Interesting discussion. I've always thought "The Prisoner" was just
naive sixties-ish antiestablishmentarianism (is it just me or does that
word look German). I saw the series as a child so I'm rusty about the
details, but wasn't there an episode in which number 6 becomes number 1?
That does seem quite Foucauldian.
On the other hand there's the episode in which the computer goes beserk
because number 6 asks him "Why?". Blaming technology for life's
emptiness is very sixties-ish, and very unfoucauldian. (A comparison
between that episode and the first episode of Kieslowski's Decalogue
(Thou Shall Not Have) might be revealing.) All in all, I see "The
Prisoner" as part of the "Brave New World" genre - an attack on the idea
of a technological utopia.
-- David
naive sixties-ish antiestablishmentarianism (is it just me or does that
word look German). I saw the series as a child so I'm rusty about the
details, but wasn't there an episode in which number 6 becomes number 1?
That does seem quite Foucauldian.
On the other hand there's the episode in which the computer goes beserk
because number 6 asks him "Why?". Blaming technology for life's
emptiness is very sixties-ish, and very unfoucauldian. (A comparison
between that episode and the first episode of Kieslowski's Decalogue
(Thou Shall Not Have) might be revealing.) All in all, I see "The
Prisoner" as part of the "Brave New World" genre - an attack on the idea
of a technological utopia.
-- David