In a message dated 3/3/01 12:21:41 PM Eastern Standard Time,
tavia(a)btinternet.com writes in response to my comment about Boucher and
Nation copping out in loading the dice against Blake in season two:
<< I'm not convinced that the makers of B7 had much of a choice here: the
extent of terrorist action against the UK government probably made any
other course of action impossible. It's easy perhaps to underestimate the
effect that terrorist action has had on ordinary UK citizens over the past
decades (e.g., Kathryn's 'where are the waste bins' question), e.g.,
commuting to
London (early 90s) I recall approximately 1--2 bombs/bomb scares per week
closing either chunks of the Underground or the major London stations....
In a society where large numbers of people have been affected directly or
indirectly by terrorist action, valorizing terrorist actions on
public-subsidised television would simply be impossible.
>>
I agree with what you say here to some extent. And I think you are right to
point out that my "blaming" of Boucher and Nation for copping out by not to
continue to valorize Blake is really due to factors more widespread than just
the individual beliefs or fears of two people. Really, your comment about
the bomb scares in the London Underground shows the extent to which such fear
was widespread, legitimate and that Boucher and Nation were really at some
level playing with fire in the whole premise of the show itself.
Still, it's the impossibility that you mention here that strikes me. I
wonder what it would be like were it indeed possible for Boucher and Nation
to have continue to valorize Blake at the same time that real political
groups were using similar tactics against the British State. Were it
possible to do this, would B7 have possibly opened up a space of debate about
the nature of "terrorism" that it is now virtually impossible to locate let
alone discuss?
I'm not quite sure what this space would look like but it seems that in
valorizing Blake's actions as a "freedom fighter" I guess Boucher and Nation
run the risk of possibly having their audience see the tactics of say the IRA
as legitimate political actions, no less legitimate than Blake's.
Two things: First, I'm wondering first if that could have really happened --
I mean, I think I'm assuming too quickly a transfer from the level of fiction
to the level of reality. And quite frankly, I honestly don't think people
are all that consistent in their beliefs, so what looks right in a fictional
universe we may still affirm as wrong in the "real" world.
And second, I'm also wondering what possible effect it may have had in terms
of reformulating the debate about what is and isn't "terrorism." The
fascinating thing about B7 to me is the way in which it makes me take
seriously the actions (blowing stuff up) that in another context I would be
likely to dismiss out of hand as unacceptable, simplistically violent and
illegitmate.
Anyway, looks like I'm still stuck in the "Blake: Terrorist or Freedom
Fighter Panel "at Redemption .....
Pat C.