V for Vendetta....as well as vergelimbo

When I left the theatre after seeing V for Vendetta, I was notably shaken. An hour after the film had ended, my mind was still reeling from the horrific beauty of the film's final minutes. Fortunately for me, I wasn't the one having to drive home, as my mind had been "superstimulated" by the provocative nature and themes expressed in the film. My driving ability would have been severely affected by the synaptic fireworks "going off" in my mind.

Watch a preview of "V for Vendetta" on limbovision.org

Verge's Verbose Verbiage on the Vexing Value of Villainy: [Not a film review...]

This is a very powerful film that I believe everyone should see, whether they intend to, or not. That being said, many people have already made up their minds not to see this film based on some prejudice or another: the genre of film, the directors/cast involved or someone else's personal interpretation of the film's themes. If you are prepared to outsource your own thinking and personal opinion-making to third-parties, alas, this is NOT a film for you. Nonetheless, it is an important film which deals with critical political issues we are now facing as a society of individuals, or choosing to ignore [eg: torture, rendition, privacy, homophobia, media manipulation, religious zeal, government corruption, civil rights, freedom of expression, justice, oppression, accountability]

Understandably, people often temporarily put aside the weighty issues listed above in favor of more peaceful thoughts. The hectic pace of life, and simply making ends meet can be stressful enough, it seems. People can easily comfort themselves and avoid anxieties by suppressing discomforting thoughts, or denying them outright, choosing rather to focus on the positive elements of their lives. Eventually, these ideas will surface again, demanding your attention. Continuous avoidance of troublesome ideas, either by their suppression or denial, can lead to the condition of ignoring reality altogether [QV: escapism]

The ability to redirect mental focus is an essential coping skill of humans. Often, this function serves to "protect" the individual from an untimely onslaught of vexing data that would interrupt a person's ability to deal with the immediate situation in which they find themselves. Ideally, a proper time to confront troubling issues eventually arises. Downtime is not only important, but necessary for this reason. Similarly, while we sleep and dream, more complex and intimidating ideas can be processed by the very act of our dreaming. But what happens when we are shortchanged of our "downtime" or our sleep time becomes fitful and irregular?

I sometimes wonder if our 24-7 lifestyle of perpetual stimulation, never-closing stores, internet access, videos on demand, and the increasingly competitive global community robs us of the much needed reprieve from stimulus formerly offered by a healthy sleep schedule. Third-shifters, parent(s) with newborns, those working 2 or 3 jobs, insomniacs etc often experience a form of mental fatigue that results from their irregular sleep schedules, or exhaustion. Research has shown that irregular sleep habits can severely limit essential cognitive functions, including decision-making and problem-solving. Prolonged periods of sleep deprivation can lead to a complete mental and physical collapse.

Recent sleep research suggests that America is a nation of sleep deprived individuals. Combine that observation with the apparent non-stop barrage of information-stimulus we each receive, day in day out, and one arrives at an extremely troubling conclusion: Our decision-making ability is impaired, and our ability to solve the problems we confront in daily life is similarly impaired. If we dare to extrapolote that conclusion to the nation's population, we quickly find ourselves living in a nation of individuals improperly equipped to deal with the complex realities and vicissitudes of Western life in the twenty-first century.

That Can't Be Good...



See this film with friends, ideally on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Leave me your comments below and sleep well!