"I am not a number, I am a free man!"
Patrick McGoohan died yesterday, age 80. He starred in and sometimes directed the cult classic TV show "The Prisoner." (only 17 episodes were made).
In the program, he was a former secret agent who rebelled and resigned, but woke up to find himself held against his will inside an open air pleasant-enough resort-prison. He was surrounded by brainwashed and subservient fellow prisoners...he was "number 6." The show revolved around his numerous attempts to escape from his comfortable confinement.
McGoohan's character represented authentic feeling, independent thought, decisive action, the inquiring mind, resistance against the herd, individualism versus bureaucracy and consumerist conformity.
Throughout the series, several novel technological devices were exhibited (this was 1968-9)...we have these technologies today. One such machine allows a doctor to "see" what a subject is dreaming- the dreams are projected upon a movie like screen while the participant sleeps.
McGoohans character "Number 6" remains an iconic symbol of rational revolt against a world gone mad.
The world we live in today is a nightmare- the cultural mundane and intellectual mediocrity are virtually worshipped.
Once I was turned down by a prospective date because she said "You seem to have too much information."
Television, neo- Madison avenue organizations, and the Pentagon...control our minds (remember- the Internet originally was a Defense project) . Almost everyone I've ever met born after 1970 is completely whacked (I'm a Vietnam war era child too) They don't make any sense to me at all. Cell phones, video games, ritilin, prozac, the complete disregard for classic film and literature or geography and history(foundational knowledge and experience), a slavish loyalty to PC thought, the abandonment of interacting with nature... etc....
Patrick, RIP.
In the program, he was a former secret agent who rebelled and resigned, but woke up to find himself held against his will inside an open air pleasant-enough resort-prison. He was surrounded by brainwashed and subservient fellow prisoners...he was "number 6." The show revolved around his numerous attempts to escape from his comfortable confinement.
McGoohan's character represented authentic feeling, independent thought, decisive action, the inquiring mind, resistance against the herd, individualism versus bureaucracy and consumerist conformity.
Throughout the series, several novel technological devices were exhibited (this was 1968-9)...we have these technologies today. One such machine allows a doctor to "see" what a subject is dreaming- the dreams are projected upon a movie like screen while the participant sleeps.
McGoohans character "Number 6" remains an iconic symbol of rational revolt against a world gone mad.
The world we live in today is a nightmare- the cultural mundane and intellectual mediocrity are virtually worshipped.
Once I was turned down by a prospective date because she said "You seem to have too much information."
Television, neo- Madison avenue organizations, and the Pentagon...control our minds (remember- the Internet originally was a Defense project) . Almost everyone I've ever met born after 1970 is completely whacked (I'm a Vietnam war era child too) They don't make any sense to me at all. Cell phones, video games, ritilin, prozac, the complete disregard for classic film and literature or geography and history(foundational knowledge and experience), a slavish loyalty to PC thought, the abandonment of interacting with nature... etc....
Patrick, RIP.
posted by Zero at 6:44 PM
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