Residents Only

III.II Symbols and Allegory

If The Prisoner has become such an enigmatic series over the years, it is because of its use and perhaps abuse of symbols and references. The viewer by identify these symbols can, to an extent, associate them with the message that the series is delivering. The problem of this is that the viewers, and in particular the fans of The Prisoner can become obsessed and interpret nothing in everything. Nevertheless I find important to have a closer look at these symbols and to analyse where they come from and what they represent to understand their impact on the series.

N�2 - Good day, Number Six !
Prisoner - Number What ?
N�2 - Six. For official purposes. Everyone has a number.
Yours is Number Six.

Numbers seem to be the first evident symbol to look at as the quest to reveal the identity of Number one leads the series. In The Village everyone is numbered. It represents the visual argument of society trying to merge its citizens in a numeral hierarchy. The recognition of the man as a number is the loss of individualism in society but at the same time these "�symbols enable individuals to experience and express their attachment to a society or group without compromising their individuality". The fact that wearing the numeral badges is obligatory in The Village is a representation of the bureaucratic way of assimilating the individual in society.

The relationship between Number One and Number Two can be described as king and servant or God and priest. Number One will only be seen in the last episode; he is an abstraction of invisible power and regroups the argument engage in chapter II.IV considering the panopticism of the series.

It's symbolic representation can be taken from the analysis that R.Bocock made of the 'leader' in his chapter The horde:

The leader is the dreaded primal father towards whom a masochistic stand is taken�(he) appears to have a special aura, or power (mana), around him which is compared to the power of the hypnotist over the subject�Seeing the primal figure is dangerous�and God cannot and must not be seen by mortals.

This representation permits me to introduce the argument of The Prisoner as a fable, an allegory as we find in the series is the three phase pattern described by J.Campbell:

"(1) Separation - From the 'normal' world into the supernatural."

This is created by the generic itself and The Village surrounding which serves as a physical fantasy world.

(2) Initiation - During which the hero resists various temptations and overcomes various obstacles, eventually achieving some kind of power."
Each episode will fulfil this description. The Rover, the electronic device and the use of drugs can be seen as the artefacts and magic.
powers used in the old traditional tales. These update of old artefacts underline the sixties counter culture which invented its own story-telling basis.

"(3) Return - The hero triumphs and returns, to bring great benefits to his society."

The episode Fall Out (See next chapter) discusses this affirmation and with it's last two sequences (the mechanical door and first credit shot) regenerates the allegory and questions the traditional signification of this phase in an open text structure.

The only character who escapes numeration is the butler, an enigmatic figure who never speaks but has an absolute loyalty to his master. The Butler was considered by many during the first showing as the hidden Number One, but this would have been too classical. The butler is the way in which McGoohan reflects the viewer's condition and regroup the Foucault theory of "power network": it is true that the Butler and the viewer have the same status; 'little' people working in a society directed by 'masters'. The butler as for the viewer posses power over other citizen but is under the power of other in a 'control network' which ultimately control everybody.

Two visual icons of the series are the Rover and the penny-farthing. The use of an old mechanical method of transport as a symbol for The Village may seem inappropriate as The Village is supposed to be the next new world. In fact it is a vibrant attack on the booming progressive civilisation that the sixties had started. McGoohan himself never believed in progress for the sake of it:

I think progress is the biggest enemy on earth, apart from oneself, and that goes with oneself, a two-handed pair with oneself and progress.

By using the penny farthing we are confronted with the image of an old traditionalist representation which is trying to slow down any individual attempt (Number Six) which is not chosen in the progressive way. The sixties crises were about the clash between generations believing in a new approach to society.

The Rover is a large see-through ball which has the particularity of moving on earth, sea and air. It's mode of attack is to immobilise the human (self) by asphyxiation. The role of the Rover is to control the individual and punish any attempt at controversial action; it is in fact teaching the citizen how to behave in The Village society in the way that a mother teaches a child by giving it limited freedom.

