V for Vendetta

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In the movie V for Vendetta, the character of Evey Hammond undergoes a dramatic change in her behavior. At the beginning of the film, she is a high self-monitor who works for the British Television Network. Though Evey knows that the news anchors she works with obediently tell the public whatever the government wants them to say, she doesn’t do anything to right this injustice. Within the privacy of her own home, she is visibly and audibly upset at what she sees on television: a tirade against anyone perceived as “Godless.” In public, however, Evey does not speak about her views because she could be punished by authority figures or peers. In her country, people have been detained, tortured, and even killed for their beliefs. If she were to share her thoughts with others in her position, she would run the risk of being turned in to the government. Evey exhibits socially desirable behavior to avoid such consequences. For instance, she tries to avoid being out after the government enforced curfew. When the authorities catch her out after curfew, she is contrite. (In fact, she apologizes a lot during the beginning of the movie. This demonstrates her desire to please others.) Evey’s fear-based lifestyle is largely influenced by her explanatory (attributional) style. For the most part, she has a pessimistic explanatory style. She attributes her situation to an internal cause; she believes that she is not a strong enough person to stand up for what she believes in. She tells V that she thinks she is not as brave as her parents, and therefore cannot fight back against the government as they did. She declares: “I wish I wasn’t afraid all of the time, but I am.” Evey assumes that the conditions she lives under are stable; she doesn’t think that they are going to get any better. Also, she makes global attributions for the decisions that she and others have to make.
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