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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2024 20:32:42 GMT -5
"There can be only one, brutha!" "Whatcha gonna do, when the Kurgan runs wild on you?" "I'm Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez, brother...chief metallurgist to King Charles, of Spain and I am immortal...because I say my prayers and take my vitamins!" I am a real E-gyp-tian, Cutting the heads off Kur-gans I assume he was also supposed to play bass, instead of John Deacon, for the Queen soundtrack. Ed Leslie would have probably have been cast as as either Kastagir or the survivalist.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2024 19:26:13 GMT -5
GI JOE #46Mike Zeck drawing a better Uzi than a katana. of course, Snake Eyes is going to be shot down, since he doesn't have his weapon pointed inward, as he enters a room. What up with dat? Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Rod Whigam & Andy Mushynsky-art, Joe Rosen letters, George Roussos-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor, Jim Shooter- oyabunSynopsis: Despite what we were led to believe, at the end of last issue, Ripcord is alive and he fights back against Zatan, as he tries to disguise himself as Ripcord. Rip tears off part of his battle blouse and Zartan soccer kicks him in the head a few times. He finishes swapping clothes and heads of to infiltrate the JOE team. Maenahwile, Flint, Alpine, Spirit Iron Knife and Quick-Kick land on the beach and hide their boat. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes land in their Rattler and create havoc with the troopers who want to know why they made an unauthorized landing. They get all Sho Kosugi (or Lee Van Cleef, if you prefer)on them and move on. Dr Appel asks about his daughter and Cobra Commander says they aren't quite ready for dependents, on the island. He tells Tomax and Xamot, in private, to get on to Springfield and find out what happened to Candy. Dr Appel goes out to search for Zartan, who appears to be missing. Back at the ranch, Clutch brings in General Hawk to inspect his troops and Hawk announces he is operational, which is BS, because no general is considered expendable.... Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes continue kicking asp and taking names. Doc Appel, in a HISS, locates the body of Zartan, who is badly injured. He does not see that it is Ripcord, with Zartan's hood draped over his face. They take him back to base, for treatment. The JOEs perform a photo recon and snap pictures of what looks like an SR-71 Blackbird, under a tarp, as well as a whole city being built..... Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes spot the troops bringing in their target, Zartan. They move to finish the job on him, not realizing it is Ripcord. Dr Appel finds something clutched in Zartan's hand and discovers it is a picture of Candy. He moves the hood aside and discovers Ripcord underneath. Ripcod asks after Candy and learns that she is not there and Dr Appel realizes Cobra Commander has been lying to him. The JOEs ambush a Cobra squad, moving in on "Ripcord," and take him in with them. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes continue ninja-ing Cobra troops, while Dr Appel helps Ripcord escape in the new Firebat VTOL plane. Storm Shadow attacks the doc, as the plane launches. As the JOEs leave the island, Spirit Iron Knife notices that "Ripcord' is bleeding where his blouse shows no holes and isn't wounded where it does and smells a rat. Thoughts: Extra-sneaky commando issue, with mayhem and intrigue on Cobra Island. Ripcord is alive and escapes with Dr Appel's help, to find a safeguard Candy, while Dr A deals with Cobra Commander. Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes are trying to kill Zartan and just miss killing the wounded Ripcord. Zartan is leaving with the JOEs, hoping to be taken to The Pit, but Spirit Iron Knife proves smarter than the average grunt. Other than that, not much else going on. The Firebat is a tail-sitting rocket plane, launched vertically and designed to land the same. In this it follows the design of the Convair XFY "Pogo Plane, and the Lockheed XFV, which were both tail-sitters.... Both lifted off fine and transition to horizontal flight was okay (not great, but workable); but, landing was a sumb*&%h! The XFV was used as the model for the advanced plane flown by The Avenger, at Magazine Enterprises (drawn by Dick Ayers) and the Pogo was the basis for Kirby's version of the FF's Pogo Plane. There was also the Hiller VXT-8 and French Snecma Coleoptere, which used a ducted fan for vertial take off. The Army experimented with that quite a bit, with Hiller producing the VZ-1 Pawnee, a ducted fan platform, designed as an observation post and recon unit. It worked pretty well and steering was accomplished by leaning into the direction of travel; but, the system kept wanting to right itself and would fight the pilot, make it cumbersome to maneuver. It also made a hell of a racket, which made it an easy target. See, Jonny Quest wasn't so fanciful! The Firebat was introduced with the 1986 toy release, along with a bunch of other vehicles. Hasbro was cranking this stuff out, by this point. Alpine is an African-American member of the team, joining Staler in representing them on the team. Given the percentage of African-Americans who were serving in the Armed Forces, the JOE team is still a bit light....in more ways than one. Give them credit for some racial diversity though, as Quick Kick is of Asian descent and Shipwreck is Latino. No Arabic or East Asian JOES yet, unless I missed somebody's background. No women of color among the three females introduced, so far. The VAMP that arrives with Hawk appears to be colored pink. I think it is supposed to be sand, for desert missions, but pink would actually be fitting. The British discovered that pink worked quite well to blend into the desert and used it for desert recon Land Rovers, used by the SAS..... They were known as "Pink Panthers." I assume their stereos only played Henry Mancini....