Finally, The Village as a whole is everything, it is cosmopolitan and represents the group, community, society, the nation but also a home, village, town, city, continent and finally the world. As it involves different styles from different periods and countries, it centralises the action of the series into a 'supernatural' place. It enables the series to develop 'fictional' sequences (the chess game in Checkmate for example) related to 'real' social conditions. By using it's characteristic door at the end of Fall Out, this 'supernatural' world will invade the 'real' word. The allegorical place will become reality and the allegory will become argument.

The Prisoner isn't the first to use these symbolic forms; as F.Valery describes the novel of E.F.Rusell, Sinister Barrier:

�The Village is enlarged to the whole earth � people preserved an impression of liberty but ignore that they 'belong' in reality to a predatorily race (White Ball)� feeding themselves with human feeling, in particular their fear, their anguish.

As listed in the introduction, many books, films and records can be associated with the series.

The Prisoner appropriates different elements of traditional story telling, spy series and science fiction genre in a fantasy product. It used their signification and their visual reference to engage in an allegorical discussion on the condition of the individual in society. At the same time it delivers a strong mainstream entertainment product which develops itself on different level. It 'concludes' itself with an open text which regenerates the story but also gives freedom of understanding to the reader. Finally, by using large sets, large objects, impressive technology, sarcastic humour and an over-repressive situation The Prisoner plays on the 'excess as hyperbole' which "�works through a double articulation which is capable of bearing both the dominant ideology and a simultaneous critique of it, and open up an equivalent dual subject position for the reader."

III.III Study of Fall Out

Fall Out is the last episode of the series and by far the most controversial, its transmission created many complaints but stimulated an opposite reaction from other viewers who considered the series as a masterpiece. This episode is the straight continuation of Once Upon a Time where Number Six manages to psychologically kill Number Two and is now led to face Number One.

The title alone pre-empts the fact that the episode will be controversial with the different meanings of 'Fall Out / Fallout': a - Quarrel b - Military term to dismiss the ranks c - Come to pass d - Atomic fallout e - Repercussions of an action. The episode refers to each of these meanings.

Number Six is given back his old suit and for the time being is called 'Sir' as a sign of recognition of his individuality. He is led through a corridor (where a line of jukeboxes is playing All you need is Love) to a door ("Well Come" is written on it) to an underground cave were an assembly of masked and labelled (Identity, Therapy, Nationalist, Education �) representatives are present. A judge (dressed in a 'real' English costume,) is standing on a lectern and introduces the debate in a traditional way:

Judge- Welcome�This session is called in a matter of democratic crisis and we are gathered to resolve the question of revolt. We desire that these proceedings be conducted in a civilised manner but remind ourselves that humanity is not humanity without force and that errant children must sometimes be bought to book with a smack on their backside.

This beginning to the last episode clearly poses the debate on society and indicates that this episode will synthesise the concept of the series It does so by showing the judgement of two individuals, a young anarchist (Number 48) and the resurrected ex-Number Two.

Number 48 represents the importance of the voice of youth during the sixties who have liberated themselves from parental and cultural institution to express their own cultural and ideological opinion with a strong movement of group identity. Number 48 wears a top hat on the side (integration and condemnation of a capitalist symbol of the past), white shoes, black trousers, black jacket, white open frilly shirt (trendy but smart), a golden cow bell (signifying the institution and reference to a hippies' bell) and sings Dry Bones (a religious choice and concept of the human as an 'all'). The judge explains that these revolutionary attitudes are "�non-productive and must be abolished". Number 48's only replies will come later by causing a chaotic situation with the word "Take". A liberated attitude which consists of integrating everything which is reachable and trying to access what it is not. The lack of respect for authority and convention was a sixties issue (the long air 'revolution' for example) which the episode uses ironically with the brief dialogue between Number Six and Number 48 when he is surrounded by guards after running around in the cave singing Dry Bones:

N�6- Young man !
N�48- Give it to me again.
N�6- Don't knock yourself out�
N�48- Give me a rest.
N�6-�Young�man.

