Falling Skies Season One Recap & Comparison w/ V

Since the reboot of V does not seem to be coming back, it's a good thing that we have Falling Skies to watch now. It shares many similarities to both the original V and the reboot. Falling Skies also seems like yet another retelling, in modified form, of the American Revolution. For one thing, the series and the Resistance starts in Boston - the first reference to the Backbay neighborhood and the second to South Boston. 

The Resistance
The initial invasion of Falling Skies is dramatically overt, and more similar to what happens in Independence Day than in V  - Motherships arrive and launch attacks, then leave garrisons as they go somewhere else. Interestingly, the alien garrisons left behind are protected by large, odd-shaped structures. The initial attack is devastating and destroys all major cities and military forces. This attack uses a bright light, EMP-type weapon which bears some similarity to the "Blue Light" in V 2010.

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Resistance Leaders

Like in the mulitple V miniseries and series, the Resistance is largely lead by “moms and dads” – regular people in extraordinary circumstances. In V, the military is co-opted by the governmental collaborators who are their masters. In Falling Skies, the  military is essentially annihilated (as mentioned before).

 

One of primary adult characters and leaders is a female doctor, Anne, like Juliet in the original V. Another leading protagonist adult character is a history/military history professor named Tom Mason, as opposed to a journalist. Tom's PhD in the American Revolution lends more credence to the idea that the entire series is one entire retelling of the Revolution (similar to Star Wars). This is something we as Americans like to do in our storytelling.
 

In the original V, The Resistance teams up w/ mercenaries and counter-revolutionaries (whom would be called terrorists now) to help fight the invading aliens. In Falling Skies, the resistance teams up with a band of well-armed criminals. This merger of forces is bumpy and not at all smooth, but in the end it succeeds, partly because "Being the leader of a band of post-apocalyptic outlaws has been exhausting," according to Pope, the outlaw leader.

 

In Falling Skies/Original V, it is the outlaw criminals and mercenaries, respectively, who are the ones that develop alien armor piercing bullets. In the case of V, it was the lizard skin that the new ammunition penetrated. In Falling Skies it was the “Mech” armor that the new ammo could penetrate (made from destroyed Mechs, and inspired by a comment from one of Tom Mason's children). 

 

Alien Hierarchies & Evolution

The Aliens in Falling Skies seem to operate in a strict, racial/mechanical hierarchy, as opposed to the Visitors in V, who operate according to a military hierarchy. In Falling Skies, Skitters and Mechanical warriors (Mechs) comprise the lower caste helping the Grey alien-inspired "Overlords." One of the principal jobs of the skitters is to catch kids and attach biological harnesses to them. These harnesses turn kids into compliant servants of Skitters, and then eventually into Skitters
Ben, the son of primary adult character/leader is abducted (like in V) and harnessed to ensure his loyalty – in V, Donovan’s son is abducted and put into cold storage until putting him a conversion process to ensure his loyalty to the Visitors.

 

Episode 5 reveals a symbiotic relationship between alien Skitters and harnessed children – Aliens care for them, and according to one formerly harnessed child, “It’s like they care about us – part of a family – they know what we need before we do”  

Human Collaborators
The human collaborators in Falling Skies are much more nefarious than in V. In V, the collaborators are essentially upper crust society members seeking higher status by working with what appear to be alien "friends."After all, the aliens in V have a much more insidious, and less overtly violent agenda. They merely want to feed on "excess" humans. The collaborators in Falling Skies know that the skitters do horrible things to children, including turning them into harnessed slaves. However, they still try to deal children for peace to the skitters. The beginning of the collaboration to send children to aliens is revealed in Episode 5, which seems to be pivotal in revealing the connections between harnessed children and skitters.

V: 1983 & 2009, Part Seven : Why are They Here?

V 1983-1984 & V 2010-2011:
Part Six, Part Five, Part Four, Part Three, Part Two,Part One

Why the Aliens Are Here
Obviously the Reptilian meme among alien abduction/Area 51 conspiracies plays a strong part in both series. In both series the aliens hidden agenda is disguised by medical gifts to help humanity. However, their hidden agenda for coming to earth, and their time lines, are vastly different.

Time Lines, Purpose & "Red Sky"
While the original V series implies that that the Visitors are relatively recent arrivals to our solar system, this is not the case with the remake. The new series takes a page from conspiracy culture and states that the the Visitors have been here for generations, and are harvesting human DNA for reproductive purposes, instead of for for food. According to the most recent episode "Birth Pangs," the Visitors are harvesting the best DNA from around the universe to accelerate their evolution.

To that end they have been trying to carefully increase the phosphorous levels in human females to help reproduce Visitors, as well as in males they find genetically superior. This has been a multi-generational project. However, in contravention to conspiracy culture, the genetic manipulation wasn't done during abductions, but rather through disguised Reptilians on earth. Additionally, the Visitors release "Red Sky" to rapidly enhance the phosphorous levels, which fuels fears among the human population; in the original series the red dust in the atmosphere was a biological weapon against the Visitors and humans cheered when it was released into the air despite not knowing what it was for.

