During the series premiere the earth quivers and shakes and flying saucers appear above major cities all over the globe.  We’re introduced to the alluring leader of the Visitors, Anna (played by Moneca Baccarin) whose angelic face calms the masses and explains that they come in peace and are in need of assistance…their home planet is running low on resources and in exchange for our help they are willing to share technological and medical advances with Earth.

It is definitely eerie how almost immediately people erupt in applause and cheer our new Visitors…and naturally like always, when shit hits the fan people flock to churches en masse.  To make matters more interesting before Anna’s first interview she demands that she be asked questions that paint the Visitors in a positive light.  During the interview she gushes about all the things they want to share with earth including universal healthcare and ZOMG!!!! she’s young, charismatic, and she wants universal health care and people are selling V merchandise on the street corners and worshiping the ground they walk on …could it be that Anna is really Obama??!!??  Or at least that’s the conclusion that lots of people are drawing-here’s a comment left on The Hollywood Reporters review of the show:

I agree it moved quickly and would have benefited the audience in a 2 hours premiere. That aside, acting was good, casting was okay and story line kept your attention. The take home lesson of this show is that you shouldn’t trust the messenger (Obama) just because they say things you want to hear, because you will later be disappointed. I applaud ABC for having the balls or lack of observance that this may be portrayed as anti-democrat rhetoric, hence the sad left wingers whining about it being Glen Beck propaganda.

The original ‘V’ miniseries was chalked full of social commentary with parallels to the Nazis rise to power-what happens when we stop asking questions?  How soon after the public starts buying into propaganda do we lose our consciences?  I mean hell…the Visitors emblem was clearly a play on the Nazi swastika:

So naturally, a remake would include social commentary as well. That viewers today relate the Visitors to Obama’s rise to power and presidency is interesting.  Asking questions, looking at the latent meaning of things is what takes a show like ‘V’ from purely entertainment to a show that helps analyze current affairs in society and in my opinion definitely a good thing.

Yes, Obama’s rise to power was on terms like ‘Change’ and ‘Hope’…terms that the Visitors used to win Earth’s trust.  Obama inspired thousands during a period where a lot of people felt jaded with the political process and the economy just like the Visitors arrival was during a time when people are ready to tar and feather their representatives and the economy is in the crapper. But to look at ‘V’ and say, “Yep…that’s Obama! You see you people were IDIOTS to vote for him…look at the disarray our country is in!” is to ultimately miss the greater point.  By jumping to that conclusion you’re creating propaganda instead of critically looking at the message and seeing the greater parallels to contemporary society.

I believe the point ‘V’ is trying to  make is that there are new forms of control.  In Herbert Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man (1964) he talks about how contemporary societies are characterized by domination–not necesarily by using external forces like fear/violence but the manipulation of consciousness.  Social order is reinforced by maintaining the status quo as mainstream media and corporations pump out what they want us to see and experience…defining our standards and view of ourselves, others, and life in general.  For example, overwhelmingly beauty is  defined as looking like this-

It still blows my mind that Americans called, emailed, and wrote to their representatives about not passing the bailout of the US financial system and it miraculously was approved anyway.  And it’s evident in the massive amount of commercials and advertisements that everyone is STILL trying to keep up with the Joneses with buying the newest Blackberry/Iphone, coolest new car, clothes etc because someone out there…not you… got to decide what success and happiness entails.

In pre modern societies it was clear to see that people with power=bad.  Economic systems based on feudalism and slavery were inherently wrong and abolished because it was clear to see that their was one ‘king of the castle’ with everyone else getting the short end of the stick.  But today terms like ‘American Dream’ divert attention away from the fact that there’s a small group of people with a lot of money and power….and the rest of us trickle down to the bottom working minimum wage jobs and living paycheck to paycheck believing that maybe, just maybe, if we work hard enough we can get there.  We can be successful, we can have nice things and we can be happy.

When we stop asking questions…when we allow the powers that be to control our lives-when the pursuit of success (the reporter in ‘V’ not asking Anna tough, relevant questions regardless of if it makes the Visitors look good or not for example) outweighs rationality-no one NEEDS a Hummer, not every woman is or NEEDS to be a Victoria’s Secret model to be beautiful, no one NEEDS the newest Apple gadget and addresses the real issues…we’re all just puppets.  Our country NEEDS comprehensive, affordable healthcare for EVERYONE.  People need to realize that laissez-faire economics allows a couple of really rich people who want to stay rich to do whatever the hell they want and make risky financial decisions that costs everyday Americans.  We should hold ALL of our representatives and politicians accountable not just Obama and not just the Republican of the week.  We should NEVER stop asking questions.