The 4400: allegory, disinformation, or just harmless entertainment

Neil

Dagobah Resident
FOTCM Member
I was never really into the show very much myself, but they have been advertising it relentlessly, so I decided to watch a couple of episodes. Basically, the story is that 4400 people mysteriously disappeared and no one could explain their disappearances. Then one day, I think the show says it was in 2004, a mysterious ball of light is seen headed towards Earth. Various national governments believe it is a comet, and they launch their missles at it. That doesn't deter the object and it lands in a field, and all of the sudden 4400 people mysteriously appear. The US government quickly rounds them up and puts them in these institutes to try to interrogate them and learn what happened. The government keeps them there for serval months and learns virtually nothing, most people forget about the incident, and they think they can pretty much sweep this under the rug. Then the 4400 begin to discover that that they each have a special ability, and they begin to find each other and learn that they were taken for a purpose; to better the human race. An institute is then formed where the 4400 can come together to hone their abilities and share their experiences. This causes the general public to notice them somewhat and they begin getting labeled as freaks and demons and even attacked. In a recent episode, we find out that the people piloting the ball of light were humans from the future. The human race was dying out and they had come back to change the past so that the probable futures would be altered into a better society for mankind. Perhaps it is nothing, but there are some interesting paralells.

The ball of light is a dificult symbol. Is it the Federation, perhaps even the Cassiopaeans coming to help us, or is it the Reptoids who have been manipulating things all along just coming back to make a few tweaks? The 4400, could that be us? People who have developed unusual abilities, some even supernatural ones. The 4400 institute, is that Cassiopaea, or symbolic of this family of light that has come to anchor the frequency? And then there is the public situation, which I find very similar to the one in reality. I dunno, like just about everything else, there are some things that don't fit to make it an allegory per se, but I was contemplating this a couple of days ago and thought it would make some good food for thought. It makes you wonder if Thor's Pantheon is still very active in trying to raise awareness. (In case you've never heard of Thor's Pantheon, they're mentioned in the Transcripts somewhere.)

By the way the "official" site is http://www.usanetwork.com/series/the4400/ in case you're interested.
 
Neil said:
I was never really into the show very much myself, but they have been advertising it relentlessly, so I decided to watch a couple of episodes. Basically, the story is that 4400 people mysteriously disappeared and no one could explain their disappearances. Then one day, I think the show says it was in 2004, a mysterious ball of light is seen headed towards Earth. Various national governments believe it is a comet, and they launch their missles at it. That doesn't deter the object and it lands in a field, and all of the sudden 4400 people mysteriously appear. The US government quickly rounds them up and puts them in these institutes to try to interrogate them and learn what happened. The government keeps them there for serval months and learns virtually nothing, most people forget about the incident, and they think they can pretty much sweep this under the rug. Then the 4400 begin to discover that that they each have a special ability, and they begin to find each other and learn that they were taken for a purpose; to better the human race. An institute is then formed where the 4400 can come together to hone their abilities and share their experiences. This causes the general public to notice them somewhat and they begin getting labeled as freaks and demons and even attacked. In a recent episode, we find out that the people piloting the ball of light were humans from the future. The human race was dying out and they had come back to change the past so that the probable futures would be altered into a better society for mankind. Perhaps it is nothing, but there are some interesting paralells.

The ball of light is a dificult symbol. Is it the Federation, perhaps even the Cassiopaeans coming to help us, or is it the Reptoids who have been manipulating things all along just coming back to make a few tweaks? The 4400, could that be us? People who have developed unusual abilities, some even supernatural ones. The 4400 institute, is that Cassiopaea, or symbolic of this family of light that has come to anchor the frequency? And then there is the public situation, which I find very similar to the one in reality. I dunno, like just about everything else, there are some things that don't fit to make it an allegory per se, but I was contemplating this a couple of days ago and thought it would make some good food for thought. It makes you wonder if Thor's Pantheon is still very active in trying to raise awareness. (In case you've never heard of Thor's Pantheon, they're mentioned in the Transcripts somewhere.)

By the way the "official" site is http://www.usanetwork.com/series/the4400/ in case you're interested.
It is my staunch belief that the best lies are half lies, and 4400 is one of them. There are a number of convient paralells, a paranoid person might say that the show is potraying what it is doing. Remember, reverse everything that is contemporary and popular. If the world says it is good, it is bad etc.

What would the show be saying if it turned out that the people from the future were bad? Hmm, and what if people drew connections between that and something else we know so well? Hmm.

One of the most memorable rules of Senryaku for me was "Point at one to scold another."

Edit: It occurs to me that many will not know what Senryaku is. Senryaku was the name of a comic book series from Crusade Comics by William Tucci (Shi: Senryaku I II & III), which was a rehashing of the Thirty Six Strategies for war. #26: Point at one to scold another (36 St:Point at the mulberry and curse the locust.)
 
I see, it is another one of those things that tends to lead interested people in the wrong direction. I never put much stock in the series, but it did strike me as odd because my mind was swarming with Cassiopaea material and the sudden appearance of the 4400 seemed an interesting coincidence. So like so many other interesting occurrences, I thought I'd better bring it up to the group to see if there was anything to it.
 
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