14 May 2011
Quote of the Day: io9
From this review of the Smallville series finale:
Several months ago, I was talking with io9 reporter Alasdair Wilkins about how the hell this perennially unhip, unheralded, and mostly forgotten show stayed on the air for ten years (this is a mystery that's intrigued me for a while).
Alasdair had a terrifically plausible theory. In real life, Tom Welling really is Superman, but instead of fighting for justice, he coerces Smallville's cast and crew to make the show under the threat of death, sort of like Superboy-Prime mixed with that psychic kid from The Twilight Zone who exiled his enemies to the cornfield.
Alasdair and I never figured out why Smallville would be canceled if Superman was holding the staff hostage, but after watching "Finale," I think I understand. Smallville was no simple TV show. It was a decade-long case study in delayed gratification, a tenth-of-a-century long con.
And I presume that despotic, real-life SuperWelling did this to inculcate Stockholm Syndrome in viewers and to Pavlovianly condition the populace. Smallville was a means to soften us up before Welling's velvet revolution, Pax Supermana. This 10-year propaganda campaign has bred two vintages of Smallville viewer, the masochists and the apologists. I know this sounds outlandish, but consider the (anecdotal) evidence.
Several months ago, I was talking with io9 reporter Alasdair Wilkins about how the hell this perennially unhip, unheralded, and mostly forgotten show stayed on the air for ten years (this is a mystery that's intrigued me for a while).
Alasdair had a terrifically plausible theory. In real life, Tom Welling really is Superman, but instead of fighting for justice, he coerces Smallville's cast and crew to make the show under the threat of death, sort of like Superboy-Prime mixed with that psychic kid from The Twilight Zone who exiled his enemies to the cornfield.
Alasdair and I never figured out why Smallville would be canceled if Superman was holding the staff hostage, but after watching "Finale," I think I understand. Smallville was no simple TV show. It was a decade-long case study in delayed gratification, a tenth-of-a-century long con.
And I presume that despotic, real-life SuperWelling did this to inculcate Stockholm Syndrome in viewers and to Pavlovianly condition the populace. Smallville was a means to soften us up before Welling's velvet revolution, Pax Supermana. This 10-year propaganda campaign has bred two vintages of Smallville viewer, the masochists and the apologists. I know this sounds outlandish, but consider the (anecdotal) evidence.
Labels: scifi/fantasy, TV
# posted by mamurd @ 8:54 PM 