V 1983 & 2009, Part Six: The Changing Role of Reporters & Mercenaries

Part Seven: V 1983-1984 & V 2010-2011.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Post-Modernism in V.

It' been interesting to watch the old V series on my TiVo and compare and contrast with the new ABC series.

The Role of Reporters
1983: Donovan/Woman - There were two different media personalities during the two original V miniseries, embodying America's complex view of the media at the time. On the one hand you had the ambitious female reporter, Christine, who would do anything for a scoop. She becomes a PR mouthpiece / Press Secretary for Diana, but later reveals that the Visitors are not friendly and should be resisted and is killed for doing so. She does not join the resistance despite exposing the Visitors.

Donovan on the other hand represents the intrepid foreign correspondent, willing to go anywhere to get the story but who became a journalist out of strong pro-liberty passions. He is the kind of patriotic reporter America wishes we still produced. Donovan, an experienced foreign correspondent in war zones, becomes a natural leader of the resistance. Unfortunately, he doesn't put his PR skills to good use advancing the cause, as would be expected today.

2009: Chad Decker's character development is roughly similar to that of Christine, but as he gradually becomes skeptical of the Visitors he becomes a full fledged member of the Resistance. In the 1983 episode, the Fifth column was chiefly disaffected Visitors show disapproved of their species' agenda.

The Role of Mercenaries & Terrorists
1983: Ham Tyler - While Michael Ironsides may have fit the Hollywood ideal of a freedom fighter back in the days of the Contras, his character feels dated. He appears after several events in LA draw lots of attention and announces that the LA resistance fighters led by Donovan and Julie, need to join the worldwide resistance of which Tyler is a crucial leader.

2009: Kyle Hobbes - the current cultural zeitgeist is much less kind to fictional mercenaries and this character is much darker than his 1983 counterpart, Ham Tyler. However, mercenaries are a more accepted fact of American life now than then. The rise of private security firms such as Xe (formerly Blackwater)has allowed the U.S. military to increase the number of combat forces it has without putting it directly on their budget.

However, the primary mercenary contact Kyle Hobbes, while a member of the inner circle, is displaced by an Israeli Terrorist named Eli Cohen as the main resistance military leader and has set up cells around the world. What he and Ham Tyler have in common is that they are both parts of the larger resistance movement that exists outside of the isolated groups banding together which we first encounter.

V: 1983 & 2009, Part Five: The Role of Women & Minorities

The Role of Women
The Resistance
1983: Julie, medical student and reluctant resistance leader. She is unsure of herself, and this is made worse by her interrupted Visitor Conversion attempt.
Diana, is merely one captain in the larger V squadron. Her primary source of authority comes because she is the lover of the Supreme Commander.

2009: Erica, FBI agent, part of 5th Column (5th Column as assimilated the resistance in this series) even has a feminized man's name. The most feminine thing about her in terms of attitudes prevalent in the 80s is that she is alien abductee whose fetus was modified by the Visitors. This fits in neatly with modern conspiracy theories as to why the "Grays" are here.

The Visitors
1983: Diana is merely the captain of one starship in a larger squadron, her position in the Visitor's hierarchy is assured through her sexual relationship with the Supreme Commander. While she is hard edged and successful enough to run a ship, she has not yet proven herself able to manage and lead a larger population. She engages in kinky sex with a subordinate, in this case kinky is defined as wearing their human skins.

2009: Anna is Queen of the Visitors, a position she secured by overthrowing her mother. She controls her people through dispensing a chemical called Bliss to her species. Her reptilian nature is emphasized more strongly in this series by her mating to produce an army of warriors. We later find out she is unable to produce additional non-drone children of her race. The future of her species depends on her daughter Lisa laying eggs and becoming Queen. Unfortunately, they are far from a suitable planet for her offspring, necessitating the transformation of Earth into a planet better suited for the Visitors.

V is fortunate though to have two strong females going head to head as leaders of different teams. I don't recall seeing anything like that before. This seems to indicate a growing acceptance of female leadership.

The Role of Minorities
1983 - Elias, a street hoodlum and criminal before the Visitor's arrival, and then a freedom fighter and resistance leader afterwards. This reinforces mid-80s American fears of black urban youth, to which even Jesse Jackson admitted having. Additionally, the Hispanic resistance fighter promotes cultural stereotypes of Mexican immigrants.

2009 - Ryan, the primary black character in the 2009 V, is a Visitor and member of the 5th column who may turn on his fellow freedom fighters for his own benefit making him a triple spy. Essentially he is an immigrant who assimilated but may retain allegiance to his original civilization. This corresponds nicely with the Zeitgeist of the home-grown home-radicalized domestic terrorists attacking us. There have been a number of these attacks or attempts from Ft. Hood to Times Square, and there is a fear of more out there. V uses a black character to embody this fear, presumable out of PC sensibilities of using an Arab, and a desire to avoid causing controversey.