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2024 17:49:36 GMT -5
Just wondering, are you going to cover the Special Missions series as well? There is one issue (#6 if you're wondering) that is essential as it ties into an arc in the main Joe book. Possibly, but I am not making promises on the side stuff, or even getting to the end of the series. I may at least try to highlight some samples of that and the UK stuff (Cheerio, JOE!)
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2024 17:45:08 GMT -5
Also passing away, at age 102, was Clarence "Bud" Anderson, the WW2 fighter pilot who was the last living Triple ACE. Anderson enlisted as an Aviation Cadet, in 1942. He originally flew P-38 Airacobras, before being assigned to the 357th Fighter Group. The 357th deployed to England and carried out escort duty, in P-51 Mustangs. He flew his first mission in February 1844. By May, he had achieved Ace, with 5 victories. He flew two tours of combat, had 16 victories and a partial, as one of three planes who combined shot down an He-111 bomber. He was close friends with Chuck Yeager and he was promoted to major at age 22. After the war, he was a test pilot for the FICON project, which explored the possibility of extending the range of jet fighters by having them carried by a bomber, in a drop position on the wings (as parasite aircraft, a concept tested by several countries). He then commanded squadrons in Korea (post-Cease Fire) and then a wing, in Vietnam, ultimately retiring in 1972, at the rank of colonel. With buddy, Chuck Yeager.....
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Post by codystarbuck on May 18, 2024 17:27:10 GMT -5
Yep, this is me. I never answer an unknown number. But what if one day, the National Lottery calls you to inform you of a big win! (Just kidding, I presume they have a better way of communicating about a win) Pretty certain you have to initiate the communication. Otherwise, the conversation would probably go, "To deliver your million dollars, I need you bank routing number, account number, PIN number and any related passwords, so I can arrange the bank transfer."
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2024 21:15:31 GMT -5
Marvel-Roy could team with DC-Roy (after first fighting each other) in "Crisis on Earth-Real." Maybe Jean and Dann could form a version of the Lady Liberators to oppose them. -M Assuming the current Mrs Thomas gets along with the former.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2024 21:11:53 GMT -5
Maybe I am too private...I don't get these kinds of calls and rarely give out my phone number, except where I want a call back. I also have very little internet presence, beyond here and a few other spots and no social media accounts.
I used to get a bunch, but always had caller ID and never answered if I didn't recognize it. Once in a great while there will be something on the answer machine; but, 9 times out of ten it is a wrong number, not a solicitation.
I'm also a suspicious bastich, so I assume it is a scam until convinced otherwise.
Now, I used to get solicitations at work, from toner salesmen, when I worked for Barnes & Noble. They would ask to speak to the person that orders supplies. That was all done internally, through an order set up within or company intranet, so there was no reason for a vendor to call us, since the home office placed the specific order. So, I'd tell them "No, because you are not an authorized vendor. Good day."
We used to get scam attempts via the TTY network, for the deaf. We'd get phonecalls, supposedly from a deaf customer, wanting to order a case of hardcover books, usually something with a list price greater than $30, for overnight shipping. I would start asking questions, which the operator would have to relay and usually when I asked why they were calling Springfield, IL to order books to be shipped to somewhere in Colorado, when there were B&N stores within state I wouldn't get a response and then I would tell the operator (who would respond they cannot answer me unless the other person types something) that I considered this a scam and was terminating the call. I stopped an order that one of my booksellers was putting through, for this, at another time and made sure everyone was aware that this was a scam and not to ship any phone orders without verifying the credit card as being valid, for one and nothing bulk out of state without a manager's approval. We soon got alerts from Loss Prevention about the scams. Luckily, I caught it quickly, for us, so out store was never taken, but some others were.
