V Takes on Obamamania
“Embracing change is never easy,” Anna coos at one point. Where have we heard that before?
V blends slick special effects with a few meaty meta-jokes, a wink and a nudge to audiences weaned on genre fare.
“This is like Independence Day,” one teen jokes when he sees the aliens hovering above in their impressive spacecraft.
The joke stings in part because by now we’ve seen many of the story elements trotted out before. The aliens infiltrate humanity as in Battlestar Galactica, and the initial scenes of the alien invasion smacks of the War of the Worlds remake.
But the series will likely be discussed for its political allegories.
Jonathan Chait at the New Republic couldn’t stand to see a television series daring to mock anything but the GOP. He whines:
This is not just a right-wing worldview but the worldview of the paranoid Tea Party movement. … It’s grating that a potentially interesting concept was hijacked by right-wing political paranoia.
At least the New Republic dared to address the issue up close. You’d have to watch V with the sound off not to notice the Obama comparisons, but the Hollywood Reporter did just that with their review, a qualified rave nonetheless.
The “O” word also goes unmentioned in the New York Times review, which does fairly point out some of the show’s flaws.
The original series drew parallels to the rise of Nazi Germany, using clumsy special effects and bad ’80′s hair to flesh out the narrative. The new, mostly improved V takes on a much more current target. But can it keep up the pressure?
The first episode proved a ratings winner, but it remains to be seen if the political targets will still be in play in the weeks to come.
The series’ show runners already got the axe, and the new blood could push the show in fresh directions. Given ABC’s lack of support for The Goode Family, the recently canceled series which mocked liberal do-gooders, it wouldn’t be a surprise if V transforms back into a toothless science fiction romp before long.
Mr. Toto, how long has it been since you watched the original “V” miniseries? It (not necessarily the sequel miniseries or the weekly series) was not cheesy, and the special effects were quite good by the standards of the day. If it’s been a long time, give it another shot. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I enjoyed the first episode of the revamp but agree that it seemed like a two-hour show chopped into a one-hour show. I’m hoping the makers have that out of their system and will put a little more work into developing plot lines and characters going forward.
While you are right about the comparisons to “O” (it was the first thing I thought of while watching the first episode) and the campaign last year (and the continuing campaign-type rhetoric emanating from the White House), the BEST verbal exchange in the first episode of “V” was at the end:
FBI agent: “They’re arming themselves with the most powerful weapon out there.”
Priest: “What’s that?”
FBI agent: “DEVOTION.”
Frankly, I was surprised that a show with such an obviously “non-P.C.” view of present-day politics was greenlighted at all, let alone by ABC, which is engaged in a race to the bottom with NBC for the dubious distinction of being “More O-Maniac Than Thou”.
I find myself wondering if this is evidence of a schism between the news and entertainment divisions of ABC, or even “buyer’s remorse” on the part of the entire corporation.
As for Chait’s whine in NR, it tells more about “progressive” mentalities than it does about “right-wing” ones. Clearly, “sophisticated, enlightened progressives” (like Chait) cannot tolerate any criticism of, not just their most recent Anointed One, but any aspect of their dogma. Also, they are so used to being showered with uncritical (and often unthinking) praise from the mass media for whatever they do, that they seem to go into a panic, or even a fugue state when any portion of that media (other than the Demon Incarnate, i.e. Fox News) disagrees with them, even slightly. Plus, calling ABC a “right-wing” entity is so divorced from reality as to be bizarre. The fact that Chait makes that statement tells more about him than it does about ABC.
If the “philosophy” that progressives like Chait revere is that vulnerable to even slight criticism, or their own belief in it is that shaky, maybe they should consider the possibility that the problem is not everyone who disagrees with them, but themselves.
There’s an old principle in engineering design that goes, “If nobody else does it that way, there’s usually a very good reason”. No engineer worth his salt will design any system in a way that consistently fails to deliver the expected performance just because somebody else did it.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for “enlightened intellectuals” who follow- and worship- “progressive” dogmas. This probably explains their adverse reaction to “V”. Most people don’t like to hear that they aren’t really as good as they believe themselves to be at whatever they do.