Caprica: The Genesis of Cylon Monotheism vs. Human Polytheism (Part II)

One of the more interesting things of note about Zoe Graystone and the development of the monotheistic religion is that though the STO has existed for a while, Zoe's life and death add more complexity to the religion. And this complexity has strikingly Christian overtones. Zoe becomes The Trinity: Actual Zoe is flesh and the original Creator (God), Simulacrum Zoe is the creation (digital daughter) to which she gave life and which  evangelizes her beliefs through the STO and otherwise (Jesus), and Zoe's spirit - simulacrum consciousness - also inhabits the U-87 military robot (The Holy Ghost). The declaration that Zoe is the Trinity comes from Lacy Rand, future Blessed Mother (high priestess) of the STO's monotheistic faith.

Later, Sister Clarice, another member of the STO, imparts religious significance to Amanda Graystone as the Mother of Zoe. This is because Zoe had been given the power to create life through her Avatar program which recreates an entire person based on the digital footprints they leave throughout the world during their life.

The Avatar program is part of Sister Clarice's plan for Apotheosis, in which digital simulacra of human beings will be uploaded into a "digital heaven" at the moment of death. In this way, a continuous life everlasting will be granted to the adherents of the monotheistic religion. Sister Clarice views this as a reward to the faithful as well as a religious recruiting tool for her faith. Her pitch for Apotheosis to the guiding council of the faith causes controversy, leading to the death of one objector and the approval of the Blessed Mother to move forward with the statement "it's best to let these things play out as He sees fit." She then grants Clarice total control over all STO cells on Caprica and and agreement to provide the resources Clarice needs to finish Apotheosis.

Daniel Graystone pitches a similar, though crass, profit-driven secular version of Apotheosis to the Guatrau in a meeting about getting his company back from Daniel Virgis, Apparently Virgis is a friend of the Gautrau's who has taken it over from Graystone in a buyout. His secular Apotheosis proposal is met with rejection by Joseph Adama, an adviser to the Guatrau and father to William Adama who will play a central role in the subsequent Cylon Wars of Battlestar Galactica. However, the Guatrau is intrigued enough to order Daniel Graystone to proceed with the project. Graystone also begins work designing bodies into which to download the consciousnesses of the Simulacra. This sets up the resurrection process for the seven improved Cylon models in Battlestar Galactica, though of course the standard U-87 warrior models are still in use during the series reboot.

Sister Clarice's vision of Apotheosis for all is opposed by Simulacrum Zoe Graystone because she fears it will lead to "Hell on earth," a consequence-free existence turning reality into a mirror of the virtual world of New Caprica City where actions have no consequences. Simulacrum Zoe views this as contrary to the teachings of the faith with its emphasis on moral absolutes and consequences for one's actions - the same things that lead Actual Zoe to the One True Faith. In fact, Simulacrum Zoe is so obsessed with the cesspool of sin found in "V-World" that she vows to "clean it up." However, Sister Clarice has a working copy of Zoe's Avatar Simulacrum program and the ability to make her vision come true. Simulacrum Zoe and Sister Clarice have a theological argument over their differing perspectives during which Zoe declares "I am God!" to refute Clarice's declaration that she is following God's will. Zoe then turns Clarice's virtual Heaven into a virtual Hell using her abilities in the V-World.

Clarice spread the faith of the One True God and pleads with the Blessed Mother, Lacy Rand, to give God's blessing to the "differently sentient." Her exhortation to the Cylons is that there is no limit to what they may become and that they deserve Civil Rights. She prophesizes that there will be a Cylon to emerge to set them free and lead them on to their equality in life. This is revealed to be Cylon Zoe. 

Meanwhile, On her path to becoming Blessed Mother of the One True Faith, Lacy Rand gains the ability to control the STO's U-87 army. This seems to be because of residual memory / recognition of her by the original U-87 into which Zoe was downloaded. Lacy e asks the members of the army to raise its arm if the U-87 is Zoe Graystone. As she walks by them, they all raise their hand. However, we know that Zoe's consciousness is trapped in New Caprica City, so the residual memory is likely the best answer to this specific mystery. Lacy later used the U-87 army to depose the Blessed Mother and assume that role for herself, with her control of the army as testament to her holiness.



























 "All this has happened before and will happen again."

Caprica: The Genesis of Cylon Monotheism vs. Human Polytheism

One of the more interesting aspects of Caprica and Battlestar Galactica is the religious aspect of the conflict between humans and Cylons. To wit, Cylons have developed a monotheistic religion, complete with churches and priests/priestesses, which we witness at the end of the Caprica series, while humans have emerged as a polytheistic civilization. This is an interesting overlay of the conflict between humans and Cylons and was absent in the original series. Additionally, it was added into the original series, during the height of the Post-War Occupation of Iraq, giving the series a more politically relevant context. There's even a webisode and episode focusing on the use of suicide bombers by human POWs to inflict casualties on human collaborators and their Cylon masters.