Ex-Number Two represents the death of the institution as an entity. He has been brought back to life in a metaphorical way meaning that we should never deny or not reconsider the past. He introduces himself: "�Government had been swayed, polices defined and revolutions nipped at a word from me in the right place and at the propitious time�" but will then be confronted by his own death on screen caused by The Village's procedure. Realising that he was only a pawn in the mechanical and cultural institution; he tears his badge as a symbol of rebellion and spits on the electronic Number One eye. The act of rebelling from the ex-number Two underlines the fact that these ideologies must evolve (another sixties belief).

The judge, part of the institution who's belief is still based on strong democracy and pride in its ancient fundament, can only react thus: "Well these attitudes are dangerous, they contribute nothing to our culture and are to be stamped out �!". These scenes are the representation of the argument that J.Fiske writes:

An elaborated culture is one that is structurally opposed to homogenising force of the dominant conception of what a society and subjects ought to be like, and its elaboration consists of a wide diversity of forms of resistance.

After the recognition of Number Six as a man and an attempt at debate with the masked institution, Number Six is allowed to meet Number One and to do so he must go through another lower underground complex which suggests the internal quest for the self. Once inside Number One's complex (cylindrical architecture which will be revealed as the inside of a rocket) he manages to reach Number One Himself. Number One turns and hands a clear glass orb to Number Six, he lifts up its arms in a crucifixion pose. Number Six tears away Number One's white and black mask to reveal another mask, an ape mask. Number Six tears this one to reveal the mad laughing face of himself! After a chase, Number Six's double (or other half?) locks itself into the above chamber. The long-waited confrontation uses accelerated editing and is only two minutes on screen. Number one isn't a villain as in James Bond; he is Number Six himself!. What signification can we bring to this allegory?

A possibility is to concentrate on the setting up of the confrontation and the ending of the episode. When Number Six meets Number One, the latter has his back to him (the subconscious) and watching his inner inspirations (I will not�), the symbolic offering of the glass orb signifies Number Six's recognition of the barrier which separated his conscious from his subconscious, the ego from the identity. Once this connection has been made Number Six can firstly reveal the primal instinct (the ape) integrated in all mankind but also his true self (his face). The chase (between Number Six and Number One) could be a representation of the attempt to abolish the engraved taboo, fear and barriers that society produces for all its members. Number Six does not succeed but will send the rocket and the self beyond the frontier of earth as a sign of rejection and recognition of these unconscious controls. Number Six decides then to physically liberate himself by using the only tools left for him, violence. Over All You Need Is Love Number Six, helped by the butler, N�48 and the ex-Number Two fight their way out and manage to escape and liberate The Village. This sequence is not supposed to provoke a mass revolution as a valid answer to society's problems as the use of the Beatles' song brings irony to the whole fighting sequence. When Number Six returns to London at the end of the episode the door of his home still opens with the same mechanism as in The Village.

The prophecy of The Village as the world is materialised on screen by the use of recognisable London locations which leads the viewer to associate the sequence with its own surroundings.

In the credits McGoohan's name is replaced with the single word 'Prisoner' as if he himself, the 'real' actor, and his character were in fact one and the same 'real' person. Without a name associated to the prisoner character its allegorical representation of the free man can be extended to every man and by consequence to every viewer.

The final shots are a replay of (1), (2) and (3) from the g�n�rique followed by bars closing once again across his head. The series repeats itself, the never ending fight for individualism. This 'Mobius' cyclic editing choice elevates the series from being a closed text to an open one. The open ending structure of The Prisoner recalls the strong influences of Art and Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) films that the sixties film industry used.

The last episode partially answers the question posed at the start of the series (Who is Number One? Will Number Six Escape?�) by its open text it leaves a large space for interpretation. In fact the viewer is left with new problems (Why were Number One and Number Six one? Did he really escape? Who really controlled the Village?�) that only his own experiences and his own determination can analyse, transcribe and understand.

