"V" and the Reptilians

[SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details from the pilot episode of the science fiction television series "V". I'm commenting as I watch, so you may learn plot details shortly after I do.]

So I'm still on the pilot, and now it's just been revealed that the aliens are real actual aliens with human people skin grafted on top of them. Of course this is highly implausible, and their explanation makes no sense. They mumbled something about "grafting human DNA", but what it looks like is they're human only on the top inch or so of skin, and then they're a reptilian alien underneath. Really it looks more like a suit than anything to do with DNA. Also, it doesn't explain how the aliens are able to walk and talk exactly like normal humans.

I think it's pretty clear though, the metaphor that they're trying to go for. The "aliens" are metaphors for humans who act without the empathic nature of a human being. They're essentially reptilians. Animals, stripped of individual will and emotion. They're human, but it's only skin deep. Beautiful on the outside, ugly reptilian on the inside.

Frankly, I'm not impressed by this metaphor much either. What is it about a reptilian-looking alien that makes them so sinister and evil? Why do they think that disguising themselves among humans is going to accomplish their goals any better than just appearing in their natural forms and actually attempting to do what they say they're trying to do (which is to share knowledge)?

One interesting mind-fuck is the black guy who appears human at first, then it is revealed that he's actually an alien beneath his skin, but it's all good because he's actually one of the good aliens who want to help the humans and prevent the aliens from committing genocide. I'll give the writers credit for making this one just plain confusing, and I won't say if I think it's a commentary on race, or actual human skin colour, because I couldn't figure it out.

Also, if the aliens appear confused and messy, that's becoming acceptable as a plot device to me now too, as it explains some of the confusing stuff I mentioned in my earlier posts. They claim to be united in one nation on their home planet. Apparently they have no room for dissenting voices. Now, maybe that was enough to get them off their planet and headed to earth. After all, it worked for the Soviets with their space program. But then dealing with a situation like actually running a country with diverse opinions in it, seems to require a degree of flexibility that didn't exist in the Soviet Union, and doesn't exist in the Visitor Aliens. What ends up happening is colossal screw-up after colossal screw-up, one after another, because the Alien bureaucracy isn't equipped to deal with a planet like earth. Instead, they operate in crisis-management mode all the time. Put simply, the aliens are stupid.

Speaking of political systems, another thing they outright say on the show is that the aliens are here to bring us "Universal Health Care." Interesting that this should appear in a television program right at the same time that it's a national debate. To be fair, universal health care has been a national debate in the USA for several decades now. And other countries are at varying stages in the process of making health care available to all their citizens, Europe doing notably well in this department.

So what, the aliens have a united nation and universal health care, and they're "media savvy"? I think we have our metaphor here again. They're clearly meant to represent the "Liberal Media Elite". Is US President Barack Obama a reptilian? Maybe he is. Or maybe he's one of the good ones, like that other black dude.

So I can see that the show is taking a somewhat libertarian turn, which to be honest, is kind of okay with me. Technically, I think my own politics would be described as Libertarian also. I don't think we should implicitly trust the government, or corporations, or the churches. But at the same time, we can't be totally paranoid. In the end, governments, corporations, and churches are made up of people too, and we just have to remember to keep some of them at arm's reach.

I actually like the idea of things like universal health care, education, and welfare. I think these are reasonable things for the government to "redistribute wealth" to. I retain an ideal vision of a world with private hospitals, schools, and employment insurance that covers everybody through the magic of capitalism, but I know that our world just isn't designed that way, politically. Given a chance though, I think the free market can and will ultimately out-perform government programs of education and health care.

As for "V" as a metaphor for today's United States government's Democrat-dominated politics, I'm not sure how far the metaphor can carry. The aliens are pretty obviously inept, big-government types. So I guess they stand as an exaggerated, satirical caricature of the so-called "left wing" of American politics.