The polytheism of the humans seems to track well with the fact that the Human Civilization in Caprica/Battlestar Galactica has colonized 12 planets, each named after a sign of the Zodiac, and each possessing its own patron God(dess). Battlestar Galactica acknowledges that the human race evolved on one planet before a diaspora, but still seems united under one political system instead of evolving into the planetary versions of nation-states. In fact, the 12 planets are referred to as the colonies, implying control from one central planet.

The development of the Cylon monotheistic religion is more interesting.  Zoe Graystone, the developer of the Zoe Simulacrum and program for the development of the Cylons was an adherent of the Soldiers of the One (STO). STO is a militant religious organization dedicated to advancing monotheistic beliefs in a judgmental, all-knowing God who wanted humans to understand right from wrong. This is a reaction against the perceived excesses, sexual and otherwise, of the polytheistic majority. These excesses are first, and best, witnessed in the Virtual Club where we first meet Simulacrum Zoe. There is group sex, murder for fun, and human sacrifice, all of which is dedicated to some God or other.

The STO didn't just come into existence weeks before the series show. According to the show's mythology, it's a long-existing cult, at least decades old. It has been driven underground because of its "extreme" views on human morality. Zoe Graystone, as an adherent of the STO imbued her Simulacrum with those same beliefs. Lacy Rand, Zoe's best friend and fellow STO member eventually becomes high priestess. Between the two of them and sister Clarice they indoctrinate all Cylons into the STO's monotheistic religion.

(To Be Continued...)

Uneven Steven Has Been On Hiatus

Since late last year, I have been working on a project that did not afford me the time to blog, nor even to delve into pop culture or political debate.

I hope to resume blogging again soon on the following topics:

V - 1980s vs. 2010s - A more in depth examination of the original television story compared against that of the current one. I intend to focus on the difference of the Cold War cultural background of the original vs. the Global War or Terror cultural background of the current one. I also intend to contrast how the more recent Battle Star Galactica & V address the political and cultural events of the last decade. Finally, I would like to do a comparison of the

The Upcoming Congressional Midterm Elections

Some Intriguing Political Developments in Alabama - A Political Upset No One Saw Coming.

Jericho and the Yankee-Cowboy War

I recently rewatched Jericho, and had a thought related to a previous post.

In this post, I discussed the Yankee-Cowboy War as a paradigm for the shift of power from he Eastern Establishment based in Chicago, New York, Boston, and the industrial states (Yankees) to the West and Southwest (Cowboys) with its oil, natural resources and technology based sources of economic power.

Jericho unconsciously (or consciously?) mimics this division of elite economic power by dividing the surviving United States into Cowboy-dominated, Cheyenne, Wyoming-centered Western-United States, Cowboy-dominated Texas, and Yankee-dominated, Columbus-centered Eastern United States. Interestingly, it is the Cheyenne-based Cowboys who are the "bad guys," and the Texas-based Cowboys and Columbus-based Yankees who are the good guys. It's interesting to think that Texas-Cowboys are on the good side because Texas wealth and power is based as much on technology and market trading as it is on natural resources. Meanwhile, almost all of the Cheyenne-based wealth and power comes from natural resources only. This would play well into the growing hostility against fossil fuels in our society...

Caprica: Predicting The Singularity & Coming to terms with AI

The pilot episode of Caprica presents two different, related concepts emerging into the scientific mainstream: that of truly human-level (or beyond) artificial intelligence, and that of The Singularity - what happens when AI surpasses man and man and machine can merge. In the opening scenes we meet Zoe Graystone's simulacrum: an artificial intelligence resembling Zoe, possessing all of her memories, abilities and interests. At first the Simulacrum Zoe is a little buggy, but those bugs seems to work themselves out once Actual Zoe dies in a suicide bomb orchestrated by the Soldiers of the One, a monotheistic cult railing against a polytheistic society that is permissive and seems devoid of the concepts of good and evil. Simulacrum Zoe is even covered in blood after Actual Zoe dies in the bombing and tells protagonist priestess in training Zoe that she "felt" the death of Actual Zoe, as if they somehow were connected.

The theme of more limited artificial intelligence is introduced after we meet Simulacrum Zoe, but before the post-bombing encounter with SZ. The theme of limited artificial intelligence emerges at a weapons lab demonstration of primitive Cylon technology. The Cylon fails to hit, or even adequately aim at, its target during the demonstration due to the lack of a "meta-cognitive processing" MCP unit, which will become more central to the early episodes of the series.

Daniel Graystone, father of Zoe, discovers Simulacrum Zoe and the computer program Actual Zoe used to create SZ. He obsesses over obtaining the MCP from a rival corporation to use not only in the improvement of the Cylons, but also in downloading the Simulacrum Zoe's personality into a Cylon body. The first goal is exceeded wonderfully for Daniel, resulting in a military contract and the side-effect of changing the color of the Cylon scanner eye from white to red. The second goal has unintended consequences for Daniel, and results in the potential loss of Simulacrum Zoe's personality when tried. However, it seems to set up the development of a system used to create 7 of the 12 Cylon models in Battlestar Galactica

The show seems to imply that AI and The Singularity emerged from different programming and technological techniques. It also explores the emotional range of responses humans get from interacting with a Singularity-level AI, which range from disbelief to horror. Acceptance is only a reaction that develops over time.

