"The whole earth as village" : a chronotopic analysis of Marshall McLuhan's "Global Village" and Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner

Marshall McLuhan's "global village", and his theories on communications and technology, in conjunction with Patrick McGoohan's television series The Prisoner (ATV, 1967-1968) are explored in this thesis. The Prisoner, brainchild of McGoohan, is about the abduction and confinement of a British government agent imprisoned within the impenetrable boundaries of a benign but totalitarian city -state called "The Village". The purpose of his abduction and imprisonment is for the extraction of information regarding his resignation as a government spy. Marshall McLuhan originally popularized the phrase "the global village" in The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making o/the Topographic Man (1962), asserting that, "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village" (p. 31). This thesis argues that valid parallels exist between McGoohan's conception of "village", as manifested in The Prisoner, and McLuhan's global village. The comprehensive methodological stratagem for this thesis includes Marshall McLuhan's "mosaic" approach, Mikhail Bakhtin's concept ofthe "chronotope", as well as a Foucauldian genealogicallhistorical discourse analysis. In the process of deconstructing McLuhan's texts and The Prisoner as products of the 1960s, an historical "constellation" (to use Walter Benjamin's concept) of the same present has been executed. By employing this synthesized methodology, conjunctions have been made between McLuhan's theories and the series' main themes of bureaucracy as dictatorship, the perversion of science and technology, freedom as illusion, and the individual in opposition to the collective. A thorough investigation of the global village and The Prisoner will determine whether or not Marshall McLuhan and/or Patrick McGoohan visualize the village as an enslaving technological reality.

Canadian National Exhibition Advertisement - 1925

Advertisement for the Canadian National Exhibition Toronto, reads: Aug. 29, Sept. 12, 1925 Hoot Mon! For the Canadian National Exhibition Toronto.

Canadian National Exhibition Button

Canadian National Exhibition button attached to a ribbon which says "C.N.E. 1914 cadets".

Indenture between Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff and Jane Woodruff to Patrick Burns

Indenture of bargain and sale between Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff and Jane Woodruff of St. Catharines to Patrick Burns of the Township of Grantham regarding part of Lot no. 23 in the 5th Concession in the Township of Grantham - instrument no. 14819. This is listed in Book E, folio 338. October 3, 1864.

Indenture between Patrick and Mary Burns and Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff

Indenture of mortgage in fee with dower between Patrick and Mary Burns of the Township of Grantham and Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff of St. Catharines regarding parts of Lots no. 19 and 23 in the 5th Concession in the Town of Grantham - instrument no. 14820. Listed in Book E, folio 339, October 3, 1864.

Indenture between Patrick and Mary Burns to Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff

Indenture of bargain and sale between Patrick and Mary Burns of Grantham to Samuel DeVeaux Woodruff of St. Catharines regarding part of Lot 23 in the 5th Concession in the Township of Grantham - instrument no. 491, December 10, 1868.

Receipt to S. Woodruff from Davidson and Pound

Receipt to S. Woodruff from Davidson and Pound for board for 8 weeks, Jan. 1, 1846.

Receipt to Mr. S. Woodruff from Davidson and Pound for Board

Receipt to Mr. S. Woodruff from Davidson and Pound for board, Sept. 5, 1846.

Estimate of work done by Alexander Cook, Andrew Mains, Frederick Holmes, Louis Clement, Patrick Roche and Thomas Baird

Estimate of work done by Alexander Cook, Andrew Mains, Frederick Holmes, Louis Clement, Patrick Roche and Thomas Baird, signed by S.D. Woodruff, Feb. 26, 1855.

Certificate with a coloured picture of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, 1886

Certificate, 51 cm. x 75 cm. with a coloured picture of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, 1886. This was presented with a commemorative medal to Henry Pafford who was the Mayor of Niagara-on-the-Lake 1863-74, 1876-1880 and 1888-1896. He also ran a drug store and a fruit farm. The award is signed by the Executive President and Secretary to the Royal Commission. [There is no indication what the award is for and the medal is not included in this collection], n.d.

Certificate with a coloured picture of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, 1886

Certificate, 51 cm. x 75 cm. with a coloured picture of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, 1886. This was presented with a commemorative medal to W. Woodruff. The award is signed by the Executive President and Secretary to the Royal Commission. [There is no indication what the award is for and the medal is not included in this collection], n.d.