Mise-en-scene - Costume and Make up

V For Vendetta (2005)

Detail how costume & make-up is used in creating meaning and understanding in a film.

V for Vendetta tells the story of a masked catalysis who's life had been dedicated to get revenge for how the government and establishment made him, and his costume perfectly summarizes his intentions. V wears a Guy Fawkes mask, firstly to hide his true identity, but also secondly to follow the classic story of Guy Fawkes, a man who intended to blow up the houses of Parliament and was caught and charged with treason on the 5th of November. As V is a man looking for revenge on the government, a Guy Fawkes mask mask seems only logical. 

V also wears a large black hat and an all black, armour-looking suit. As all of his costume is black it gives a clear indication that V has lost the colour from his life, and as because of the previous government experiment that made him the way he is, it could show the factor that he's no longer human, he's just a masked shade. The black costume is also a very good disguise as he's able to hide in the shadows, thus the black hat so a shadow is always on his face, even though he's masked, he's still trying to hide his identity further; this is possibly due to a lost identity, once again because of his lack of humanity. V's appearance is also extremely neat and tiny, displaying that he's a very efficient character. The knifes he carries are also an indicator of his efficiency, as he states in a famous scene in the film, although knives are slower then guns, knifes don't need to be reloaded and are there for more efficient and effective. 

Lastly, V is rather famous for his large thick cloak, personifying himself as somewhat super-hero like and becomes a symbolical freedom fighter for the anti-government revolution that takes place in the final scenes. V's all black costume plus the Guy Fawkes mask has been so famous and recognizable that it's still used in real-life protests, and ones that aren't even necessarily linked to the government. V's costume provides the perfect symbolism of revenge, revolutions and anti-conformist change; which is exactly V's character summed up. He was a precises, masked, cloaked, mysterious character, who lived in the shadows with a missing identity and aimed for one thing, revenge.