Health Care & the Piece-Work Economy

The following is a quote from Kristi Vogel of The Gulf Stream in late 2008:

Piece work is a term that dates to the 16th century, in the context of the guild system for master craftsman, and is perhaps the oldest type of performance-related pay. The concept is quite simple: the worker is paid a fixed rate for each item or part produced, or for each operation or task performed. In the US, many assume that the piece rate pay system is linked with low wage jobs in which the workers may be exploited, such as garment assembly in sweatshops, or field laborers in agriculture. However, this pay system also applies to craftspeople in the modern economy, e.g. those who produce custom furniture, handmade clothing or jewelry, and artwork. As a teenager, I learned the hard way that this latter path to financial independence can be very difficult, perhaps impossible . . .

In academic science, at least in the US, most of us are paid neither by the piece, nor by the hour. Calculations for hourly pay can, in fact, lead to temporary depression, especially when compared to those for other professionals. But what if researchers could be paid a fixed rate for each item produced or task performed? Imagine for a moment that you could charge your boss or your collaborators for certain assays or computational analyses or microdissections or imaging techniques at which you’re particularly skilled … how much would you charge for each “piece”? Would such an economy benefit anyone . . .

I can state now that many of my friends in academia already have resorted to participating in a piecework style economy. Mostly they are doctoral students with strong math or economic skills. I also have friends who make their living by blogging (usually for clients, sometimes blog-for-pay), and many Washington colleagues who work for themselves as consultants, strategists, event planners or lobbyists. My point is that this is becoming more common in white collar jobs and some have predicted it is direction that our economy is evolving - most people paid for piecework and few permanent jobs except for a shrinking elite. As an aside, in 1995 Newsweek dubbed the then-likely emerging elites as the "Over Class.'

If our society is moving towards a piecework economy, then it is crucially employment and health insurance be de-linked from each other. Otherwise, continuity of health care coverage becomes almost as greater a problem than lack of insurance itself. To adapt to this new economy, health care either needs to be made radically cheaper for individual purchasers through the tax code and market incentives, or we need to establish dome type of national health system, again based on the free market. The single payer, government program many desire just isn't feasible for a nation with $52 Trillion in unfunded obligations, regardless of its merits.

Oh, and complaining about health insurance anti-trust exemptions just reveals a lack of understanding of math. Health insurance costs are based on actuarial science - variations of risk and expense based on population characteristics. Two companies competing for the same pool of customers will arrive at the same cost for insuring that population. Without anti-trust exemption, you could have the ironic result of one insurance company dominating so much of the American market, that their market power would allow them the ability to dictate payment terms to doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies.

British Fraud Investigator Agrees: It Was About the Benjamins

Lord Monckton was Margaret Thatcher's equivalent of a Special Prosecutor for Scientific Fraud. He has a lot of credibility exposing past scientific frauds, and has been a consistent critic not of global warming, but of how the data was used.

In the article below, he discusses the evolution of the climate fraud, as well as the financial resources that have been dedicated to climate research.

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Climate Fraud: It was all about the Benjamins

My take on how the scientific fraud started is simple. I simply listen to Woodward and Bernstein and follow the money. The greatest beneficiaries of climate change hysteria and research have been university professors. You may ask why and how these professors had an incentive to create a global climate hysteria. The answer is simple: they had been right about ozone layer problems caused by chlorofluorocarbons and had goaded the world into collective action which stabilized the ozone layer, which is now repairing itself.

However, by solving one problem for humanity, the scientists had created a new problem for themselves. Governmental funding of climate scientists declined while governments focused on other priorities. This left many graduate students and professors needing new sources of grant money simply to survive if they wanted to remain employed. What were they to do?

Later, a few of these same climate scientists whom we had trusted previously, and whom had been proven right, decided to abuse that trust to gin up a new climate crisis to maintain their funding. Fortunately for them, the new age Gaia movement was growing and the climate “crisis” became infused with a semi-religious fervor. It is this same fervor which lead scientists like those at the Climate Research Unit located at the University of East Anglia to act like the Medieval Catholic Church: punishing those who challenged then-current knowledge, sometimes by acts of violence similar to those threatened in some of the stolen emails, and suppressing this same inconvenient knowledge. We are now told that the original data records, from which CRU claims to have derived its results was destroyed decades ago. We are told to accept on faith by those who committed fraud that the original data was transferred correctly. But now no one can ever check CRU’s results against all the original data.

The other financial beneficiaries of the global warming hysteria: third world, less developed nations of the South want a portion of the wealth of the successful, industrial Northern Nations. The Southern nations know that the most effective way of getting this money or technology is through playing upon liberal, Northern guilt. And the best way to do that is through Northern created institutions such as the United Nations.

