Relax People - V is Not About Obama
The Internets are buzzing with talk that the new remake of V is, in part, a jab at Barak Obama and his legion of supporters. One great example comes from the Chicago Tribune:
Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.
The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.”
I know her hair is shorter now, but c'mon ... a man?
Other than confusing Morena Baccarin with a man (which frankly is not a mistake easily made) the above is a description of V. Also, as Glenn Garvin goes on to explain, Barak Obama.
Well, put in that light I guess it could apply to President Obama. However, this seems to me to be a case of seeing what we want to see. Let’s break down the points and show why they don’t really apply.
Point 1: In a time of trouble, a charismatic leader appears. Put that way, this certainly could apply to President Obama. Except for one thing: This is pulled directly from the original V series in 1983. In that there was also a time of trouble (massive recession that the country was only just leaving, a very scary Cold War and the rise of fundamentalist Islam). So basically the show is following the plot of the original.
Point 2: He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care. Again, the 1983 Original did just this as well. The aliens offered hope, new technologies and universal health care. They didn’t call it “Universal Health Care” in 1983, not sure the term had entered the zeitgeist by that point, but they did open clinics, cure cancer, etc. So the only real difference between the old and the new is that the new used the current terminology. How evil of them!
Point 3: The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” I would argue that except for one guy, Chad Decker, most of the media was shouting tough questions. But whatever. Again, this is pulled directly from the 1983 original. There was even a “Chad Decker” role, though it was a female anchorwoman.
Point 4: The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.” Not to sound like a broken record here but … this was also in the 1983 original. The whole world embraced the aliens right away - giving up factory space, political power - everything - because they loved the aliens so much. There was only a small group that believed that the aliens were evil and they were widely disregarded.
So unless the writers of the original V traveled back in time to write the original show, V has nothing to do with President Obama.
So what is V about? Only one episode of the new V has aired so far (with another new one tonight), but if it follows the pattern of the original at
Connect the dots people ...
all (as it has done so far) it will be about the dangers of giving in to totalitarianism. Heck, the original didn’t dance around the issue at all, making the aliens Nazis. I mean, check out the original symbol for the 1983 V’s. Look familiar? Even the plot was about how the aliens were locking up all scientists and putting them into camps, and later storing them for snacking on. And just in case the audience *still* missed it, they had a Holocaust Survivor explaining how much like the Holocaust this was.
So why are people so willing to believe that a show about totalitarianism is about Obama? I mean, sure, there are nut cases out there that think he became president for that reason, or to destroy America, or whatever. But has it gone so far now that when we see anything on TV that deals in that area we think of our president?
On one side we have conservatives who love thinking this show is about president Obama - I mean, if it is than the show is painting him as someone who wants to take over the world and possibly eat its people.
On the other side we have liberals who think that this is the conservative view of Obama and are then offended by it.
Insanity. People please - stop comparing a show about giant lizards who (possibly) wish to eat us to President Obama. That is just crazy talk.
Instead, just enjoy what looks to be a very good Sci-Fi series.
