Some months ago, at the suggestion of a particularly sharp reader, I created a weekly feature called Prisoner Monday, in which I posted video excerpts from the British television series The Prisoner.
The series describes the adventures of a man who finds himself in a mysterious place called The Village, and his quest to find out who he is, what The Village is, who runs it, and to return to London.
The AMC cable channel now has a new version of the series, beginning this Sunday at 7 PM central time.
So, is Whitewater, Wisconsin like the Village? Well, the taglines of the new series – there seem to be two different ones – are “You Only Think You’re Free” and “No Man is a Number.” On the AMC website, clicking on a map of The Village activates a voiceover that says, “Welcome to The Village: Everybody Knows Everybody!”
I believe in free will, even in conditions of stodgy town fathers and petty planners, so I’d probably disagree with the first tagline. If it were true that there were no free will, then I’d probably not be able to publish an account of life in Whitewater as candid as the one I write.
The second tagline is true – no man is (merely) a number.
The third – about everybody knowing everybody – is just funny. It often seems that everybody knows everybody else, sometimes to comical effect.
That brings to mind a truth about cheerleading here – it’s completely humorless, bland, oh-so-earnest, and so terribly serious.
It’s normal to tease about a place, any place, as well as criticize or praise. It’s only in a place that has gone dry and become humorless that even normal commentary seems an affront to life itself.
And that, candidly, is the kind of life one would only expect in The Village, and not an American small town.
Update, 1:32 PM: I carelessly forgot to mention that I will offer commentary on each episode of the new series, with reference to Whitewater’s political and social scene. I’ll post on each episode the day after it’s first televised.