Janne Leimola

33; vegan 8 years; hometown Turku, Finland

 

"I’m working on my thesis at the moment. Title will be something like ‘Anarchism and Criticism of Power in Film.’ It is a study of how anarchism and anarchists are represented in fiction films. Mainstream American films seem to have two stereotypes of anarchists: One is bearded, bomb-throwing terrorist, and other is a young punk rocker.

 

"I can't remember how I got the idea, maybe watching films about civil war in Spain, where anarchists fought against Franco, or maybe when I was watching V for Vendetta. The original comic is much more clear about the main character being an anarchist than the American film, which gives more watered-down version of politics of the character V. I only found one book about the subject, called ‘Film and the Anarchist Imagination,’ written in 1999. I believe in a society without hierarchy and without government. I think all forms of government are based on violence and are harmful. So yes, I guess that will make me an anarchist. I've been reading a lot more of political philosophy than I used to, but I had this view of the world already before the project."

 

photo by Jeremie Frémaux