I used to mess with other business solicitors, when they called, offering to list our business in their directories and such. I'd cut them off and say we were a publicly traded company and didn't need their directory to list us.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2024 20:54:46 GMT -5
Coleman was in everything, when I was a kid.
I especially liked him in Bite the Bullet, as the son of the Newspaper baron who sponsored the race (and intends to win with his own horse. There is a great scene, where he talks about the West and proceeds to call all of the contestants liars and Candace Begrgen calls him out, saying he sure knows a lot about the West for someone who doesn't know shinola from apples, and he retorts, "We don't have to know about it, we own it." He more than holds his own with a great ensemble cast.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2024 20:38:17 GMT -5
Let us pause a moment to remember the canines lost in SCPA actions... Mammoth Mutt, who was replaced by his gf, Mammoth Miss... And the heroic Beam Beagle... Aquaman really should have had a sidekick, called Seadog. Maybe the Earth-2 Aquaman.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 17, 2024 10:39:27 GMT -5
I can sort of understand Slaughter keeping to the story in the kayfabe/GI Joe era, but in the modern era, there’s no excuse. I probably read the same stolen valour article as you did, codystarbuck . Very vague, very contradictory and all over the place. A simple “I never served in the USMC” should surely suffice. One article I read stated he’d claimed to have been a drill instructor in 1966. He was born in 1948. He’d have been 18 in 1966. Can anyone even be a drill instructor at that age? That aside, in this era of podcasts and a lack of kayfabe, surely he should just be truthful. I have seen some flippant comments about this issue, e.g. “The Undertaker isn’t a real undertaker, either.” No, and he never claimed to be, but the article I read about Slaughter claimed he’s not set the record straight in countless kayfabe-free interviews. No, I didn't read any "stolen valor" article. I've known for years that he wasn't a Marine, going back to his days in the Carolinas, before going to the WWF. For one thing, you could tell by the way he talked that he had only seen it in movies and never experienced it. Allegedly, his father was a Marine; but, I haven't seen any definitive proof of that, beyond his statements. I have no problem with him playing a military character, as a gimmick; I have a problem of him still trying to cling to that fantasy when wrestling gave that up years ago. I have a bigger problem with him claiming gimmick infringement about someone who actually served and is doing a similar gimmick. They earned the right to the gimmick, more than he did, regardless of how well he did it. I can see talk of Slaughter and Hogan in early to mid 1984, but not so much late 1984, particularly after the Cyndi Lauper angles drew so much attention.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 16, 2024 22:34:57 GMT -5
ps in terms of dog sidekicks, my favorite would have to be Devil, to the Phantom, though he is a wolf, not a dog.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 16, 2024 22:33:27 GMT -5
Lockjaw was my first reaction and for a minute I even thought he might be the only comic book dog character I liked - but then the thread reminded me of others, e.g. Snoopy, Tintin's dog Milou/Snowy. What do they have in common, I wonder - maybe that I don't see any of them as sidekicks, but as effective characters in their own right? Or am I just projecting that preference onto them - I suppose Milou could be considered a sidekick to Tintin - but then he(?) is more of a real dog than the other two.
