can not silence expression. That no matter what their will be someone that will rise against its oppressor. They tried to destroy culture, but right under their noses was a place full of culture. All the works in the Gallery, V used them to learn from. He read and studied them coming to the conclusion that he had to wake the people up. The works inspired him to fight back and never quite. Lessig explains how culture can be used to make a difference  "Or think about the amazing things your community could facilitate with digital technology—a wiki, a barn raising, activism to change something"(Lessig 305). Culture influences us to find different ways to stand up to oppressors. Finding ways for our voices to ring out and be heard over the millions of other people. The shadow Gallery was a place for V to teach people lessons. Lewis Prothero also known as the voice of fate had been one of V's torturer's . V had created the Gallery to become the Resettlement camp he was prisoner in making Prothero a prisoner as well, not only in the Gallery but in his mind. Just as V is lost in his own head so now Prothero is as well, by torturing him through burning his most prized possessions. The gallery is also where V brought Evey and tortured her until she became free like him. It was where Evey's own want to fight back and rebel was born.The shadow gallery is the base of operations where V's revenge takes place.
     Hidden away from the eyes of the world the Shadow Gallery remains waiting for society. There is a hope with its very existence, that one day culture will rise again. The gallery represents the world that civilization lost and that one day it would return again. That people would be free to express themselves without fear of being punished. That being different would not be a crime. Culture is a fundamental part of the human spirit. It allows us to express our inner thoughts, desires, or ideas. Creativity is the bases of culture were humans are able to take an idea and turn it into a masterpiece. If culture is restricted or disapproved of it demolishes the very essence of the human soul. Great works are then forgotten and the voices of generations before us are silenced. Not many people realize the value that culture has, it is its own language. "Otherwise only a very few people can write with this language, and all the rest of us are reduced to being read-only"(Lessig 37). If culture is kept away from humanity it creates a rift in our ability to write as Lessig states, but soon it will also affect are ability to read. Once the government puts a stop on creativity it will try to limit it more and more only allowing what they think is suitable to exist.
     The shadow Gallery is more than just the home of V it is the home of culture. Just as V is more that a man with a Vendetta he is the protector of culture. Many people are to focused on how V is fighting against the government due to what was done to him but not how he keeps culture alive. V has stored away the culture that was ripped away from society. Keeping the the knowledge that is found in culture safe, using it to rebel, and waiting for the day that culture would  once again be free. Culture is what sets us apart and allows us to see the world as it is. As V states in the graphic novel "No, Evey,no more blindfolds"(Moore 171). 


work cited

http://moodle.csun.edu/file.php/30286/freeculture.pdf
Moore, Alan V for Vendetta, DC Comics, 1990.