Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

THE IMMORTAL COSMOPOLITAN

2005; Routledge; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09502380500159413

1466-4348

Shawn Shimpach,

Japanese History and Culture

Abstract The 1990s, internationally co-produced, television series Highlander was an early, successful example of everyday television produced under the pressures of negotiating the dictates of internationally conceived agreements concerning culture, representation, finance, and circulation. This essay parallels an institutional analysis of the series with a textual analysis of its fictive world and characters to examine the series’ attempts to elide the structural conditions and textual constraints underwriting its existence. To do so, the essay teases out the intricacies and implications of a new take on the colonial-era fantasy of cosmopolitan existence embraced by the series and embodied by the program's hero. It argues that this immortal cosmopolitanism offers a means for understanding the series as characteristic of transformations in the practice of transnational television production and circulation as a response to the globalization of neo-liberal economies. The machinations behind what gets displayed on screens around the world reveal a great deal about the substance of the global circulation of culture. At the same time, the text itself negotiated the pressures of attempting to appear constantly local and amenable as it traveled around the world. Highlander is significant for the specific ways in which it negotiated these pressures, revealing something of an allegorical take on its own existence as it imagined a hero that was relevant and interesting to globally-dispersed audiences in the 1990s: the immortal cosmopolitan. Keywords: international co-productioncosmopolitanism Highlander immortalityinternational television1990s televisionsyndicated television Acknowledgments The author would like to thank the following people for their valuable insights, suggestions, and comments on earlier drafts: Nitin Govil, Elizabeth Horn, Christopher Kamrath, John McMurria, Toby Miller, and the reviewers at Cultural Studies and Rachel Miller for helpful research assistance. He would also like to thank the participants of the listserv HIGHLA-L for allowing him to lurk and learn. Notes 1. See Peirce (1998 Peirce, C. S. 1998. Chance, Love, and Logic: Philosophical Essays, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. [Google Scholar]). 2. The pre-credit voice-over spoken by actor Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander. This wording was from the first season. The wording was changed for the second and third seasons, and no longer spoken in the first person by MacLeod. It was changed again for the fourth season and the speaker identified himself as a ‘Watcher.’ Viewers would recognize this speaker as the character Joe Dawson (actor Jim Byrnes). 3. For more about the afterlife and continued newness of old television, how its history is constantly on view in the now, see Collins (1989 Collins, J. 1989. ‘Watching ourselves watch television, or who's your agent?’. Cultural Studies, 3(3): 261–81. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and also Collins (1992 Collins, J. 1992. “‘Postmodernism and television’”. In Channels of Discourse, Reassembled, Edited by: Allen, R. C. 327–53. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. [Google Scholar]). For a concise history of the practice of rerunning television programming, (Williams 1994b Williams, P. 1994b. ‘Feeding Off the Past: The Evolution of the Television Rerun’. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 21(4): 162–75. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). 4. See, for example, Breckenridge et al. (2002 Breckenridge , C. A. , Sheldon P. , Bhabha , H. K. & Chakrabarty , D. (eds) (2002) Cosmopolitanism , Duke University Press , Durham, NC [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), Calabrese (2002 Calabrese , A. (2002) ‘The discrete charm of the world citizen’ , Paper presented at the Society for Cinema Studies National Conference , Denver , CO , May . [Google Scholar]). See also the recent special issue of Theory, Culture & Society entitled ‘Cosmopolis’ edited by Mike Featherstone, Heikki Patomäki, John Tomlinson, and Couze Veen. 19:1–2 (Feb–April 2002). 