The “Spectacle of The Prisoner” examines the British television series The Prisoner through the writings of Guy Debord. The Prisoner illustrates Debord's proposed method of detournement as a means to critique the society of the spectacle. Yet the ultimate fate of The Prisoner, articulated both within its narrative and in its ultimate commodification as a “cult” text, demonstrates the futility of resistance within the society of the spectacle.
Canjuers, Pierre, and Guy Debord. 1989. Preliminaries toward defining a unitary revolutionary program. In Situationist international anthology, edited by Ken Knabb. Berkeley, CA: Bureau of Public Secrets.
2.
Carraze, Alain, and Helene Oswald. 1990. The Prisoner, trans. by Christine Donougher. New York: W. H. Allen.
3.
Debord, Guy.[1967] 1995. The society of the spectacle, trans. by Donald Nicholson-Smith. New York: Zone Books.
4.
Debord, Guy.[1988] 1998. Comments onThe Society of the Spectacle, trans. by Malcolm Imrie. New York: Verso.
5.
Gregory, Chris. 1997. Be seeing you: DecodingThe Prisoner. Luton, UK: University of Luton Press.
6.
Knabb, Ken. 1989. Situationist international anthology. Berkeley, CA: Bureau of Public Secrets.
7.
Lyons, Charles, and Dave McNary. 2000. Mendel unlocksThe Prisoner for universal. Variety. April 5.
8.
McGoohan, Patrick (Writer and Producer). [1967] 1997/2001. The Prisoner[17 episodes released on Video/DVD]. Columbia House video series/Arts and Entertainment.
9.
Williams, Tony. 1990. Authorship conflict in The Prisoner. In Making television: Authorship and the production process, edited by Robert Thompson and Gary Burns, 71-85. New York: Praegar.