Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot.
Interesting history behind this day.
In recent years (and in films such as V for Vendetta) this day has come to represent a day in which the masses stand up against tryants. (ie. the November 5th fundraising push for constitutionalist Presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul)
In actuality however, the holiday and the rhyme celebrate the exact opposite. The poem celebrates how England put an end to the gunpowder plot and captured Guy Fawkes. The celebration is a fireworks laden festival that culminates with burning the revolutionary in effigy.
A note to would-be revolutionaries… if you are going to co-opt history to rally support, it is best to get the facts first… maybe you missed the last line in the poem…
God save the King!
Ah, well, now, when you’re on the topic of V for Vendetta, you’re on my topic. Not the movie, though. The incomplete comic series turned complete trade paperback that it has been my pleasure to own for lo these many years (was I really in college 20 years ago? yikes) and reread from time to time.
Anyway, where was I? The poem is used by V (not Evie) in the comic in a way that is surely ironic, since, as you say, the rhyme is in fact pro-establishment, so to speak; V coopts the cartoonish image of Guy Fawkes in effigy as well as Guy Fawkes Day because he is, after all, engaged in acts of terrorism; there’s really no two ways about it. The culmination of the story is V removing himself from the picture (in favor of Evie) simply because there is no room for a terrorist like himself in a rebuilding society.
My point being: Alan Moore knew what he was doing when he referred to it. (Ron Paul’s supporters, maybe not.)
Random
I totally agree that V for Vendetta’s use of Fawkes was meant as irony, and maybe the Ron Paul folks had the same intent (doubtful). I guess I should have been clearer in saying that it seems that as a direct result of the film, people have started to jump on the character as a rallying point.
I didn’t really mean to imply that Moore was unaware of his history – instead that the average person just now becoming familiar with the character has no clue to the original intent of the rhyme. When he/she knows any of the original poem at all, they only know those first four lines I quoted and think it celebrates Fawkes.
The real irony in it all is that because of the excellent use of irony, people tend to think of the poem and the day exactly opposite of its original intent.