R.I.P. The Prisoner
The Prisoner star and creator Patrick McGoohan has died. McGoohan will certainly be missed as the Prisoner is one of those iconic television programs that simultaneously encapsulates nostalgia for a bygone era (the 60's) and still holds up as one of the best programs of all time. Reason's coverage is here, which I only mention because I'm literally cutting and pasting the classic Prisoner quote which they utilized:
Number Two: It doesn't matter which side runs the Village.
Number Six: It's run by one side or the other.
Number Two: Both sides are becoming identical. What in fact has been created? An international community. A perfect blueprint for world order. When the sides facing each other suddenly realize that they're looking into a mirror, they'll see that this is the pattern for the future.
Number Six: The whole world as the Village?
Number Two: That is my dream. What's yours?
Number Six: To be the first man on the moon.
And of course, there's McGoohan's famous line as Number 6, which a young lonely libertarian captured for all eternity as his high school year book quote:
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
To anyone and everyone who's never seen the show before, give it a gander. It's available on DVD and you can probably check it out through Netflix. You can either appreciate the 60's imagery or just push past it and appreciate a show that works both as a psychological drama about a man held captive in the most pleasant of prisons and as a philosophical and political study about the nature of man, freedom, and the individual.
Number Two: It doesn't matter which side runs the Village.
Number Six: It's run by one side or the other.
Number Two: Both sides are becoming identical. What in fact has been created? An international community. A perfect blueprint for world order. When the sides facing each other suddenly realize that they're looking into a mirror, they'll see that this is the pattern for the future.
Number Six: The whole world as the Village?
Number Two: That is my dream. What's yours?
Number Six: To be the first man on the moon.
And of course, there's McGoohan's famous line as Number 6, which a young lonely libertarian captured for all eternity as his high school year book quote:
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
To anyone and everyone who's never seen the show before, give it a gander. It's available on DVD and you can probably check it out through Netflix. You can either appreciate the 60's imagery or just push past it and appreciate a show that works both as a psychological drama about a man held captive in the most pleasant of prisons and as a philosophical and political study about the nature of man, freedom, and the individual.
posted by lonely libertarian at 3:36 PM
1 Comments:
Speaking of things McGoohan: I loved his portrayal of Longshanks in "Braveheart" He really stole the show. I guess it's not that hard to do--opposite the besotted, monomaniacal monotheist. Nevertheless it was a chilling performance of great power and menace.
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