io9.com announced Friday that Tweets about a fictional pirate radio show based on the Amazon
streaming TV series, The Man In The High Castle, angered
several Republicans and Trump supporters. No, the radio show is not a
high seas scallywag geek program. Instead it refers to a type of
underground radio. The conservative Twitter users thought the show
was a real one produced by anti-Trump protesters and so reacted to
its title’s hashtag of #ResistanceRadio by lashing out criticism.
This was likened to the radio broadcast of H.G. Well’s War ofthe Worlds of which many listeners who tuned in late flew into panic thinking
the Martians really were coming. However, in the case of Resistance
Radio the reaction is one that says “the rebels are coming”.
The Man In The
High Castle is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel of the same
name. I can’t say a whole lot about the novel or TV show since I
haven’t read the former or watched the latter, as much as I’m a
big fan of Dick’s work. But I can say that, as with most science
fiction, the TV series and its brainchild audio show mirror current
events, particularly through the subgenre of alternative history.
High Castle
is set in a 1960s period after Nazi Germany and Japan have
won the second world
war
and taken over the U.S. Anyway,
the conservative Twitter
users’ reaction
to
the hashtag
shows
that science
fiction reflects the issues of the day regardless of the time period
it is set in.
Science fiction is
social commentary in many senses and this is particularly so with
alternative history fiction, since history is a direct reference to
past society. Certain periods of history have been used in literature
and film to symbolise contemporary issues and this is definitely the
case with alternative history (also referred to as alt-history).
Like steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk (which High Castle can be
said to fall under this third one) and the many other -punk subgenres
of sci fi, alt-history comments on modern day issues through a
historical scope--comparing those issues with ones of the
past--basically showing that history does repeat itself. An example
is, though this may not be the intention of the TV series, equating
an ultra conservative presidential administration like Trump’s to a
fascist regime of the past like Nazi-ism.
As far as
conservatives’ lashing out at #ResistanceRadio
goes, a similar situation occurred with the third Star Wars
prequel, Revenge of the Sith,
in 2005 with the Bush Administration. Conservatives and Bush
supporters saw the movies as bad-mouthing the president of that time
and accused them of comparing him with the villainous Emperor
Palpatine. Whether such social commentary was intended or not, only
the producers would know. But even if it was, and even if the same is
true for High Castle and its
Resistance Radio, is it a crime? After all, art is
often a commentary to the issues of the time it’s made in, and that
includes pop art such as film and TV. Not to mention radio. The First
Amendment especially allows for this.
Until next time . .
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| Credit: Pixabay.com |
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