What’s
wrong with living in Harmony? Nothing I suppose, it’s a nice enough town, no
worse no better than any other American frontier town of the 1800’s. Well
except perhaps for Dodge
City,
Wichita, Warlock, and a few others. And yet
the fact of the matter is Harmony does not exist, well not as an American
frontier town. As we know it’s part of The Village where citizens live, and
makes use of the Recreation Hall. So where did the citizens who live in that
part of The Village go, during the time Number 6 was busy playing cowboys? The
citizens must have been re-housed in other parts of The Village, and the
Recreation Hall out of bounds for the duration of that time. And that area of
The Village would have to be closely policed, because Number 2 couldn’t allow
any Village citizen to suddenly turn up in the American 1800’s. For someone to
be seen wearing bright coloured clothes, and possibly a colourful striped cape,
would have been a bit of a giveaway, had Number 6 seen someone dressed in such
a way. Then the game would have been well and truly up. But at least that way Number
8 and Number 22 would have survived the game! After the failure of ‘Living In
Harmony,’ no doubt the citizens could move back into their homes, and the
Recreation Hall put back into use.
Fictionally speaking Harmony was a part of The Village, whereas
in actuality it’s nowhere near, being some 200 or so miles away! Which means of
course both the Colonel and Fotheringay never actually went to The Village
during ‘The Chimes of Big Ben.’ And as for Number 6, he had one hell of a walk
from the Recreation Hall to his cottage!
Be seeing you
"For someone to be seen wearing bright coloured clothes, and possibly a colourful striped cape, would have been a bit of a giveaway, had Number 6 seen someone dressed in such a way." - Correct observation, David. But what about No. 6 himself? At least, as far as we can tell, at the end he is seen lying on the saloon floor in his usual Village attire, headphones on. How does this fit in? Was it only for a short moment (because he was „shot“) or had he been lying there all the time the "experiment" was going on? And why then, why not be sitting in a comfortable armchair when it was all a virtual reality experience? Or would he have been wandering around, acting out what was induced into him (pretty long headphone cord...)? Would he have been aware of strangley dressed people not fitting in the cowboy environment - or his own clothes? I remember a bit of a discussion between us about these issues. The more you think about it, especially here, the more it teases you. – BCNU!
ReplyDeleteHello Arno,
DeleteI can see I should have put that little bit more thought into it!
Well no, Number 6's Village attire doesn't fit in at all. Number 6 was the only human inhabitant of the town of Harmony, and so perhaps at the end he should have been dressed in the clothes the viewer sees him wearing during the action of 'Living In Harmony,' Because the action really is only for the viewer's benefit, seeing as "Virtual reality" is really taking place in Number 6's mind. That being the case, it could have been that when the Judge shoots The Man With No Name in the Saloon, Number 6 shouldn't have come to his senses lying in the dust on the floor of the saloon. He could have, or rather should have, simply woken up wearing the headphones, strapped in a chair in Number 2's office!
Yes I do recall a bit of a discussion between us on this very subject. And I agree, the more one thinks about it, the more it teases you!!!
Not to mention {as you say} the extraordinary long wire that would have been needed for the headphones!!
Very best regards
David
BCNU