Preliminaries
Who am I?
I am not a fan of
Television. I'm not a fanatic of Television. I don't have as big a
problem with the term “fan” as some people do, and whether or not
it is still an equivalent definition of “fanatic” is debatable in
my eyes (possibly on this show some day?).
Regardless, I'm
just not that into Western, Live-Action Television. I'm certainly a
fanatic when it comes to certain Anime, however I wouldn't call
myself a fan of Anime either. Even less so, actually, since I think
the ratio of decent to crap is much much lower for Anime than it is
for Western Television. And yet, I still will at least try to watch
Anime more often than Television, which means that I miss out on a
lot of great and even just good Television.
I guess I prefer to
think of myself as having an affinity for media in general; I play
some video games, I watch some TV, I watch some Anime, I go to the
movies, I listen to music, and I rea- wait no I don't read much
anymore. I'm simultaneously more interested in media than the average
person and exposed to much less media (and a much narrower selection
of media) than the average person. I like to pick a few things and
delve deep into them, not getting a lot of variety but a lot of
fulfillment regardless.
What I already know about The Prisoner
Not much. I know
it's British. It's old. It's considered a short but landmark show in
television history. It's a bit of a cult classic. It's science
fiction. I've seen a promo picture that I think featured a globe
city, kind of like the one in RahXephon (I'm sure it's a very common
trope but that's my best example right now). I've also seen
promotional materials featuring a very old-fashioned looking bicycle
with a huge wheel.
But most of all, I
know of it when it's spoken of in the same breath as Neon Genesis
Evangelion. The two are often compared for their supposedly similar
out-of-left-field endings which polarized audiences. I'm interested
to see, then, whether this show will work for me or not, since I
happened to love the ending to Eva. Then again, that was a bit of a
special case, as I normally have a low tolerance for pretentious,
arty “non-endings” in films.
Relationship to this genre.
Well in general I
love Science Fiction, even bad Science Fiction if it's in line with
aesthetics I enjoy. There's not really a cyberpunk film out there
that I wouldn't try, even if I knew it was going to be terrible.
Nemesis? Seen that shit at least 5 times.
If this is indeed
what I think it might be: a classic science fiction,
metaphorical/allegorical, psychological thriller then I'm probably
going to enjoy it quite a bit. Again, the comparisons drawn to
Evangelion were a big plus for me, since it's one of my favorite
shows, hell, cultural phenomena of all time.
I'm a bit wary
because I think it also describes 2001 A Space Odyssey, which I can't
stand. I suppose based on logic and gut instinct The Prisoner could
go either way for me. If it is indeed the polarizing show it seems to
be, I'll probably be shouting from one side of the fence or the
other.
The Prisoner: Episode 01
Remarks
Definitely not reminiscent
of Evangelion at all, at least at this stage. It's not even really
like other highly conceptual SciFi, it definitely feels much more
like The Avengers and other British television of its time period.
Although, considering how much they throw at you in the first
episode, I foresee this getting incredibly twisted around by the end,
to the point where it's become a very different show tonally and
thematically.
The production values are
adorably quaint and of their time. The lava lamps, the bowl chairs,
the big projection monitors, the giant white bouncy ball of doom, the
typewriter-button'd computers, the tinker toy analysis machine, it's
all seemingly thrown in for kicks. Even at the time I can't imagine
they thought people would take that stuff seriously, so I can only
imagine (and hope) that they're red herrings and thoughtfully
deployed to keep us off guard or have us underestimate what we're
getting into, much like the often jarringly discordant music.
Our main character is
fast-moving, smart, and very active. He's burning through information
for both him and the audience at such a blazing pace, I can't imagine
what they're gonna pull out to put in his path next. It seems like he
exhausted most of the tricks up the Village's sleeve in the very
first episode. I can see them using increasingly more psychological
tactics on him. Also, names, the fact that his name is conspicuously
absent (I went back and checked his ID card, no name) is going to
become really significant. The whole “I am not a number” exchange
is so powerful it broke out of the show and became absorbed into
popular culture, because I've definitely heard it before sampled in
music and other media before.
The Bicycle was also so
iconic that I've seen it in other places before; it seems to be the
symbol of the show. I'm not sure how it fits into the whole concept
of The Prisoner yet.
I see two main driving
forces for the premise of the show, and they both feed off of each
other but are not necessarily inherent to each other. One, the people
who captured 6 want information from him. They're trying all sorts of
different tactics, slowly escalating (they even say this explicitly).
Two, 6 wants to escape. That's it, he doesn't need a better reason
than that to escape, however it's clear that he IS hiding some very
important information, that he resigned suddenly for a very important
reason, it's just that the audience has no right to expect that from
him. His wanting freedom is justification enough for pretty much all
of his actions, which honestly I think is a really clever conceit for
the show. If the audience asks, “Why doesn't he just tell them and
they'll let him go?” The audience is being stupid. 6, and by
extension, the audience, realize early on that escape is the only way
out. Whatever his ulterior motives, the overt motive of simply
wanting to get out and ONLY having the one option: escape, allows for
a lot of freedom for the show to tease things out of 6 at whatever
pace they decide works best.
The first diving force
could offer us some interesting commentary on the use of torture and
what we as the audience/society deem “acceptable” use of force.
The point that The Prisoner seems to be getting at, at least as of
the first episode, is that psychological torture is a very real
phenomena and much more amorphous and morally nebulous than say,
water-boarding or what have you.
Themes and motifs that
seem to be cropping up and will probably be consistent throughout:
time, information, names, surveillance, and trust/loyalty. Also
bicycles. And chess. And lava lamps, now that I think about it.
Predictions
- Number 6 will most likely break out, or seemingly break out, ~ ½ to ¾ through the show, then either be recaptured or realize he was hallucinating/going insane/MIND GAMES
- The Ball is more than it seems to 6, it's possibly sentient and maybe even slightly out of control of the people running the Village
- At some point 6 will have the sense to bring a knife, scissors, or a pencil to a fight with the Ball.
- Purple room in the hospital will probably show up again later, 6 will spend some time in there.
- The numbers labeling is going to be a contentious, recurring issue with 6 as the show goes along.
Jesus, your episode reaction is so much saner and shorter and more rationally formatted than mine.
ReplyDeleteAlso I love that your who-I-am section translates out to: "JUDGMENTAL, BASICALLY."