Comments | selfishgene: The Prisoner

selfishgene

The Prisoner - Patrick McGoohan

Jan 09, 2009 13:56

To promote a modern remake, starring “Jesus” from “The Passion of the Christ,” AMC has made every episode of the classic 1960s British spy series “The Prisoner” available online, in unedited high quality video. While I’m not about to chuck my dvd collection of the series, I heartily recommend this version of the show to those who’ve never seen it. ( Read more... )

Comments 4

selfishgene January 9 2009, 19:02:30 UTC

The Prisoner's position in the show is simply a restatement of ordinary life under a modern bureaucratic state. The weird attack-bubbles represent the soft violence of the western democratic regimes. We are all prisoners of the state with no way to escape. We can't even really know how or why we are controlled. Even regime changes (the change of 'Number 2') give no relief from captivity.

perich January 9 2009, 20:26:41 UTC

I agree. The episode in which he's declared "unmutual" cemented this for me: there's no explicit threat, just a lot of passive-aggressive ostracism.

I'm not saying my neighborhood is actually an elaborate, subtle experiment designed to get me to vote, eat foods high in corn syrup and go into credit card debt buying HDTVs. But if it were, how could I tell?

selfishgene January 9 2009, 20:34:11 UTC

Damn, now that you know that, I'll have to delete this universe and start over. It's tough being a lab tech at God Inc.

other January 9 2009, 23:21:57 UTC

Okay smarty pants, explain the last episode. ;)