Posted on 11/05/2013 1:30:15 PM PST by Alex Murphy
"The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny — and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," British graphic novel artist David Lloyd, the man who created the original image of the mask for a comic strip written by Alan Moore, told BBC.
At the top of Reddit today is somewhat ironic image of this icon of rebellion being mass-produced in a factory in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro.
Reuters notes that the masks are manufactured for sale to stores specializing in costumes.
There's no doubt that the masks, which transform identifiable citizens into anonymous dissidents, irk authorities. Canada recently passed a law that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Notably, the mask has become a symbol of the amorphous hacktivist group Anonymous.
And Lloyd approves of the online jesters using the mask.
"My feeling is the Anonymous group needed an all-purpose image to hide their identity and also symbolize that they stand for individualism — V for Vendetta is a story about one person against the system," Lloyd told BBC.
An interesting note is that Time Warner, one of the largest media companies in the world and parent of Warner Brothers, owns the rights to the image and is paid a licensing fee with the sale of each mask.
In 2011 purported members of Anonymous told CNN that activists were ordering masks mass-produced and shipped in from Asia so that Time Warner didn't receive the loyalties.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
....An interesting note is that Time Warner, one of the largest media companies in the world and parent of Warner Brothers, owns the rights to the image and is paid a licensing fee with the sale of each mask. In 2011 purported members of Anonymous told CNN that activists were ordering masks mass-produced and shipped in from Asia so that Time Warner didn't receive the loyalties.
I saw a guy (no pun intended) wearing one today.....on the back of his head.
Because Reagan and Thatcher were OH-SO tyrannical in the 1980s when these Brits concocted their “adult comic” set in ‘the future’.
"Look at me! I'm unique! I even bought the uniform!!!"
Time-Warner-Alan Moore-et al don't receive the royalties. Neither do the wage slaves who pressed them out of industrial machines in Chiner. "Fight tyranny with slave labour!" That'll learn 'em!
All the little people buying these masks in droves will certainly make good little communists. Give’m a Mao jacket at half price to go with it and they will be in heaven. Such daring nonconformists. (sarc)
It is prominent in the movie “V for Vendetta”. A very good movie IMHO, even if the tyrants are identified as conservatives even though the tactics are obviously leftist.
I’d say Robin Hood masks would be appropriate wear for patriot rally wear.
That’s funny they did not want Time Warner involved but talked to Time Warner employee/reporter about it. Which would make money on it by the commercials for CNN owned by Time Warner. Life is so ironic at times. Lol!!!
“All the little people buying these masks in droves will certainly make good little communists.”
I think anarchist or libertarian would be more likely; while I have little in common with them politically, I have no problem with anarchists clad in black disrupting the WTO in Seattle or Occupy Wall Street camping in NYC. These are Americans watching their way of life disappear, and while they may be libs they ain’t taking it sitting down.
I remember when Occupy Wall Street started attacking Obama in their interviews; they were never interviewed again, and while they were still around they received 0 coverage. They thought he was their guy, and when they realized he wasn’t the cameras were pulled away.
As an Irish Catholic, I say Guy Fawkes masks are OK. At a minimum they conceal your identity from the thousands of cameras we pass every day in our normal routines.
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