by Deborah Lipp
It’s possible that The Man in the High Castle was born to drive us all insane. It’s possible that Philip K. Dick dropped a lot of acid, looked into the future, saw our current political situation, and sent The Man in the High Castle to try to save us. It’s also possible I have been watching too much cable news.
The Man in the High Castle is the second-best show on Amazon Prime. Based on the 1962 novel by renowned mind-bender (and acid-dropper) Philip K. Dick (who brought us Blade Runner and Total Recall), the show depicts an alternate history, in which Germany and Japan won World War II, and divided the US between themselves. Our characters take us inside both the Japanese and German regimes, as well as inside the resistance movement operating against each.
I am watching a TV show about resistance movements. My Facebook feed says “resist”. The “RESIST” sign in Washington Square Park, protesting on behalf of Muslim immigrants, glowed in the dark. Resist...
The Man in the High Castle premiered in January of 2015. A mere two years later, we’ve got a president routinely compared to fascist dictators, with a neo-Nazi (“white nationalist”) as a chief advisor. Resist.
Season 2 premiered December 16. The election was already over. Many of us were reeling. And so Professor Spouse and I looked at each other and asked: “Is this entertainment? Can we handle it?”
At first, we couldn’t.
Keep in mind, this is great television. It was great television in 2015, but it was also…television. It was chilling, and powerful, but also easy to distance yourself. Professor Spouse and I had fun saying “obergruppenführer” (One of the main characters is Obergruppenführer John Smith, played by Rufus Sewell). If you let yourself forget what it means, it rolls off the tongue like “gobbledygook” or “farfegnugen”.
OberTrumpenführer kind of changed that. Professor Spouse and I got six episodes into Season 2 before she started having nightmares about Nazis. Meanwhile, I had begun watching the resistance movement closely. Could I do that? Would I? How would I know?
It’s so easy in The Man in the High Castle: A foreign government bombs America into submission and takes over. What if it’s subtle? What if it’s hacking? What if it’s election tampering?
We watched The Crown, which was soothing in its upper crust imperialism and confidence in the necessity of duty and doing right. Then we went back and watched the last four episodes of High Castle.
In the end, almost bizarrely, the season ended on a hopeful note. There is such a thing as the ability to change, even to change the future for all of us. There is the possibility of love, and of restoration.
People were amazed at the kindness, and communality, of the January 21 Women’s March, but it grew from seedlings that said “Love Trumps Hate” and “We need more love and kindness” and “Love is love is love is love”. Somehow, that, too, was in the season finale of High Castle; that regimes built on hate might be toppled by love.
I’m glad I watched.