Where does the term sidekick come from BTW? I can't think of any sidekicks I like - for the simple reason that the term seems to imply the idea of a character that is only there for the sake of another character: IOW, a character that has no raison d'etre of its own, which to me is never a good start. Well, if you believe Wikipedia, it is from Victorian pickpocket slang; but, the reference for that consists of a pair of websites and not any scholarly works. A "kick" was supposed to be slang for a front pocket, safest from theft but that doesn't really explain "sidekick." As a literary trope, it goes back to ancient literature, including Enkidu, in Gilgamesh, Patroclus to Achilles, in the Iliad, and characters like Sancho Panza to Don Qixote (or Little John to Robin Hood, or Will Scarlet, in some of the legends). Usually, to be a real sidekick, you have to be the junior partner in the relationship, subordinate to the hero. Where the partnership is more equally, the term sidekick becomes a false notion. You could argue someone like Tonto, based on variations of depiction, as sometimes he follows the Lone Ranger's lead and other times he acts of his own volition. With Tintin, I would say more companion than sidekick. I always liked Porky Pig as a sidekick to Daffy Duck; but, then again, Daffy is the butt of the joke and Porky kind of acts as the observer and enabler of his shenanigans, proving to be the actual hero in their adventures....or mostly amused by them. Tonto to the Lone Ranger is a good sidekick, if you want to label him as such, though I think they work better as equal partners. Watson is a good one to Holmes, in the better interpretations of the material. He exists as an observer for Holmes to explain his methodology, for the reader, which was a common function, in detective stories and similar. Within comics, I think Robin was, at times, a great one and certainly the best of the junior assistants to superheroes. That's why I always enjoyed seeing him come into his own, as a hero. I liked the concept that, as an adult, he is one of the best superheroes out there, as he grew up in the role and has tons of experience, by the time he reaches adulthood, not to mention his previous circus acrobatic training. He worked with and learned from the best, even more than Bruce Wayne did, in his journey.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 16, 2024 22:16:58 GMT -5
I've never heard that before. Slaughter was gone by December 84, so he couldn't have even been a "plan B". Mr. T was obviously the first and really only choice, for all the eyeballs he would bring to the WWF. Slaughter was hugely popular in 84 though. A Hogan/Slaughter super team would've been cool as a one off against, say, Sheik and Volkoff Yeah, Slaughter was working for the AWA (and still had the GI JOE gig) in 1985. His closest match to Wrestlemania's date was as a tag team partner to Crusher Blackwell, against Masa Saito, King Tonga and Masked Superstar, in Denver, CO. He worked for the AWA, for the entire year, while also doing a few shorts for Portland, one of the UWF's big shows, and some Pro Wrestling USA cooperative matches, as well as multiple shots for Crockett, in the Mid-Atlantic areas (Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey), as well as other Pro Wrestling USA events. Slaughter had the Americas title, which was created to be a gimmick for him. The only other person to hold it was Larry Zbyszko, when it was created (supposed win in Mexico......which imagine Larry in Mexico, in the mid-80s) and then dropped to Slaughter, who held it until he left the AWA, in 1986 and it was never mentioned again. Given the fact he still won't admit to having never served in the Armed Forces, in any capacity, I am starting to think he took too many bumps, as well as spent too many years, later, in Vince's revisionist fantasy land. Hell, he might actually believe that GI JOE was a real Army unit and, therefore, he was a Marine DI. Maybe Cobra explains why he became a turncoat, in the 90s. Had Wrestlemania occurred in 1984, before he left, I might buy it, as he was right behind Hogan, as a draw.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 16, 2024 21:57:41 GMT -5
ps Babylon 5, in the 4th Season, has an episode where Sheridan is captured, after being betrayed by the brainwashed Garibaldi, and interrogated by the Earth Government forces. His interrogation very closely mirrors the methods seen in Closet Land and used in real societies. Alan Moore's V For Vendetta does similar, but turns it on its head, to show V teaching Evie how he rebelled and gained his mental freedom, passing it on to her, before ultimately passing on his role to her (which is where the film fails, since the comic suggests that the regime isn't going to be brought down that quickly or easily, while the movie suggests that the mere act of blowing up Parliament brings it about and the Guy Fawkes masks bring the anonymity to publicly rebel, ignoring the weapons of the state).
