The Medium and the Message

It is fascinating to speculate how various fictional television series have impacted upon and shaped one’s political world-view or ideological perspective. As an impressionable young boy I was regular viewer of the British-produced TV series, The Adventures of Robin Hood. Each episode featured anti-government rebellion against tyranny and oppression. Only a few years ago did I discover that the primary screenwriters of the series were blacklisted Americans who openly inserted left-wing themes and story-lines within the plots. I was also an enthusiastic fan of the Western genre of the lone crusading hero fighting to right the wrongs committed by local governments usually under the control of wealthy criminal elites. Such series included Bat Masterson, Have Gun Will Travel, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Yancy Derringer, and The Wild, Wild West. Undoubtedly such series as The Twilight Zone, The Prisoner, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Nowhere Man, also greatly reinforced these proto-libertarian tendencies within me.

I wonder what various TV series have influenced our LRC readership? Let me know your thoughts on the subject.

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1:08 pm on September 30, 2012