Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 40

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Popular Culture Review

the slogan "The Truth is Out There." This is Mulder's credo. Truth is
something available, but hidden by forces conspiring to keep him
(and us) in the dark.
The nameless protagonist of The Prisoner is incarcerated in a
government-run installation called The Village on a remote island.
Although little is revealed about the protagonist, it is clear that he
had been a top-level agent for an unnamed British intelligence
agency and that he resigned for unknown reasons. Unlike The XFiles, the government is in the position of investigator. At the
beginning of each episode, the government's representative,
designated Number Two, says "We want information." Through
various elaborate manipulations (hypnosis, chemicals, spies, etc.),
they attempt to discover the Cause of his leaving, the Truth he must
possess about which they know nothing. The Prisoner, too, has a
question—^"Who is Number One?"—the invisible controller and the
initiator of his incarceration and tortures, but the episodes focus on
his attempts to escape, not on his attempts to answer this question.
Another key difference between the two shows is that nothing in The
Prisoner is overtly supernatural, but the show does rely on pseudo
scientific technology in which resurrection is possible and balloons
can kill.
Although the shows are separated by almost twenty years
and their apparent structures seem opposed, they were and continue to
be popular. Both began with a relatively small cult following which
then grew to merchandising status. Paranoia about government
practices prevalent since the sixties may contribute to their
popularity. It is interesting to note that The Prisoner was aired in
the U.S. just prior to Watergate and that there are constant echoes of
the scandal in The X-Files episodes (including an informant
nostalgically named Deep Throat). It is also interesting that the
shows were apparently based on fact—^Patrick McGoohan based The
Prisoner on an account of an island where retired British spies were
held, and there are supposedly real FBI X-Files devoted to UFO
sightings and supernatural occurrences. Whether or not either exists
or has existed, both series work with ideas present in popular
discourse. Despite apparent structural difference in the shows, their
appeal to viewers is quite similar, and this is our focus.