It's fair to say that this is a subject to which I have devoted a bit of study.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 16, 2024 21:44:12 GMT -5
"Living in Harmony" was done to be an inexpensive episode, more than anything else. It was a way to balance out the budget for the more expensive episodes. I, personally, think it is fine, though it would have been more interesting earlier on in the run of episodes. I will take it over "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling." The mystery at the heart of it is interesting, but the execution is lacking and the absence of McGoohan (off filming Ice Station Zebra) really hurts it. I enjoy "The Girl Who Was Death" quite a bit; but, then I see it as something else....more akin to an Avengers episode. It was an unused script from Danger Man/Secret Agent, which was never quite as fanciful, but I enjoy the heck out of Kenneth Griffith and his "marshals." Looked upon as something mostly unrelated to The Prisoner, it's a bit of fun. "Once Upon a Time" is a brilliant piece of work and I don't see how it is "unpenetrable," though I have seen it several times and picked up bits and pieces each time. It's based on regressive therapy, where a therapist adopts the role of a surrogate parent and takes the patient back through their childhood, totally immersing them in it (in some versions) to find the underlying events or patterns that led to severe trauma and dysfunction in adulthood. It requires a close relationship between therapist and subject, which is part of what makes it somewhat controversial, though it also varies greatly between therapists. There is the danger of the therapist being too close to the subject to maintain an objectivity and then determine if their therapy is healing the patient. Within the episode, Number 2, after some conditioning of Number 6's mind, to make him more receptive to the regression, locks himself, the Butler and Number 6 in the Embryo Room, where he then regresses Number 6 to childhood, then takes him through the stages of his life, but targeting his rebellious nature and sense of self vs sense of belonging to a group. In the segment where they recreate his school years, he is brought before the headmaster because he knows some information about the "incident" in question and is interrogated. 6 sticks to his code of not squealing on others, in the face of adult authority, mirroring his refusal to state why he resigned. Later, he is in court for an auto accident and again subjected to an interrogation and the push to conform to society's demands. Same for the segment where he is in the RAF (we can assume), on a bombing mission, getting at his moral code, trying to push him to see that it is at odds with the war. The desired end result is to break down 6's resistance to questions and rebellion against Authority, to make him compliant and then turn him towards the Village's goals. In the end, though, he turns the table on Number 2 and forces him to question his own motives and orders, to the point that he becomes ineffective in his role and succumbs to the doctored alcohol. It is implied that he is killed. The Supervisor then comes to reward 6, and he demands to see Number 1, leading to the finale. The filming of it was arduous and Leo McKern actually suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be absent from shooting for a few days, while he recovered. The finale, "Fall Out," was never intended to give answers, as there are no answers to give, except what you conclude in your own mind, having seen the episodes and Number 6's behavior, and your own interpretations of the themes. It is meant to make you work things over in your own mind. Viewing it the first time, as the first episode of the series I ever saw, really made it confusing for me. After watching the whole thing several times, I developed my own interpretations of what's going on and why, based on some things that McGoohan has said. He basically said the series is an allegory of the Individual, in conflict with Society. At the heat of it, it is about maintaining one's individual identity, in the face of a society that is trying to reduce them to a number and make them conform like a robot, doing as told. You can couch the themes into Authority vs Freedom, Freedom vs Dictatorship, Self vs Community, Individual vs Collective , Child vs Parent or other similar conflict between Who One IS and Who Society Say One Should Be. The pagentry of the thing, I feel, makes you eventually give up waiting for an answer to be spoon fed and start contemplating the philosophical points being made. Number 48 (Alexis Kanner) is presented as an example of youthful rebellion, the child rebelling against parental authority as they test their freedoms. Part of this is about the child establishing their place in the world and the conflict between what they want it to be and what the parent or school or society wants it to be. It is likely there because of the upheavals going on, with the Baby Boom Generation coming of age and increasingly challenging the norms of their parent's society. He represents the Alternative Culture of the period, which was fueled by that conflict and the sheer size of those going through it, after massive global conflict and its fallout. The President pretty much argues that youth must be brought to heel, taught about their responsibilities in the world and made to join it and assume those responsibilities without question. Number 6's acceptance of the youth seems to say that Society needs to listen more to the youth and help them find their place, rather than try to hammer them into a "round hole;" but, also, the "Don't knock yourself out" comment also suggests that the youth doesn't need to get all wrapped up in the act of rebellion as much as finding out who they are and what they want and articulating it and lobbying for the change they seek in their world. In that, it accepts that the youth of the time had a lot to say about how the world had been and was being run and much of it was quite valid. By the same token, violent upheaval wasn't necessarily the way to bring those changes. Number 2 is presented as an act of rebellion by a member of the Authority, turning on that very body, in the face of rebellion. The President argues that he was disloyal and abandoned his responsibilities, while Number 2 retorts that he is a New Man, awakened to the problems within their authority, changing his views on what his responsibilities actually were. It could be