From: briano@microsoft.com (Brian Overland)
Subject: Re: Fall Out
Date: 26 Jan 93 20:52:36 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corp.

Warning. Mild spoilers.
 

WHOA! Where did gunther get the idea that the Butler was #3??? Well, it more or
less makes sense, I suppose, it's just there's nothing in the series to specifically
confirm this that I remember. We never saw #4 or #5, either, so theoretically the
Buler could have been one of the those (?)

I would argue that there is continuity in the series, while at the same time
agreeing that the last episode presents a lot of difficulties. The only
explanation that ties everything together (to me) is the one I put on the BBS
a couple of months ago. In most of the series, the Village can be taken as
more or less what it seems to be. But as the series progresses, we see a growing
number of clues that suggests that the Village is the WORLD. And therefore, what
the Prisoner is all about is the problem of how do you live in the world--that is,
how do you deal with all the pressures to conform and simplistic systems of
thought that the world throws at you?

The answer is that the right way to live is to be IN the world but not OF the
world. Community and organization are necessary for more people to live together,
but organizations have an unfortunate tendency to take themselves too seriously.
Symbols and conventions, developed at first because they are convenient,
unfortunately harden into myth and taboo. But it is folly to fight against it
directly. In fact, #6 DOES try to fight them head-on in the early episodes 
but it is futile.

#6 attains a kind of Buhhda-like Enlightenment as the series progresses; he
triumphs when attains self-control, not control of others...and he grows to
see his struggle with the Village as a kind of game. He becomes amused more
than enraged. Once he sees that it is all a game, and a game which they
ultimately can't win unless he WILLINGLY gives up his individuality, they
can't win.

Anyway, the point of the last episode, I think, is that he has attained
Mastery (the way a Buhdda, genius, artist, or spiritual leader might), but
that there is dark underside to it, too. The rest of the Village has finally
conceded that this is a superior individual...he is the only one among them
to have played the game and won. At the same time, they will never truly
understand him until they have gone through the same process of self-discovery.
And probably, most of them never will, though there is hope for some.

I think the way #6 finds allies in #2 and #48 suggests that #6 sympathizes
with, rather than despises, the rest of mankind. The Prisoner, in my view,
emphatically is NOT the doctrine of Neitzsche. As #6 would not be enslaved,
so too would he not enslave others...(in fact, one of the episodes, "Free
For All," already dealt explicitly with the idea of taking leadership; #6
already knows that it is unwise to just try to set himself up as #2.)

I think the Butler represents the Common Man...no real meanness or
evil in him; he just follows orders from whomever is obviously in charge.
The point is that by the end it becomes apparent #6 is really in charge.

The point of the last 15 minutes may be simply that once #6 has played the
game and won, and once he understands that no matter what they do to him
he still has his own mind, he is then free to live his life. He escapes,
symbolically perhaps, but note that he drives back to London...#2 and #48
get on with their life as usual, and so does #6. He must live in the world
but he can now drive wherever he pleases. He is free.

Who is #1? I think the difficulties trip you up somewhere if you try to
interpret the show in any way more literal than what I have suggested,
although I admit that there are some very interesting theories. But the
simplistic idea, that #6 is #1 and he was trapping himself, does not wash
without an awful lot of explanation. I suppose you could say that this has
all been a dream or #6 is a man (a mad scientist?) who set it all up as an
elaborate test for himself.

I think #1 is mainly AN IDEA (which is sort of consistent with the above
paragraph, anyway). The idea of #1 is that no matter how powerful you get,
there is always someone or possibly some THING that you have to answer to...
even an emperor has to worry about the possibility of revolution and/or
assasination! So the idea of #1 is: who do you ULTIMATELY have to answer to?
The idea of Fallout is to say: surprise! you ultimately have to answer
to yourself. Who do you have to answer to at the end of your life--did you
waste your life or do with it what you set out to? Who determines this?
You do!

Why the ape mask? That may simply be a curve thrown at us. However, it
works for me as a kind of taunting or teasing...ha! ha! You thought there
was some external group or organization or guru that could judge you and say
you were ok...wrong! ha! ha! it was YOU all along that you had to satisfy.
How silly you were. The ape mask could be a way of teasing and making
fun of people trying to rip off the mask of #1. If they thought there'd
be anyone there but themselves they were deluded.

I suppose you could also say, in Darwinian terms, there is still an ape
(animalistic) nature inside all of us. A bit of a stretch, perhaps,
but something like that might work.

This is about as much sense as I can make out of this episode.
Comments?


briano@microsoft.com