What Post-apocalyptic Fiction Can Tell Us about a Society? Cover Image

Co narracja postapokaliptyczna może powiedzieć o społeczeństwie?
What Post-apocalyptic Fiction Can Tell Us about a Society?

On Social and Political Discourses in Fiction as Seen in "V for Vendetta" Comic Book

Author(s): Wojciech Lewandowski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Political Theory, Sociology of Politics
Published by: Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Ficta
Keywords: dystopia;dystopian society;dystopian studies;V for Vendetta;post-apocalypse;Alan Moore;David Lloyd;
Summary/Abstract: Periods of brinkmanship and crisis encourage the rise of apocalyptical thinking in modern society.The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the rapid development of post-apocalyptic fiction, whose authors examined the human condition in the face of extinction. The development of nuclear weapons and the subsequent dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima became of the inspiration of numerous comic book writers to exploit nuclear war anxieties of societies still reeling from the carnage of World War II. Furthermore, comic books became a forum for the presentation of social, political and philosophical discourses. The aim of Wojciech Lewandowski’s chapter is to present, accordingly, an exposition on comics, as media, are capable visionaries of complex philosophical discourses. Another vector is the graphic novel that presents a forum to communicate political ideas without being perceived as a propaganda tool. The presentation of political ideas occurs explicitly in the textual sphere. Furthermore, they can be presented in more sublte ways by the use of symbols that are presented in the visual layer. It is therefore, the capabilities of political discourse that have led me to research the graphic novel, "V for Vendetta". In "V for Vendetta", author’s Alan Moore and David Lloyd, write of a dystopian post-apocalyptic Great Britain. Through the fictional dystopian narrative of the plot one can discern its great potential as a forum of social and political discussion on the contemporary problems of the real-world.

  • Page Range: 439-455
  • Page Count: 17
  • Publication Year: 2017
  • Language: Polish