In the thirty-ninth episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I present a special episode as they compare and contrast the graphic novel V for Vendetta and its film adaptation.

In this episode, we discussed how the two versions of the story reflected on the social, cultural, and historical periods in which they emerged: the graphic novel on the Cold War and Margaret Thatcher era of the 1980s in the United Kingdom, and the film on the War on Terror and George Bush era of the 2000s in the United States. Both stories rely on a figure of anarchy to tell their tales about power, oppression, fear, and resistance, but there are notable differences in how they do so.

Throughout the conversation, we also relate these two versions to the current state of affairs: the War on Facts and Donald Trump era of the 2010s in the United States. In doing so, we bring up issues of contemporary fascism, the positives and negatives of social media, and the circular nature of power in human civilization and history.

As always, you are encouraged to become a part of this conversation by visiting any of the podcast’s social media sites. You can also talk with Christopher Olson on Twitter (@chrstphrolson) and at his academic blog seemsobvioustome.wordpress.com. And you can talk to me on Twitter (@mediaoracle).