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An Annotation of Literary, Historic, and Artistic References
in Alan Moore's Graphic Novel, _V_for_Vendetta_.
Madelyn Boudreaux, Madelyn@gothics.org
April 27, 1994

Part 2 of 3

Copyright 1994, Madelyn Boudreaux.
Distribute but do not modify.  Send corrections, changes, and 
suggestions to Madelyn@gothics.org.  


92, 2, 1	torch song
	A torch song is a popular song style;  torch songs are 	
	always about unrequieted love (Simpson 264).

92, 3, 2	queers
	The slang "queer," which generally meant odd or 	
	strange, took on the meaning of "homosexual," circa 	
	1920 (Partridge, _Unconventional_, 1354).  In this 	
	instance, it is referring to homosexuality.

93, 1, 1	yids
	This term, which derives from the word "Yiddish," the 	
	language of Israeli Jews, is a perjorative reference to all
	Jewish people, regardless of whether they speak 	
	Yiddish (Partridge, _Unconventional_, 971).

104, 3, 2	The Salt Flats
	This is not a real film. Halliwell gives no entry for it, and 	
	it appears to only serve a minor internal plot point, as 	
	Valerie Page's popular film.

107, 2, 3	Storm Saxon
	This television show appears (thankfully) to be another 	
	invention.  _The_Complete_Encyclopedia_of		
	_Television_Programs_,1947-1979_, includes no such 	
	program. The choice of the name "Saxon" is important; 	
	the Saxons were descendents of the Norse conquerers 	
	who settled in France and England in the 5th century 	
	(Greer 178-179).  Note that Storm's female companion 	
	is a white-clad blond named Heidi -- the paragon of 	
	Aryan purity!

108, 2, 2	...on N.T.V one...
	Apparently, N.T.V. stands for Norsefire Television, and 	
	is the replacement for the B.B.C.-T.V., the British 	
	Broadcasting Corporation's television programing 	
	(Greene 566).

108, 2, 3, 	...here on One...
	The B.B.C. currently airs on Channel One and Channel 	
	Two (Greene 566).

112, 1, 3	...Pay your bloody licence money for?
	The B.B.C. is non-Commercial, and is supported by 	
	selling license fees paid by television and radio owners.

114, 1, 2	Space image
	This is Neil Armstrong walking on the moon's surface.  	
	Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, took 	
	his historic step in 1968.

115, 3, 2	"...you always hurt the one you love...the one 	
			you shouldn't hurt at all.
	"You Always Hurt The One You Love" was a song by the 
	Mills Brothers in 1944 (remade into a novelty tune by 
	Spike Jones).    

116, 3, 1	Hitler
	One of the images in the background collage is of Adolf
	Hitler, leader of the German Nazi party, the ultra-right 	
	wing government that held Germany from 1933 to 1945 	
	and executed some 6 million Jews, Gypsies, 		
	homosexuals, and other political prisoners (Sauer 248).

116, 3, 1	Stalin	
	Josef Stalin's picture is included because, like Hitler 	
	and Mussolini, he is associated with violent tyranny.  He
	controlled the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953; during 	
	the years between 1934 and 1939, he imprisoned and 	
	killed his political enemies, which was nearly every 	
	military member, politician, and thinker in the country 	
	(Simmonds 571-74)

116, 3, 1	Mussolini
	Benito Mussolini, another leader pictured in the collage,
	was an Italian leader who's despotism was nearly equal
	to Hitler's.  Although he began as a pacifistic socialist, 	
	during WWI, he formed his right-wing Fascist Party.  He
	was the Italian dictator from 1922 to 1943, and 		
	controlled Northern Italy from 1943 to 1945, before he 	
	was executed (Smith 677-78).

117, 2, 1	troops marching in the background (image)
	These are Nazi troops from Hitler's army.

124, 2, 3	Sarky
	This slang for sarcastic dates to the late 19th century. 	
	(Partridge, _Unconventional_, 727).

125, 2, 1	...who's flag is deepest red...
	Red flags have historically symbolized anarchists or 	
	communists, or both.

125, 3, 1	...I like the thrill... of the triumphant will..
	This line from the caberet song refers to the famous 	
	Nazi propaganda-documentary film , 			
	_The_Triumph_of_the_Will_, produced for Hitler 		
	by Leni Riefenstahl in 1934.  The film depicts the 	
	Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally of 1934 as a 		
	"quasireligious, mystical experience," just as the singer 	
	is describing (Cook 366).

126, 1, 2	"...blonde and blue-eyed boy..."
	This is yet another reference to the Aryan ideal race.

126, 1, 2	The Kitty-Kat Keller
	The name of the night club is possible a reference to 	
	the similar burlesque club, the Kit Kat Klub, from the 	
	film _Caberet_, which is set at the dawn of Hitler's rise 	
	to power in pre-World War II Germany.  Both stand out 	
	as having the initials KKK, which carries an inevitable 	
	association with the infamous white-supremist 		
	organization, the  Ku Klux Klan.

126, 3, 1	and when they 'heil' I smile...
	Still another reference to the Nazis; the "heil" was the 	
	verbal salute given to Hitler along with an upraised right 	
	arm.

143, 3, 2	Punch and Judy Man
	Punch and Judy shows are puppet shows which 		
	originated in Italy sometime before the 17th century.  	
	They are extremely violent; Punch generally beats all 	
	the other characters to death.  Like V, Punch always 	
	destroys his enemies (_Encyclopedia_Americana_ 6).

166, -, - 	Paintings (images)
	I have been unable to determine the artists or titles of 	
	the paintings on this page.

173, 2, 1	Arthur Koestler, _The_Roots_of_Coincidence_
	Koestler was an early 20th century journalist, humanist 	
	and intellectual.  This work, which dealt with the 		
  	paranormal (Encyclopedia Americana (530-31).
© by Ralf Hildebrandt
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