re: #157 Targetpractice, Worst of Both Worlds

Well, part of the motivation also behind V for Vendetta was also as thinly-veiled satire of Thatcher’s Britain, with Moore believing that Maggie would lose in ‘83 and the coming new government would be one of total nuclear disarmament. Such that when nuclear war did come, Britain would be spared, but the government would quickly be overtaken by a fascist movement.

It’s a lot like Watchmen in that it draws a great deal on the symbolism of the early 80s, when everyone was convinced that nuclear war was inevitable, that conservative governments like Reagan’s and Thatcher’s would push the world to said war, and that the Soviet Union would remain in place virtually forever.

Thankfully it did not work out that way. The UK’s victory in the Falkland Islands War of 1982 left Thatcher even stronger after the General Election she called in its immediate wake. And both she and Ronald Reagan proved much smarter and more careful than their critics (or present day wingnuts) gave them credit for. Moreover, the Soviet Union turned out to be in much worse economic condition than had been thought. The USSR seemed on the march in the 1970’s when oil prices were high, but when they fell in the 1980’s Moscow was left in dire straights.