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I missed the first episode of Colony. There is so many shows premiering (or restarting) now it's hard to keep track. Luckily USA knew this would happen and repeatedly shown it on last Saturday so I DVRed it and watched it and the second episode together. And it's better than I expected. Much better.
Partially because I didn't expect much from it but mostly because it gives me that weird feeling of familiarity when I watch it. I am old enough to remember communism and I did absorb from people around me and films and books how it used to be when it was really bad and before that during German occupation which was even worse. And the patterns of collaboration and resistance look familiar but it's the lives of everyone else who just tries to live their lives that seem most familiar. This is the part that the films about dissidents and resistance usually ignore and people who never lived through totalitarism don't understand. Most people just try to live their lives. Through the curfew and food shortages and the medicine shortages.
It's everyday struggle to get food and simple necessities of life. I remember the coming back from school and taking a spot in the line so my mother could buy meat two hours later when she came back from work. I remember my mother had to bring needles when I was getting penicillin shots because there was no disposables in the clinic (and I remember getting some of the shots with the autoclaveable one). I remember toilet paper shortages and empty shelves. I remember weird cans and boxes that had "replacement packaging" written on them so the only thing you knew for sure about what was inside was that it wasn't what was on the label. And that was the very end of it in Poland.
In worse times and dictatorships couldn't move or travel without permit. In the really bad ones you could be stopped and and shot on a street. Or sent to a camp. But if you kept your head low and don't draw attention to yourself you and more importantly those you love may live to see the times that are better. Or maybe even be free.
Of course that did require existence of those who where willing to sacrifice everything to fight for that freedom. But the sad truth is that freedom is almost never regained that way without outside help. The peaceful solution only works when the occupiers or your own dictatorship are just not willing to shoot. The ones who can be shamed or just don't have the will or support to enforce the status quo any more.
But when the occupiers are aliens (or so it seems) with technology that surpasses everything that humans have at their disposals (disabled all defences in 8 minutes) what chance there is to fight them? Better to cooperate and hope they don't kill us all. They obviously need local administration and troops (not that different from Brits in India - only the technological gap is much higher) so why not get safe life for your family? Maybe they'll leave once they get what they want and then world can be back to normal. And if not than maybe, at least, you'll be the last to go. Get to live a little longer. Instead of dying in a pointless struggle that only hurts other prisoners not the ones who actually built the prison.
But maybe that's not completely pointless fight. Maybe the answer is in the Factory. Maybe the resistance can get the knowledge needed to win. Maybe there is a way out. And then it's going to matter which side you were on. But if history teaches us anything it's that the ones who can forgive and keep the administration (and police) going are usually better off than those who let everything burn. Rebuilding from the ashes isn't as much fun when you have to live in it.
Partially because I didn't expect much from it but mostly because it gives me that weird feeling of familiarity when I watch it. I am old enough to remember communism and I did absorb from people around me and films and books how it used to be when it was really bad and before that during German occupation which was even worse. And the patterns of collaboration and resistance look familiar but it's the lives of everyone else who just tries to live their lives that seem most familiar. This is the part that the films about dissidents and resistance usually ignore and people who never lived through totalitarism don't understand. Most people just try to live their lives. Through the curfew and food shortages and the medicine shortages.
It's everyday struggle to get food and simple necessities of life. I remember the coming back from school and taking a spot in the line so my mother could buy meat two hours later when she came back from work. I remember my mother had to bring needles when I was getting penicillin shots because there was no disposables in the clinic (and I remember getting some of the shots with the autoclaveable one). I remember toilet paper shortages and empty shelves. I remember weird cans and boxes that had "replacement packaging" written on them so the only thing you knew for sure about what was inside was that it wasn't what was on the label. And that was the very end of it in Poland.
In worse times and dictatorships couldn't move or travel without permit. In the really bad ones you could be stopped and and shot on a street. Or sent to a camp. But if you kept your head low and don't draw attention to yourself you and more importantly those you love may live to see the times that are better. Or maybe even be free.
Of course that did require existence of those who where willing to sacrifice everything to fight for that freedom. But the sad truth is that freedom is almost never regained that way without outside help. The peaceful solution only works when the occupiers or your own dictatorship are just not willing to shoot. The ones who can be shamed or just don't have the will or support to enforce the status quo any more.
But when the occupiers are aliens (or so it seems) with technology that surpasses everything that humans have at their disposals (disabled all defences in 8 minutes) what chance there is to fight them? Better to cooperate and hope they don't kill us all. They obviously need local administration and troops (not that different from Brits in India - only the technological gap is much higher) so why not get safe life for your family? Maybe they'll leave once they get what they want and then world can be back to normal. And if not than maybe, at least, you'll be the last to go. Get to live a little longer. Instead of dying in a pointless struggle that only hurts other prisoners not the ones who actually built the prison.
But maybe that's not completely pointless fight. Maybe the answer is in the Factory. Maybe the resistance can get the knowledge needed to win. Maybe there is a way out. And then it's going to matter which side you were on. But if history teaches us anything it's that the ones who can forgive and keep the administration (and police) going are usually better off than those who let everything burn. Rebuilding from the ashes isn't as much fun when you have to live in it.