Identity, Memory Technology & Pop Culture

It's officially a trend. During the past three television seasons, there have been at least three different shows that deal with the topic of personal identity, how it constructed/defined, whether it must be organic, and whether it can be molded, suppressed or permanently modified without the active participation of the identity. These are important issues because medical science is developing drugs which can affect memory, and other enhancements from nanotechnology to genetic-specific performance enhancers may be around the corner. The specific shows I am referencing are: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Heroes.

These themes were explored by Gibson in the characters of Johnny Mnemonic and others. Bret Easton Ellis explores the topic most deeply in American Psycho and Glamorama though it can be argued these themes emerged first in Less than Zero and Rules of Attraction. Millions of people have read the novels of Gibson and Ellis. Millions more have seen the three television shows listed above.

Descartes said "Cogito Ergo Sum" (I think therefore I am. But he could never resolve what he was through reason alone. Quato (from Total Recall) tells Quaid "A Man is What He Does," implying that memories do not define an individual's identity and that all you have to do to be different is to act differently. John Locke and the school of Virtue Centered Ethics also have strong opinions on the matter. Then there is the historical of case of Martin Guerre - was the impostor who returned immediately from war with more accurate memories "more Martin Guerre" than the "real" Martin Guerre who returned later with blurrier memories and whose wife disavowed him?

In Dollhouse, the characters have custom designed identities implanted onto a tabula rasa created once the original identity is scanned, downloaded and stored. Each individual person has multitudes of identities downloaded into them over the course of their five year contracts. The Sarah Connor Chronicles plays with ideas of predestination and fate, and whether John Connor is allowed to have an identity separate from that given to him from the future. More importantly, HOW does he develop the identity he will need to lead the human resistance in the future. Heroes deals with the concepts of how identity changes along with abilities, as well as similar issues of predestination when Hiro Nakamura returns to the past and tries to convince his historical childhood idol to become the person celebrated in stories to this day.

It will be interesting to see how long popular culture continues to wrestle with these issues in television, and whether shows that do remain successful.

V: 1983 and 2009 Part Four: The Shadow Government , One World Government & Nazi Allusion

From the very beginning, the Nazi allusions are right in your face right from the name of the Jewish Resistance Fighter (Abraham) down to the brown shirts and youth brigades, though at the time many Americans also associated youth brigades and secret police (brown shirts) indicative of the Soviets. Only this time instead of “The Jews” its “The Scientists” with the evil conspiracy against the powers that be. The Visitors use a false flag conspiracy to justify rounding up scientists, and then eventually stage "Wag the Dog"-type false flag attacks around the world, similar to what some "Truthers" believe really happened on 9/11.

All of this occurs after the Visitors claim to want to honor all the covenants of the United Nations Charter (revealed in the first 25 minutes), which itself is interesting because it implies the Visitors will be co-equal to one individual nation-state instead of co-equal to an entire planet (Step 1 - Fool' em). Obviously, they really see themselves as occupying the latter position when they ask to (or imply they should be)treated as co-equal to the U.N. or entire world (Step 2 - Set your stage under smokescreen). Because they are co-equal to the planet their very presence begins to gradually transform the U.N. into a de facto governing body of the earth - or at least one empowered to negotiate on behalf of all of us. The Visitors then intimidate the U.N./NWO into acting as its surrogate ruling apparatus.

Interestingly, this progression of elements could be sued to demonstrate the left- leaning inclinations of the V writers (so-called Coastal Elites).

However, in the 2009 version, instead of working through the UN as much, the Visitors want to establish embassies on the ground, directly establishing themselves as a potential nation-state. Additionally, in the 2009 V but the Hitler allusions are less pronounced. Perhaps this is because the newer generation doesn’t identify as much with this epochal event 25 years later than the original and 65 years after the event was revealed to the world.

The Shadow Government and Alien Infiltration meme also emerge explicitly during the 2009 pilot. These memes are nowhere present in the original miniseries. These are both revealed during of the nascent Resistance; the second when Erica, the female FBI protagonist, is attacked by her own Visitor infiltrator partner at the end of the Resistance formation meeting.

V: 1983 & 2009 Part Three: 2009 Pilot Summary, Characters and Emerging Memes

The 2009 V starts with a comparison of 9/11, JFK’s assassination, and the arrival of the Visitors, as a means of foreshadowing for the generation that didn’t see the original. This version describes the state of Obama’s America with opening scenes discuss the ongoing housing crisis. However, the most important cultural aspect of V 2009 is the prevalence of terrorism and terrorist investigations in the show. In the first place, the show is set in New York City instead of Los Angeles like the original, and 9/11 is the second phrase shown during the introduction. Of course, it’s easy to see that the one terrorist cell that increases its chatter post-visitor arrival instead of dropping off like the others will turn out to be the beginnings of what becomes the Resistance. But this is not an Islamic terrorist group, it is composed of Visitor sleeper agents who disrupt the beginnings of the Resistance’s formation.