likened to Daniel Ellsberg violating the security of the Pentagon Papers and providing them to the news media to reveal what was going on within the government and the execution of the Vietnam War, feeling that he had a greater loyalty to the nation, to reveal how its government had gotten lost in this ceaseless war, which was killing or physically and mentally damaging an entire generation, that was supposed to ascend to Authority over this world. In the end, Number 6 stays true to Who he Was and his beliefs and the Village admits that he cannot be broken, because his sense of Identity is too great for them. However, they still try to seduce him over to their side, to lead them into a greater future, rather than just let him go. In part, this is the last temptation. Number 6 then gets his wish to meet Number 1; but learns that there is no one at the center, controlling everything, it is just a reflection of himself and the darkness on the other side. Our control is within ourselves and the struggle is within, too, as much as without. Whether or not Number 6 escapes depends on how you view his success. If you think he proved his point and won, then he escaped. If you think he was tricked and is still in the Village, then it is true. You might see it as suggesting that the struggle still exists beyond the confines we impose upon ourself, that it is more than Parent vs Child, or Student vs School, that the conflict exists in larger society, because it exists within all of us. thus, the cycle repeats itself. It is a closed loop until we become enlightened enough to resolve the conflict within ourselves and then take that outside ourselves. Or it was all a fevered dream, while Number 6 remains in the Village, merely fantasizing it all. Or a nightmare suffered in his own home, that is was all in his mind, representing the anxieties of his life and profession. But, that is my interpretation and that is McGoohan's point, in my eyes, that you have to work out for yourself, what it means to you. If you look at some of the literary influences of the series, you see that many of them have no real resolution, either. Alice in Wonderland has Alice awaken to find herself no longer in the strange world, suggesting it was all a dream, until Through the Looking Glass returns her to this world. Does Alice enter the world or does she dream it? Is there a point to what happens, beyond the individual episodes within the story? People do whole doctoral dissertations trying to sort that out. Franz Kafka's writing was an influence, especially The Trial and The Castle, the former featuring a man standing trial for unknown charges and the trial never ends, while the latter finds a man trying to gain an audience at The Castle, trying to find an avenue to do so, only to never be given a concrete answer. Brigit Boland's teleplay, The Prisoner, features a cleric who was tortured and jailed by a fascist invader, then finds themselves jailed and interrogated by a Communist government, in an allegory of Eastern Europe (especially Poland) where those who resisted the Nazis found themselves enemies of their own country, because they hadn't been part of the Communist sphere, before. They were ideologically unsound to be heroes of the country. In the play, the cleric is impervious to the methods employed by his country's rulers, but a new interrogator starts chipping away at his religious faith,, suggesting it is more personal vanity than service to his God and he eventually succumbs to his methods. There is a movie, called Closet Land, which covers similar ground. The movie version features Madeline Stowe as a children's writer, in a repressive state, who has been hauled out of her bed, arrested and brought in for interrogation. Alan Rickman plays the official to whom she is brought. At first, he acts surprised that she has been brought in, as there is no record of her having any revolutionary activities. He eventually says it must be a mistake and that an official apology will be given and offers her the chance to go. She then starts make criticisms, then thinks the better of it, but hesitates to leave. Rickman suggests waiting until the apology arrives. Stowe continues being beligerrent and then the chance of freedom goes away and interrogation continues. At the heart of things are the stories she wrote, about a child locked in a closet, where his dream friends come out to play. The government sees it as a subversive allegory of revolution, with cells meeting in secret, behind the government's back. He then subjects Stowe to all kinds of interrogational and torture methods, from psychological stress and sleep deprivation, to physical stress from being held in painful positions for extended periods of time. There are moments of false hope and moments where she seems to think they will kill her and torture will end, only for it to start all over. Through it all, she remains resolute and then you see how she questions her interrogator and starts turning their eye on themselves, why they participate, why they don't rebel, why they cannot touch her spirit. In the end, you learn that the magical Closet Land is based upon being locked in a closet, as a child, and subjected to physical and sexual abuse. The magic land was a psychological escape mechanism to remove her mind from the abuse. As an adult, it provides inspiration for her stories. There is no revolutionary allegory but one of escape from abuse. However, that proves t be a rebellion against the tyranny she experienced and a model for others to escape. The film was released in 1991 and the techniques depicted in the film were based on actual interrogation and torture techniques used throughout the world, both by repressive and some democratic regimes. In it you will find the same techniques described in investigative journalism pieces on the War on Terror, about activities at Abu Graib and the use of "extraordinary rendition" and interrogation techbniques used by the CIA and its proxies, on terror suspects, many who proved to be falsely arrested. The film was done in support of Amnesty International and the home video release included a short PSA for Amnesty International and its work and cites the example of Vaclav Havel, who had been imprisoned in Czechoslovakia, after the crushing of the Velvet Revolution. He was later released and, after the fall of the Communist regime, became the first democratically elected president of the new Czech Republic.
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