The Therapy Zone
The General
If, as No.2 tells us, that there is no question from advanced mathematics to molecular structure, from philosophy to crop-spraying that the General cannot answer, given the basic facts. Indeed No.2 was going to have fed into the General the basic facts of there being a traitor working in the Village. And that's why No.6 pushed to ask the General a question that cannot be answered, to deflect No.2 from discovering, via the General, that No.12 is the traitor working in the Village.
So why didn't No.2 simply feed the General with the basic facts about No.6, and thereby through the General, discover that way why No.6 resigned? Perhaps to ask the question simply never occurred to him!
Dance Of The Dead
Seeing as how the French Revolution was raised in this episode, it might have been more in keeping if the Prisoner had been taken before Madame Guillotine! And during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben,’ No.2 voiced his hope to No.6, that of the whole Earth as The Village. Because The Village is the blueprint for the future, an International community. Which is odd, because that is just what Europe has become since the outset of what was The Common Market, an International community. And that is what Napoleon Bonaparte wanted, a united Europe , an International community with France Europe have as the one currency, the Euro, just as the Village enjoys one single currency, the work Unit.
THEPRIS6NER
I am quickly learning that there is not so much material to play with within the confines of this series, as there is with the original. However there are a few puzzlements, such as why the plastic pig masks as worn by 16's family? There must be a reason for it. Perhaps Six is Jewish, and by feeding him Barbecued pork wraps, and wearing the pig masks was to taunt him, only the scriptwriter Bill Gallagher knows, but I shall endeavour to find out.
An old friend of mine, who does not read my Prisoner blog, but who writes to me in what is termed the "old fashioned" way of letter writing, something which we both enjoy doing. Anyway my friend, whom I shall refer to as "Mister X" said that now I have seen the whole series he would tell me what he thought of it. As it turns out he's completely indifferent towards it, THEPRIS6NER does not do anything for him, and does not wish to discuss it with me. And that's fair enough, however "Mister X" is quite happy to read my thoughts on the series, and I am quite happy for him to do so.
It's a strange thing, but in all my years of performing in, and organising Prisoner re-enactments at Portmeirion, I never once felt the inclination to pay the role of Number Two. I suppose that's because I felt a strong affiliation with Number Six, that together with the fact that I looked like McGoohan when he was the Prisoner. But now, with this reinterpretation, I feel more of an affiliation towards Two. Perhaps it has something to do with my age. Well I'm no Number Six at the age of Fifty-Five now you know. More like an old Number Six who should be retired gracefully into the Old People's Home, not that Number Six would have stood for that. He's far too independent to let happen to him.
You know it only occurred to me earlier this morning, that when the Prisoner wakes up in the desert it's simply a reinterpretation of the Prisoner waking up in what he thinks is his own home, but quickly finds that it's anything but! The disorientation is the same. Both men don't know how they came to be where they are, why, or who brought them there? The questions are the same, simply different environments to begin with.
Harmony - to live in peace and harmony is something which THEPRIS6NER is all about. With 16, for example, living the simple life. Getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home to the wife and children. Watching the popular television show in the comfort of ones own home. Isn't that what everyone works for? But not everyone wants to live in harmony. Take Six for example. He wants to belong. He wants 16 to be his brother, and is saddened to find that he is not. Two is trying to assimilate Six into the community by giving him his brother back, and by that to give Six a family within The Village, because inwardly Six wants to belong. And things happen to Six which makes him fundamentally doubt himself. Perhaps after all Six has got it wrong........nah!
Breathe in……breathe out….more….Village
There's no use in bashing the EU as such or the Common Market, David. I know this has become a specifically British commonplace. After all, the EU is not the role model or blueprint for the whole Earth and world order. Rather it's the other way round, it's been the economical and political powers at work since WW II that continuously shaped the emerging community and which, in turn, were reshaped by it.
ReplyDeleteThere are basically two threads leading to the foundation of the EU as we know it. One was the experience by many people of the war generations, that of WW I and II, who deeply felt that something like this should never happen again in Europe. Hence the idea was to unite the countries and nations, to abolish borders and, more important, border controls for ordinary citizens. This is a great achivement if you've known how things went before that. The other thread is the enormous economical drive that lead to the formation of, at first, pure regulations on the trade of certain goods and commodities immediately after the war until later the "free market" was established. But what does it mean, "free market"? To my liking the political and sociological aspect of our EU, sorry to say, has decreased within the recent decade and/or wasn't able to keep up with all the thing that happened after the demise of the Cold War. There's is the European Parliament still with only little power compared to the other arguably EU bureaucratic installations. That's what I find most deplorable. Anyone has the right and is obliged to be sceptical, no question.
"The whole Earth as a village" is something that is continuously developed and brought to life if we like it or not. But the EU isn't the one to blame. Sorry, turned into a lecture of the special kind. - BCNU!
Hello Arno,
DeleteI didn't realise I was bashing the European Union. Simply drawing a parallel between the EU and the Village. Yes No.2 said that the Village was a blueprint for World order, not Europe. The whole Earth as the Village. But I think that in 'the Prisoner' Patrick McGoohan in making the Village an "International community" was making the prediction of what Europe would become, an International community, which is something else.
Had Napolean Bonaparte been successful in all his plans to unify Europe, then Europe would have been governed from Paris France, and the Franc the single currency!
Your comments are appreciated as always. Like with everything, there are good and bad things about the European Union, nothing is perfect.
Regards
David
BCNU
Well, perhaps "bashing" isn't really fitting and may sound too harsh. It's just that I'm in doubt if parallelsing the EU and the Village is particularly helpful in understanding the vast processes going on. Napoleon's EU would have become a dictatorship of some kind, I'm sure. On the other hand, some of the basic legal regulations of our civil rights system were laid out by what is known as the "Code Napoleon". I think the abundance, the getting out of hand of bureaucracy and the tendecny towards over-regulation of any everyday life issues is something that was on Patrick's mind. The Brussels administration is certainly doing its best to confirm any reservations held by people. - BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteIt was merely an observation, an interpretation. And Napolean's unified Europe would have been a dictatorship of some kind. I personally would not be at all surprised that one day Britain moves out of the European Union. I think people here have become frustrated by the laws that issue forth from Brussels, and at the slow pace the European Parliament works. For example, fishermen here in Britain have more and more restrictions placed upon them as to how many days they can go fishing. Fair enough, fish stocks have to be protected. But the legislation concerning discarded fish, the fish that have to be thrown back, because they should not have been caught, was a waste of hundreds of tons of dead fish over the years. But no, at long last that waste will stop, as Brussels have reversed their original legislation permitting fisherman to keep all the fish they catch! My only gripe with the European Parliament is it's bureaucracy, that it churns out all this legislation, without getting out of their offices and going out and about without understanding what it means to ordinary people. But enough, no system is perfect by any means.
Regards
David
BCNU
By hook or by crook I don't think Britain will move out. This would mean committing suicide by cutting too many (economic) ties in many ways lending political influence. This is just populist music for the masses. But let's change the subject. - BCNU!
ReplyDelete