"What is the most creative relationship that can evolve between a technological civilization and an individual? Who is to shape this relationship, the State or the individual?"
- Patrick McGoohan
"Too many people know too much"
- Number 6
The sixties TV show The Prisoner has long been an enigma to its viewers; even to those who fanatically "studied" it. Its mod- surrealistic style and its Kafkaesque plot seemed laden with meaning and begged for interpretation. While some criticized it as two-bit TV surrealism, devoid of meaning, others made wild claims about its deep philosophical, metaphysical and hermetical symbolism. Fans were so angered by the psychedelic ambiguity of the last episode that creator/director/star Patrick McGoohan was almost attacked on the streets of London after the episode aired. He hid for several months until "the fallout" blew viewers; even to those who fanatically "studied" it. Its mod- surrealistic style and its Kafkaesque plot seemed laden with meaning and begged for interpretation. While some criticized it as two-bit TV surrealism, devoid of meaning, others made wild claims about its deep philosophical, metaphysical and hermetical symbolism. Fans were so angered by the psychedelic ambiguity of the last episode that creator/director/star Patrick McGoohan was almost attacked on the streets of London after the episode aired. He hid for several months until "the fallout" blew WAS the sixties) and was actually hoping to create a show that would help sew the seeds of a revolution he felt was possible and desirable. "The Village" was to serve as a metaphor for the real world. It is interesting to note too that Portmeirion, the external site for The Prisoner, was built by the eccentric architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis as a miniature "global" village. It incorporates a number of different architectural styles and time periods, all greatly scaled down. What looks like a huge public building (such as the Town Hall) is actually the size of a small house.
Created in the early hours of our "Media/Information Age," The Prisoner raised fundamental questions about information, privacy, the sovereignty of the individual, and the potential perversions of science and technology. Prisoner #6 (McGoohan) has information that the warders of the village (probably some sort of secret society/world government) want, but he holds fast in his commitment not to divulge it. As the series progresses, one realizes that the actual content of the information is probably not important; the simple fact that he knows something that his keepers don't is what infuriates them. No amount of coercion through pleasure or pain can extract it (as has been accomplished with all the other village "residents"). His warders know that he is an exceptional case and if they can break him, rob him of his individuality, they can control anybody. He is their key to making everyone "the dancing dead."
Today, The Prisoner can be seen as a potent allegory about the negative side of the "new world order" and the tremendous imprisoning powers of technology when used in the service of the State (or the mega-corp). It warns us about the destruction of the individual and the world's cultures in the hands of a global technocracy and how pleasure can be just as effective as pain in controlling people. McGoohan, like lots of people in the Sixties was very frightened by science and technology, and this basic fear permeates the "message" of The Prisoner. McGoohan believes that technology is more often than not used by the State to imprison people, rather than to liberate them. But, The Prisoner is not a simplistic attack on "The Establishment". McGoohan was genuinely concerned with the needs of the society to think and act "in general" and wanted to raise hard questions about when community is appropriate over individualism and when it is appropriate for the individual to rise up and overcome The System's tendency to become inflexible and destructive to the individual. In the last episode, when he finds out that he is one of his own captors, we are given McGoohan's final level of allegory - that ultimately we imprison ourselves. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we are in control of our response (if we have the will to "fight the powers that be").
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