I Am Not A Number, I Am A Free Man

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of a classic science fiction show that not only raised serous political and philosophical questions but did so in a manner friendly to libertarianism…. No, I am not referring to Star Trek but The Prisoner. The Prisoner was a BBC production that only lasted for one year and only produced 17 episodes but 50 years later it maintains a strong cult following. The show focused on an unnamed goverment agent who may or may not be John Drake, the character Prisoner’s star and creator Patrick McGoohan played on Secret Agent. As the title suggest, the agent is held Prisoner. But his prison is not a traditional jail, instead it is a small town on island known as “The Village.” Beneath the village’s idyllic surface lies a harsh police state where every aspect of life is monitored and controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy. People are not even refereed to by their names, instead everyone is giving a number. The lead character is Number 6, the face of whatever controlled the Village  is Number Two. Each week Number Two was played by a different actor. The identity of Number One remained a mystery which may or may not have been solved by the series’s end. Another mystery is just who runs the Village, and what are their goals. Art least one of the Number Two’s states that his goal is  his dream to see the whole word become like the Village. Most residents of the Village passively accept their fate. However Number 6 refuses to bend an inch to his captures, much less give the reviving door of Number twos what they (and.or their superiors) most desire: the reason he resigned from his goverment position. Six’s refusals to submit to his new overlords is shown early in “Arrival,” the first episode when, on becoming informed that from know on he will be known as 6 that:

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!

That theme of rebelling against an oppressive authority ought to deny our humanity is reaffirmed in the line Six yells at the beginning of each show:  I am not a number, I am a free man! You can see why so many libertarians fell in love with this show. While most of the episodes are standouts, libertarians will particularly enjoy “Free for All,” where Six campaigns for election as the new Number Two. This is one of the best satires of the political process ever. Instead of warping up with a clean ending the answered all question, The Prisoner ending that raises as many questions as it answers. I won;t spoil the ending but it raises interesting philosophic questions about whether one reason people become enslaved to authoritarian governments is those government’s are, on some level, a reflection of their dark side, and whether we can ever break free from the state till we concur our own tendencies to authoritarianism. While some of the show’s aesthetics are clearly reflective of the times, the issues it raises about individual liberty and identity are more relevant in the age of mass surveillance than when the show was produced. Any lover of liberty and intelligent, thought-proving science fiction should check this show out. You can purchase The Prisoner on DVD and Blue-Ray here. Read John Gizzi’s tribute to The Prisoner and  about libertarian’s love for The Prisoner here. Read a piece about the pro-liberty themes in the show here. And read a tribute to the show with pictures here.