From the first scene it looks obvious that African-American buying the engagement ring will be the 2009 version of Dr. Ben, but this time he’s a Federal Agent, former militia member, and likely future Counter Revolutionary. It seems they’ve consolidated the two brothers into one this character, which makes a certain amount of sense because Dr. Ben was only in the miniseries for the first hour or so and Elias was in all 10.5 hours of the V marathon on SyFy. And the meme regarding struggles and competing visions seems to be resolved, at least in the writers’ minds.

The falling of the Catholic Crucifix inside the first 4 minutes represents two memes not especially present in the 1983 version, but which have gained increasing currency among conspiracy culture insiders. We’ll call Meme A the Fallen Christ Meme and Meme B the Questioning Christianity’s Legitimacy meme. The Fallen Christ Meme is common among those who continue to suggest that the arrival of an extra terrestrial alien species would pose an existential threat to all religions, thereby causing mass chaos. It sometimes is cited as a reason justifying government suppression of any real evidence of alien visitation. The Questioning Christianity’s Legitimacy Meme really didn’t emerge in America until after the publication of Graham Hancock’s Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the emergence of websites and books on Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus and mother of Merovee, the founder of the Merovinginian line of French Kings.

The “Question Authority Meme,” always favored among the now-empowered left until the Democratic Party has power in Congress and/or the Presidency, emerges 11 minutes into the pilot. This comes from the youngish priest character, whose doppelganger in the original version had served with anti-communist guerillas in Angola, but whose credentials on this front in the 2009 version are still in question.

Illustrative of women’s success in the intervening 25 years between the two series is that the sympathetic, ambitious reporter who becomes the Visitor’s spokesperson is no longer a woman using feminine wiles, but is now portrayed by a metrosexual male. Additionally, this character seems to have less backbone, and be much more compliant with the Visitors and their requests. Moreover, one primary protagonist is a female FBI counter-terrorism operative,

Significantly, the 2009 version's Hitler allusions are less pronounced. Though interestingly, the neighborhood kid who signs up as a Visitor "Brown Shirt" is driven to it due to maternal neglect by the FBI agent (thus reprising the "Law Enforcement is Hard on Families" Meme. In the original series, the character who joins is much like the guard in The Bridge at Andau: someone who is generally a loser, but has ambitions above his abilities. I preferred the 1983 motivation better because it puts the onus squarely on the child's decisions. Perhaps in our post-Columbine world they were afraid to portray similar a high-school character with these psychological motivations. The other explanation is that the "Bad Mother Meme" has picked up cultural relevance due to the ongoing culture wars.

Post-Modernism in V

My favorite POMO moment in the 1983 version the intentionally ironic scene of Visitor Bryan playing Space Invaders on an Atari 2600 with Robin, the soon-to-be-pregnant girl.

Of course since the 2009 version is completely self-aware of its status as a media creation, it's amusing when when one character's quip “Dude, this is Independence Day,” prompts his companion to wryly remark “Which was a rip off of numerous alien invasion predecessors.” It also illustrates the show is already relevant in popular culture, and the kids are not alright: they’re much more interested in discussing abstract cultural relevance of the Visitors arrival, than the more likely impacts on reality.

V: 1983 & 2009 Part Two: 1983 Summary & Memes

The protagonist in the 1983 version is Donovan, a a foreign affairs correspondent whom we first encounter covering anonymous, admirable revolutionaries against a Central American dictatorship (Contras anyone?). He later shares the stage with Ham Tyler in V: The Final Battle. Ham is an American guerilla/ arms dealer he runs across in his work. In the 2009 version, the protagonist seems to be a synthesis of Donovan and Tyler. The pains of the reporter's divorce and conflict with his ex over his seeming upper hand in the competition for his child’s affection reflects the then-prominent "Divorce is Hard on Families Meme" in the 1983 version which seems absent from the new series, largely because as a society I think we're over divorce as a social issue.

Another meme prevalent through the first few hours of the miniseries is the conflict in the black community between “the streets” and “selling out,” epitomized by the conflict between ne'er do well Elias Taylor and his brother Dr. Ben Taylor over life and their father’s affection. The show resolves this conflict by having Ben die, which ultimately leads Elias to declare that it should be him not Ben because Ben had made something with himself. However it is Elias's skills and contacts from “the streets” that help the Resistance obtain shelter, useful intelligence and necessary supplies. This may reflect the inability of the writer to resolve the issue satisfactorily for himself or us.

V is also one of the first sources for the meme of illegal immigration in California in the mid-80’s, and the issue of “visitors” taking Californian jobs is even addressed explicitly within the first 45 minutes of the show. In fact, during that scene, Caleb explicitly complains about job competition from “honkeys” and Mexicans since this was produced before political correctness craziness became the norm.

The meme of environmental catastrophe, in this case on the Visitors planet, began to emerge into political and pop culture around this time, and the environmental "disaster" on the Visitor's home planet (their cover story for coveting our water) is mentioned in the first 30 minutes. The meme is not referenced explicitly again, and may explain why the show has emerged now: we have a major environmental bill working its way through Congress, which many on the left who tend to include television writers support. In fact the New America Foundation recently hosted a briefing in Washington, DC titled "Go West Young Policy Wonk" focusing on whether those interested in policy making should head to Hollywood instead.