“Progressives”, like Chait, become apoplectic if anyone has the gall to suggest, even gently, that they are anything less than Perfect.
clear ether
eon
On the lead up to the new series the SyFy station had the original ‘V’ on for 2 days. I found the story then to be very compelling when compared to today. The Utopian promise masking true intentions. The show was dedicated to resistance fighters past, present and future. The use of propaganda in the original is akin to what the Obama machine used to get elected. The old Jew who refused to allow his neighbours be taken because of what he suffered under the nazi was a gripping part of the story. In the original the iconic V was spray painted on a propaganda poster by that old man when he showed youths how to deface the poster. He exclaimed that it stood for victory.
The show was far from cheesy and had deeply rooted messages of resistance to tyranny. It’s not so much a dig at Obama specifically as it is a dig against the tyrannical wolf dressed as the utopian sheep. Obama just happens to fall into the meme.
Eon: Nice commentary. Progressives must react as they do because every thing the believe is based on either a lie or something that has caused untold death and misery. So they must keep a tight leash on criticism. Ergo that Islamic maniac that murdered the soldiers at Ft.Hood. Progressivism and Islamic fundamentalist made a Faustian deal and share a common goal. And it must be preserved no matter how pretzel shaped they and progressivism become.
“It’s grating that a potentially interesting concept was hijacked by right-wing political paranoia.”
And we’re supposed to ignore the left-wing fantasy of “climate change” that’s infiltrated and spoiled countless other potentially promising sci-fi shows?
Fox News = The Rebel Alliance. I like it.
When we saw the pilot in July at San Diego Comic Con, we were shocked and delighted. We’d come to see it for two of our favorite actors were in it (Morena as Anna, and Alan Tudyk as an FBI agent)…but we were hooting and ‘squeeing’ (like little fangurls) at the ‘message’ the show brought! I kept hearing that ABC was going to ‘change’ and ‘tone down’ some aspects of it, and seeing that they are changing so many people who ‘run things’, I’m sure I can guess what those changes will be. *sigh* Well, at least we had the pilot. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment. Unfortunately, they’ve condensed the next SIX episodes into FOUR (what the?), meaning, I’m sure, alot of what made conservatives and ‘freedom fighters’ *squee* will be removed. Too bad. I thought someone at ABC had actually grown a spine to stand up to the “O” machine. Then, we’ll have a very long hiatus (after the Olympics), which will most likely lose a huge hunk of the fanbase (and yes, there is already a huge fanbase built in with some of the actors and the theme of the show). Still, it will be interesting to see how the show plays out.
While watching V (which I loved by the way) I kept saying to myself how this is just like the O election. Glad to know that was intentional. Maybe there is hope in overcoming Obamainsaneia!
Just watched “V for Vendetta” three days ago. Truly sunlight is the best antidote to tyranny.
The pilot is available on abc.com.
I didn’t expect to do more than glance at it, but I ended up watching the whole episode. It’s fascinating and quite well done.
The first time when Obama was mocked (although only very attentive watcher like me noticed this) was in the movie Transformers-2. The US government (straight orders from Obama) decided to abandon the allies of the planet Earth, because it was decided Earth could make a separate peace with the enemies. The military were furious at the president’s decision. Note though that Obama’s name was not mentionned directly – until in the end, when it was said “President Obama was evacuated from the White House”.
I believe this is a beginning of a new age – an age when American liberalism died. I am writing an article on exactly this subject. Stay tuned and don’t forget to go to my website.
Pilot was ok, but the line with “universal health care” was so obvious that it sucked. It was like hints about Abu Ghraib, WMD or fabricated war on terror in liberal media and satire.
I loved how most everyone drank the alien kool-aid . . . now, who does that remind you of?
Looking forward to the next episode!
Lizard-tongue-flicking Obama communications director and Mao-lover Anita Dunn is stepping down soon from her White House post. It had been intended all along that she was moving on, which is just as well. I mean, to have a TV show about progressive alien lizards while a top White House staffer does repeated reptilian imitations would have been problematic for the President.