Mystery surrounds The Village. Can we really be so sure as to which side
runs The Village, or indeed its location, that the Prisoner was not about to defect. It has been stated that this surface level of
understanding is difficult to take too literally, for many of the gadgets and
methods employed by the Village are too fantastic for normal belief. But then we are dealing with fiction, and stranger things have happened in fact! Numerous methods are employed
to extract information from any such individual, and yet with Number 6 such extravagant methods are used against him!
Although ‘the Prisoner’ is not technically science fiction {although that is often the category for the series} the white membranic mass of The Village Guardian does have a science fiction quality about it. Having independent thought, able to change its size, its as much at home underwater as it is on land, and seems to need no sustenance to maintain its existence.
There is social comment, taking ‘the Prisoner’ to another level. It makes the viewer think of his or her environment. Well it had the effect upon me at the time, to ask questions and not simply accept things as they are. The trouble was there was no way for me to get the answers, because there 'the Prisoner' was, gone from the screen. 'The Prisoner being the thinking mans television.
The Village represents the society we lived in at the time, and the society of today, because perhaps 'the Prisoner' and its social comment are more relevant today than they were almost 48 years ago. Number 6 is an individual trying to survive in a society of numbers, ddesperately fighting to maintain both his identity and individuality. The Assembly of 'Fall Out' has delegates each representing aspects of society. Each episode has a different Number 2, except when he turns up again on two separate occasions, and finally as the President. And yet each person who takes up office as Number 2, could be seen to be a different aspect of Number 2’s character.
There is room to question, to theorise and interpret the Prisoner, and this has been done on several levels over the past decades. And things are not taken at face value by many of the fans of ‘the Prisoner,’ yet at times they can look for the most complicated reason for something, when a far simpler explanation would do as well, if not better.
The Village can be two things, an actual place where people who know too much or too little are taken, to have the knowledge in their heads protected or extracted. Either that, or The Village is all in the mind and that could lead to a mental breakdown for anyone!
And entertainment is another level upon which the Prisoner can be enjoyed. To simply watch each episode without thought or care, only for its pure entertainment value. This is reason enough to watch such a series which almost 48 years ago was ahead of its time, has not dated, but has endured the passage of time. Such is the seemingly timeless quality of ‘the Prisoner.’
One can get as much or as little out of ‘the Prisoner’ as one wants. Either to analyse the series as much as one can, arriving at ones own conclusions, or to simply sit back and watch ‘the Prisoner’ as pure escapism, as many do, and not necessarily in the accepted screening order, perhaps even to begin with ‘Fall Out’ rather than ‘Arrival!’
Although ‘the Prisoner’ is not technically science fiction {although that is often the category for the series} the white membranic mass of The Village Guardian does have a science fiction quality about it. Having independent thought, able to change its size, its as much at home underwater as it is on land, and seems to need no sustenance to maintain its existence.
There is social comment, taking ‘the Prisoner’ to another level. It makes the viewer think of his or her environment. Well it had the effect upon me at the time, to ask questions and not simply accept things as they are. The trouble was there was no way for me to get the answers, because there 'the Prisoner' was, gone from the screen. 'The Prisoner being the thinking mans television.
The Village represents the society we lived in at the time, and the society of today, because perhaps 'the Prisoner' and its social comment are more relevant today than they were almost 48 years ago. Number 6 is an individual trying to survive in a society of numbers, ddesperately fighting to maintain both his identity and individuality. The Assembly of 'Fall Out' has delegates each representing aspects of society. Each episode has a different Number 2, except when he turns up again on two separate occasions, and finally as the President. And yet each person who takes up office as Number 2, could be seen to be a different aspect of Number 2’s character.
There is room to question, to theorise and interpret the Prisoner, and this has been done on several levels over the past decades. And things are not taken at face value by many of the fans of ‘the Prisoner,’ yet at times they can look for the most complicated reason for something, when a far simpler explanation would do as well, if not better.
The Village can be two things, an actual place where people who know too much or too little are taken, to have the knowledge in their heads protected or extracted. Either that, or The Village is all in the mind and that could lead to a mental breakdown for anyone!
And entertainment is another level upon which the Prisoner can be enjoyed. To simply watch each episode without thought or care, only for its pure entertainment value. This is reason enough to watch such a series which almost 48 years ago was ahead of its time, has not dated, but has endured the passage of time. Such is the seemingly timeless quality of ‘the Prisoner.’
One can get as much or as little out of ‘the Prisoner’ as one wants. Either to analyse the series as much as one can, arriving at ones own conclusions, or to simply sit back and watch ‘the Prisoner’ as pure escapism, as many do, and not necessarily in the accepted screening order, perhaps even to begin with ‘Fall Out’ rather than ‘Arrival!’
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