The following not only represents today’s political environment, but a cult think mentality.
The Prisoner ā the psychedelically experimental late-1960s series whose influence is still tangible, and whose vision was far too radical for its time…
First broadcast in Great Britain 50-some years ago,Ā The PrisonerĀ dystopian television series ādescribed as āJames Bond meets George Orwell filtered through Franz Kafkaāāconfronted societal themes that are still relevant today: the rise of a police state, the loss of freedom, round-the-clock surveillance, the corruption of government, totalitarianism, weaponization, group think, mass marketing, and the tendency of human beings to meekly accept their lot in life as prisoners in a prison of their own making.
The seriesā protagonist, played by Patrick McGoohan is Number Six.
Number Two, the Village administrator, acts as an agent for the unseen and all-powerful Number One, whose identity is not revealed until the final episode.
āI am not a number. I am a free man,āĀ was the mantra chanted on each episode ofĀ The Prisoner, which was largely written and directed by Patrick McGoohan, who also played the title role.
In the opening episode (āThe Arrivalā), Number Six meets Number Two, who explains to him that he is in The Village becauseĀ information stored āinsideā his head has made him too valuable to be allowed to roam free āoutside.ā
Throughout the series, Number Six is subjected to interrogation tactics, torture, hallucinogenic drugs, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation, and various forms of social indoctrination and physical coercion in order to āpersuadeā him to comply, give up, give in and subjugate himself to the will of the powers-that-be.
Number Six refuses to comply.
In every episode, Number Six resists the Villageās indoctrination methods, struggles to maintain his own identity, and attempts to escape his captors.
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