III.IV Today's Cult

Many of the series from the sixties are watched now with a nostalgic and camp sensitivity but The Prisoner regenerates itself generation of viewer after generation. What brings the new audiences to discuss an argument that is 30 years old? It is because the series talks about the primary base of society: conformity, laws, culture� and because the concept of society as a whole has not really changed.

The series has also proved its visionary aspect with the large use of communication tools today; surveillance cameras and numeration of the individual through credit cards for example .

Similarly the concept of the world as a village, based on M.McLuhan's 'global village' theory which demonstrates that communication media and technology has taken over our senses and bodies, can be found in today's culture with the important role of mobiles phones, the Internet, satellite T.V and emancipation of diverse networks.

On a cultural level the boundaries in the western world are more and more blurry as the same consumer capitalism ideology expands (MTV being a prime example). It is certain that the 'cult' will carry on as long as the series exists in an accessible medium. With the apparition of the video age and the multiplication of channels The Prisoner has the possibility to reach a new range of viewers and to fill the desire of its followers. New generations bring new approaches and the debate goes on but The Prisoner has more to reinforce this cult.

Firstly, Patrick McGoohan as actor-creator-producer of the series has rarely given interviews, nor explains the exact concept of the series. His secrecy maintains its mystique.

Secondly, Portmeirion, The Village in the series, can be visited and a Prisoner convention takes place every year. The sense of 'pilgrimage' and the possibility of experiencing The Village atmosphere reinforces the myth and maintains the relationship between the 'real' world and a 'fantasy' one.

Finally, The Prisoner with its open text structure leaves the possibility of argument around its allegorical meaning open to the viewers. It is because The Prisoner does not possess a closure (explanation and resolution) that a space is left for audiences to engage in their own contemporary anxiety and responses; the references can be interchangeable and timeless as the arguments stay the same.

We will notice that The Prisoner has 'escaped' the over-crowded market of merchandising for profit to date as there is more written material than collectable available. It seems that Prisoner fans avoid the commercial industry to prefer the intellectual aspect of the series.

Conclusion

The Prisoner, with it's cinematic technique, hybrid decor, it's attention to detail and it's editing method was a remarkable work of televisual art. It's dialogue, full of ironic English humour and it's plots made it enjoyable to thousands but its allegorical concept based on existentialism and Foucauldian themes distinguish it from any other series of its decade.

As we have seen The Prisoner diverges from the usual series of it's time to establish itself on its own level. I believe we can describe The Prisoner as a postmodernist televisual concept. The series contains within it the feature of such a form which as well as other characteristics the "�self-exiled hero; and the foregrounding of language and technique, not as a means to an end, but as ends in themselves, the real 'content' of art.".

The series used and abused signs and meanings and concerned itself with the consumerist exploitation of the mass media. The 'happiness' and 'serenity' forced on to The Village's residents who are given everything they 'need' is a metaphor for the modern consumer. The Village places the series on level of confusion in time and space.

The spy/Science Fiction theme is deconstructed, analysed and ironised. The Prisoner plays to a literate audience to understand the allegorical interpretation that the program introduces behind its mainstream format.

The programme uses techniques such as the 'screen within the screen' to generate a self-reflectivity on its existence. The viewer is aware of a product, a construction, a bricolage: the series does not deny it and in fact plays on it.

I believe that the series contains "�the recognition that a new theory of the subject must be developed, one that can avoid the deterministic conception of the individual as programmable android without resurrecting a romantic 'self' that operate as a free agent, unfettered and uninfluenced by ideology.".

No other mass medium other than television could have been adequate for such an expression. The Prisoner is a writerly text which engages the viewers in the debate around the concept of individualism (and existentialism) into society and the recognition of mass media in a changing sense of individual and cultural identity.

Be Seeing You.

� Christophe Taddei