Is it normal annoyed at guy fawkes masks?

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19 Comments

So Anonymous and the hacktivist culture has appropriated the Guy Fawkes mask via V for Vendetta, and it's now a popular costume for protestors.

But do Americans actually know who Guy Fawkes was?

He was a guy who tried to blow up King James in 1605 because he wanted England to be a catholic nation and wanted to install a catholic queen in James' place. He was caught, tortured and executed.

He wasn't even the leader of the Gunpowder Plot. He was like the 17th century English equivalent of Bin Laden's buddy.

Every November 5th in England we have Bonfire Night, which is traditionally a celebration of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot - some people still burn Guy Fawkes effigy as part of the festivities!

So is it normal to find it annoying that people have chosen the mask of some religious terrorist as their costume rather than someone more appropriate?

Voting Results
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Based on 61 votes (43 yes)
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Comments ( 19 )
  • anti-hero
    9 years ago

    King James? The gay guy that Bible version was named after?

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      Wouldn't that be Queen James?

      Hyuk.

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      • anti-hero
        9 years ago

        It's funny to me that a lot of the anti gay Americans, refuse any non KJV translation.

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        • disthing
          9 years ago

          I'm sure they'd say any evidence he was gay is fabricated propaganda from the 'fag loving liberals'

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          • anti-hero
            9 years ago

            Damn history and its facts.

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  • Energy
    9 years ago

    I can't stand those ridiculous looking masks.

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  • dom180
    9 years ago

    It was my assumption that they use his face because Anonymous people tend to be anti-establishment just like Guy Fawkes was. An added benefit is that the mask is mass-produced enough for thousands of people to be able to buy it, making it viral.

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      I think they just use it because of V for Vendetta, in which an anarchist wears a Guy Fawkes mask and goes about encouraging revolution.

      But the real Guy Fawkes wasn't exactly anti-establishment - he was all for a monarchic dictatorship, he just wanted the person on the throne to be catholic. So went along with Robert Catesby's plan to blow the king up and put a catholic queen in his place. They were basically a band of violent religious extremists.

      It annoys me in the same way the appropriation of Che Guevara as a trendy t-shirt logo does - how many wearing Che's head even know who he was?

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      • xx'
        9 years ago

        The masks were used it the original Scientology protests where there was a real need to hide identities. Before the the mask was worn by EFG, who is basically an Internet folklore figure. I wouldn't worry about people knowing who Guy Fawkes was, just about everybody does, but I'd worry more about young people not having a clue about any of the real meanings behind the icon.

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      • dom180
        9 years ago

        Interesting. I suppose I imagined the idea of a man walking into the Houses of Parliament to blow it up to be a resonant image to a lot of people, regardless of why he was doing it. I've never seen V for Vendetta, which is why the reference wasn't obvious to me.

        I can understand being frustrated by the Che Guevara thing a lot more, because it seems to me from your explanation that the people wearing the Guy Fawkes masks aren't making use of the image of Guy Fawkes at all - they're making use of the image of the anarchist in the film. Does that make sense? Tell me if I'm totally off base, because as someone who hasn't seen the film I don't know how relevant Guy Fawkes is in it.

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        • disthing
          9 years ago

          Yeah I think you're right - it's a reference to the movie / graphic novel, not the historic figure.

          But that's sort of what irks me, that they've made the image of some crazy catholic terrorist into an icon of hacktivism instead of someone more deserving. Even Robert Catesby would make more sense, since he orchestrated the thing rather than being one of the followers.

          Anyway, I suppose it's like any cultural appropriation - sometimes the finer, historic details are lost along the way, or don't really matter to the majority. I should just accept it and move on ha :P

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        • Sog
          9 years ago

          From what I remember about the movie, it ties the lore of Guy Fawkes to a fictional post-modern dystopia where the people have lost their freedom to an oppressive government. The hero (or anti-hero) of the film is an anarchist who wants to blow up parliament to prove that it is the people and not the government who are in charge. The main character is sort of enamored with Guy Fawkes. Further along in the movie, the Guy Fawkes mask that he dons becomes the symbol of the movement he's driving.

          I definitely agree that the masks have more to do with this movie than the actual Guy Fawkes. Anonymous sees this world as fast approaching the fictional world from the film.

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  • dinz
    9 years ago

    We celebrate Guy Fawkes night here too in New Zealand. Much like our British friends it was usually a large bonfire and fireworks.

    In the old days some people would build a makeshift flag pole in the middle of bonfire (Traditionally it would be an Irish or French flag) and burn it due to the historical distrust of Catholics.

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      That's interesting - for some reason I always assumed the UK was the only place that had Bonfire (Guy Fawkes) Night.

      I'm assuming British settlers brought the tradition over to New Zealand? :/

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  • lfa00
    9 years ago

    I don't know. I mean, at least it's partly relevant. Do you have suggestions for alternatives?

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      Just the face of someone, anyone, that wasn't trying to replace one dictatorship with another.

      There are plenty of rebels with a cause throughout history, ones who have views more befitting white hat hacktivism.

      But I get that it's the V for Vendetta reference, and I get how that character suits their ideal. Maybe I should try and ignore the historic Guy Fawkes reference and see it as a costume from some movie/graphic novel instead :P

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      • lfa00
        9 years ago

        I know. I get it. I even kind of feel the same. But I did want you to step up and name someone rather than focus only on what's wrong. I've done a lot of that myself and it hasn't really worked out.

        There are people out there who want to make a difference and have a genuine effect. For me, I would welcome people wearing the face of Thomas Sankara.

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  • Canttel!
    9 years ago

    Who gives a flying fuck? Just dont look at it

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    • disthing
      9 years ago

      What do you mean? Unless you're blind, it's hard not to look at it. I mean I see it in the news and on the internet all the time.

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