So I just finishing watching the first episode of V. As I did I was reminded of other series that have had a similar premise of aliens coming to earth and dramatically effecting our culture. I was reminded of the shadowy Taelons in their ridiculous purple jumpsuits from Earth: Final Conflict but most of all I was reminded of the television show I think did a better job of it, Alien Nation. When I look back on Alien Nation I remember that among it’s normal one off adventures and random alien strangeness that it had a tendency to get preachy. It was about extra-terrestrial immigrants making their home on Earth so platitudes on racism, nativism, and multiculturalism were unavoidable. Add to that the pseudo-feminist reproductive role reversals, the exploration of alien-human sex, the theme of workplace exploitation, and morality plays about multicultural accommodation. I imagine it struck more than a few viewers as a program that might have crossed the line into political propagandizing. Which is a feeling I got from watching V.
I was struck by themes and elements that felt distinctly like allegories for current populist right-wing canards. It starts as the “look fairer feel fouler” aliens arrive on earth with promises of hope and change. They chide us earthlings for being so tribal and express their superiority in being united in a multicultural one-world government. They use new media to spread their personality cult to the youth and then recruit them into a volunteer corps. The visitors manipulate the media to shield them from negative reporting. Congratulating journalists on sacrificing their principals for the “greater good”. And announce on national television their plans to provide us all with universal healthcare. At the same time an FBI agent is tracking down a sleeper cell but in the process discovers a patriot group who are uniting to capitalize on the wide spread protests and recruit people to join their cause. Another hero in the fight is a priest who warns his flock to be weary of the lofty promises of the aliens. So law enforcement and pillars of traditional culture and morality stand up to fight the evil liberals visitors.
Is it just me or does this sound exactly like something you expect to see penned by Glenn Beck (or L. Neil Smith). I half expect in coming episodes for the aliens to ban guns , for a politician’s birth records to be called into question, and to have alien flu shots discovered to be tracking devices. A world in which David Icke and the John Birch Society’s wildest fantasies come true. I have no problem with a conservative television show, I could even enjoy it if done well, but these kind of cliched caricatures do not make for good art and they certainly don’t make for good politics. Good ratings though? We’ll see.
Of course it’s just the first episode and I’m willing to allow for the possibility that I read far too much conservative opinion and the show is simply about tyranny and revolution at a time when the people yelling tyranny the most are the right. It could be that the show is just using the same archetypal narrative of the charismatic dictator that right-wing media figures have been using. Or there’s the possibility that some blatant references to current political movements were included to stir controversy. After all there’s no such thing as bad publicity and sometimes a cigar really isn’t a penis. At this point few can say how the story will play out so I reserve my judgement on the series as a whole but I fully expect every conservative columnist and blogger from the “Mayor’s Income, Tennessee Examiner” to the folks at Big Hollywood (who I’m sure are wetting themselves) to be using the show as a new shorthand for reactionary populism.