Possibly Not A Bright Idea

So this blog is basically the written equivalent of thinking out loud in a fangirly way. I may wake up tomorrow and be hideously embarrassed by what I've written. But we won't know that for sure until it's too late.
So here goes. As usual, the reason I can't sleep is because of my current fangirly obsession (they come and go in waves (or phases, if you prefer) and they all take turns, but usually when I'm a fan of something, I stay a fan forever. For example, my current obsession is someone I've been a fan of for about sixteen years.)
This month's topic of interest: Patrick McGoohan.
Okay, first of all, this is all speculation based on the various things I've read, a lot of which contained conflicting information. I'm basically writing all of this out because I was pondering so hard I couldn't fall asleep. My brain wanted me to get all this thought process gumbo out into the ether, so that's what I'm doing.
Today I saw online a blurb about an upcoming biography about Patrick McGoohan, but all the blurb said was, essentially, "Why didn't he ever do romantic scenes?" and the word "puritanical" was used.
Now, I reiterate, I wasn't there, I didn't know the guy, this is just how I see things:
I think people have taken the following three facts about Patrick McGoohan:
1) he was Catholic
2) he didn't like doing onscreen romance
3) he liked to keep his personal life private
and have combined them into one fact:
1) he was a nutjob
and I don't think that one fact is true. (Except on the level that I think Patrick McGoohan was a genius and on some level all geniuses are crazy. But I don't think he was crazy in the way everybody thinks he was.)
Honestly, I think people read way too much into the lack of onscreen romance thing. I think the only reason for it was that he wasn't comfortable with it. The end. So the guy didn't like making out with ladies who weren't his wife. I don't see what the big deal is.
And, yeah, I'd be lying if I said I don't have a crush on the guy. When Scott and Ivy first showed my family The Prisoner I was twelve, I'd never heard of Patrick McGoohan before and I pretty much fell in love with him immediately. It got to the point where I looked forward to Prisoner Night not only to see the next episode but to see him in it.
So, yeah, I kind of wish, for my own shallow fangirly reasons, that he had done more onscreen romance. I openly admit when I saw pictures of him being all swarthy and bearded in The Gypsy And The Gentleman it shot to the top of my Movies To Get list. (The fact that there are a couple kissing scenes in that movie helped, too.)
But I do think people blow the fact that he eventually decided to opt out of playing romantic leads way out of proportion. I think it was a creative choice or a comfort issue. (And it's not like he never did onscreen romance, it was just all near the beginning of his career and everybody ignores it so they can make him seem like a prudish wackjob or something.)
And, come on, "puritanical"? People act like he didn't know what sex was at all. He was married for, like, fifty years and had three kids. That's all I'm going to say about that.
The other thing my brain won't shut up about is the "who should get credit for creating The Prisoner?" drama that I've read about all over the place.
It's absolutely fair to say that George Markstein should get credit for coming up with the premise and being script supervisor and for playing the guy who gets resigned at in the opening sequence. But based on things I've read, Markstein wasn't happy with the show because McGoohan took over and turned it into what he wanted rather than what Markstein originally envisioned.
And I feel bad for George Markstein about that. I really do. However, if that hadn't happened the show wouldn't have been as good. It wouldn't be my favorite television show in the history of ever.
It's hard to figure out the proper way to word how I feel about this, but here goes:
Regardless of what anybody says, I think Patrick McGoohan cared about it more. I think The Prisoner became something that was so important to him that he usurped the concept, warped it to fit his own devices, took over practically everybody else's jobs (writing, directing, editing, running the camera, for all I know he fired all the gofers and brought everybody coffee himself ... okay, probably not that last one) and, according to legend, worked his way through several nervous breakdowns and nearly killed Leo McKern. That takes fucking conviction! I've never been that passionate about anything ever!
And the fact that he was that passionate about it ... dude, step aside and let him have it. I think he wanted it more.
That being said, I think Patrick McGoohan might have hated me a little bit if he met me, if for no other reason than I take everything that happens in The Prisoner at face value (also the fact that I'd probably be rendered speechless and would just stare at him with giant eyes and dropped jaw probably wouldn't help; it's probably a good thing I never had the chance to meet him). Even (especially?) the really weirdass, unexplainable stuff. He wanted it to be an allegory and I'm not smart enough to find meaning in things or draw my own conclusions, so I just go for the ride as it is. And I love every moment of it.
I'm obsessed with the show; the pennyfarthing was my first tattoo, I own four books about the series (and I know of at least two more I'm itching to get my hands on), which I read fairly often (one of them I read at least once a year; the coffee table book gets the least wear because it's poorly edited. A few paragraphs stop in the middle, never to be heard from again and some paragraphs shove their way into later paragraphs after they've already had their turn. Also, typos. But the pictures are great!), and I love hearing other people's theories about various episodes and the show as a whole. I'd rather listen to those theories (whether I agree with them or not) than talk about my own, though. Because I only have one theory:
1) Number Six is not John Drake.
I've clung to that theory since I was about fourteen (which was when I first found out that Patrick McGoohan had been the star of a spy series in the 1960s and that some people thought the character from that show was Number Six). And I originally clung to that theory because, well, I'd never seen Danger Man, I'd never even heard of Danger Man until now and I love The Prisoner, damn it! I don't love that other show! So he can't possibly be playing the same guy because I am a headstrong teenager.
Now I'm older and it turns out I actually do love Danger Man, but I still don't think Number Six is John Drake because if he were, McGoohan would've played them the same. And he didn't. I think John Drake is probably a nicer guy than Number Six. I'd go out to lunch with John Drake, but I think Number Six might shout at the waiter. Or punch him.
'Cause, much as McGoohan was quoted as saying that he hated violence and that The Prisoner was a pacifistic show and Number Six only fought when provoked, I'm not entirely buying it. I'm rewatching the series with Joanna right now (she's never seen it and I've never had the chance to show it to someone for the first time before; I'm really relishing the experience) and when he's stealing that boat in Free For All, Number Six totally throws the first punch. I'm just saying.
I love that there's a bunch of things in the show that I do not understand. I'll just keep on watching until I either become smarter and start to draw conclusions, or until I don't.
In other words, I'll just keep on watching.

Be seeing you.
-Sally