Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by mousepod

I refer you to a 1977 interview with McGoohan where he talks about the show, the ending, and even the motivation for the Western episode.

From the interview:

"But I thought I wasn't going to pander to a mentality so low that it couldn't perceive what I was trying to say..."

But that's exactly what he DID do. I mean, he talks about the point of the series being about the Village trying to break down the individual. And I GOT that from the 14 "normal" episodes. And I got it without the blatant, "Hey look, we're breaking down the individual" contrivances of the last handful of episodes. My English teacher in Jr. High used to call it "Show; Don't Tell". The show was artfully and masterfully able to convey that message of No. 6 fighting for his individuality without being literal about it. In the end, it just became too literal.

As for it being better having been viewed in 1967, might I remind you that there were protests and letter writing campaigns. And I don't think it's just because people "didn't get it", as McGoohan claims. I think people saw exactly what I saw.