The Nazi allusions are right in your face right from the name of the Jewish Resistance Fighter (Abraham) down to the brown shirts and youth brigades, though at the time, many Americans also associated youth brigades and secret police (brown shirts) with the Soviets. Only this time instead of “The Jews” it's “The Scientists” with the evil conspiracy against the powers that be. The Visitors use a false flag conspiracy to justify rounding up scientists, and then eventually stage “Reichstag bombing” attacks around the world, using means similar to those in Wag the Dog. In the 2009 version, the Hitler allusions are less pronounced. Perhaps this is because the newer generation doesn’t identify as much with this epochal event 25 years later than the original and 65 years after the event was revealed to the world. Additionally, in the 2009 series, the Visitors seem to be setting up the foundations for a religion as a means of Social Control. This fits into the "All Religions Are Shams" meme that has emerged forcefully in the past decade.

The "Abortion is Completely Acceptable" meme appears early on V: The Final Battle,when the Catholic Priest's moral objections are dismissed out of hand, and represents a different cultural era. 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Last American Virgin both showed the really problem with getting an abortion was having the guy pay for it. This is before the deluge of shows in the 1990s and 2000s, including Friends, in which the potentially pregnant character ends up not having to make a decision /resolve the conflict because the test was wrong or their was a miscarriage, "getting them off the hook" for having to make a decision. I expect that in the new series, this will be replaced with teh "Abortion is a Serious Issue" meme and there will be a more weighty debate about the potential abortion of the hybrid fetus. If I'm correct on this, it will reflect the ascendancy of the Christian Right during the past 25 years. Whether they are now on the decline is a debatable point.

V 1983 & 2009, Part One: Reptilian Aliens & Conspiracy Culture

I watched the V and V: The Final Battle this weekend in anticipation of the debut of tonight’s series. It was ten and a half hours of my life extremely well spent, and the 25-year-old show has held up well though the special effects leave a bit to be desired. I believe it speaks much to the cultural state of Reagan’s America in 1984and will point out the cultural memes prevalent in the two mini series and I’ll compare these with what I observe in the first few episodes of the 2009 V series.

V and the Conspiracy Culture
In terms of conspiracy culture, V 1983 marks the first time the MSM-Entertainment Complex used Reptilian aliens as the main galactic villains, a meme prevalent, but debatable among conspiracy culture insiders. This introduction of the Reptilian meme comes just 6 years after Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and two years after his E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial introduced mainstream culture to what have become known as the Greys.

Obama's Sept 9 Health Care Speech

Below is something I blogged for another site last month

President Obama gave his health care speech tonight. It's primary goal is to help rebuild momentum for health insurance reform after a strong battering over the 5-week August recess. Sen. Harkin's assumption of the HELP Committee Chairmanship (post Sen. Kennedy's death) will also provide a strong hand to help steer the bill.


Policy Advocacy
He explicitly stated that he wanted to build upon what we have now and not upend what people have now. This is a huge blow to the liberals who are demanding a single-payer public option. He statement means that they're just going to have to suck up what they can get because the President won't expend his own political capitol on behalf of the single-payer (government takeover) health care option.

He also came out in support of an individual health insurance mandate (requirement). This is excellent policy because it will expand the actuarial pool, making it younger and healthier thereby making it cheaper.

He also wants a public option (not single-payer) in the insurance exchange. Only open to the uninsured. Decent fall-back, face-saving position.

He'll get a bill he can sign, if only to say he got one.

The Nefarious Company's Many Tentacles

Mrs. Uneven and I were discussing the merits of the various Prison Break seasons the other day when I was brought up short by her comment that she had really enjoyed the show up until they were going after "The Company." She went on to complain that The Company had been showing up on more and more shows and that she found the whole thing boring. How many people do they have working for them that they're on a bunch of different shows.

She was jesting, but the concept of the "The Company" being behind several nefarious plots/operations has been an omnipresent and mutating meme in the collective unconscious for decades. Until that conversation it had never occurred to me that The Company in Burn Notice could be the same as the one in Prison Break. Does Carla work for the General too, and is he only one part of MANAGEMENT? What other shows and characters does the Company manipulate and harass? Are they the shadowy group leading and misleading Fox Mulder too? How deep is their reach?

Is this the way the Illuminati reveal themselves in the Information Age? They take control of all mass media and then produce entertainment which blatantly depicts hidden power manipulating events to its own ends? Isn't that what the conspiracy memes tell us? What better way than for the hidden group to call itself by one name repeated over and over in many different fictional tales. The fact they keep referring to themselves as "The Companay" simply produces the same ironic enjoyment of James Garner's dog named Dog and horse named Horse. BTW The Company as shadow government meme originally started out at the CIA before moving to FEMA. Presumably this movement of the meme's signifier was due to exposure of the CIA's utter incompetence during Congressional hearings in the 1970s. This of course begs the question of where The Company moves to now.