5. See Pollock (2002 Pollock, S. 2002. “‘Cosmopolitan and vernacular in history’”. In Cosmopolitanism, Edited by: Breckenridge, C. A., Pollock, S., Bhabha, H. K. and Chakrabarty, D. 15–53. Duke Durham, NC: University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 6. As Edward S. Herman and Robert McChesney explain, ‘Its core element and centerpiece is the idea that the market allocates resources efficiently and provides the means of organizing economic (and perhaps all human) life’ (See Herman & McChesney 2003 Herman, E. S. and McChesney, R. 2003. “‘The rise of the global media’”. In Planet TV: A Global Television Reader, Edited by: Parks, L. and Kumar, S. 21–39. New York: University Press. [Google Scholar]). 7. So integral is this global infrastructure to neo-liberal thought and development that even opposition to the neo-liberal agenda ultimately relies upon it as the basis for counter-strategies of world citizenry. The very same networking, for example, that allows for the transnational, high-speed exchange of currency also allows for the decentralized, clandestine, international organization of protests against global governing institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. Andrew Calabrese presented some of these ideas at the 2002 Society for Cinema Studies national conference. In the presentation he paid particular attention to the use by organizers of protests against the IMF and World Bank of the internet (Calabrese 2002 Calabrese , A. (2002) ‘The discrete charm of the world citizen’ , Paper presented at the Society for Cinema Studies National Conference , Denver , CO , May . [Google Scholar]). 8. While obviously based on the middle eastern The Thousand and One Nights tale, it is clear that the co-produced series Sinbad owes its thoroughly westernized heritage much more directly to what Wen-Chin Ouyang has called ‘the eighteenth-century psuedo-translations of oriential tales’ into European languages and secularized ideologies. For more on the westernization and popular global circulation of the character of Sindbad the Sailor, see Ouyang (2004 Ouyang, W. 2004. ‘Whose story is it? Sindbad the sailor in literature and film’. Middle Eastern Literatures, 7(2): 133–47. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). 9. See the ‘Introduction’ to Action TV (Osgerby & Gough-Yates 2001 Osgerby , B. & Gough-Yates , A. (eds) (2001) Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks , Routledge , London . [Google Scholar]). 10. See Pollock (2002). 11. The feature film Highlander centered on the character of Connor MacLeod (played by French actor Christopher Lambert), a Scotsman (from the highlands of Scotland) born in 1518 who, upon being killed in battle, fails to die. He learns, under the tutelage of Ramirez, an ancient Spaniard (played, rather surprisingly, by Scottish actor Sean Connery), that he is an Immortal. Christopher Lambert reprised his role as Connor MacLeod in the pilot episode of the television series in order to introduce his protégé and our new protagonist, Duncan MacLeod. Duncan MacLeod is 74 years Connor's junior, leading Connor to quip ‘same clan, different vintage’. 12. The rights were owned by the American company Davis/Panzer. To the entertainment industry Highlander has since become a moderately lucrative franchise – a piece of copyright, maximally leveraged – that has so far attached its brand to four feature films (at the time of this writing, a fifth is supposed to be in production), three internationally distributed television series (one an animated children's program), a series of novels and fiction anthologies, and numerous collectors’ items including clothing, jewelry, and a variety of swords. A series of video games scheduled to begin release in 2006, featuring voices and likenesses of actors from the films and television series, a fifth feature film with new narrative conceits, a proposed anime feature film, and even rumors of a Broadway musical optioned by Mel Brooks’ attorney Alan ‘may the Schwartz be with you’ Schwartz, represent Davis/Panzer Productions’ efforts at what Daily Variety calls ‘an ongoing re-launch of the fantasy-action franchise.’ There can be only one, indeed (Bond 2004 Bond , P. (2004) The Hollywood Reporter , 7th September . [Google Scholar], Fritz 2004 Fritz , B. (2004) “‘Highlander” Makes the Hollywood Rounds’ , Daily Variety , 28 September , p. 4 . [Google Scholar], Harris 2004 Harris , D. (2004) ‘‘Highlander’ Toon Set’ , Variety , 6–12 September , p. 14 . [Google Scholar]). 13. These qualities are as opposed to those deemed less easily transferable across linguistic and cultural borders such as elaborate plots, sophisticated dialogue, and culturally specific humor. See below. 14. See Caldwell (1995). 15. In the US this rise in competition for eyeballs also included the emergence of a fourth (Fox, 1986), followed later by a fifth (UPN, 1995) and sixth (WB, 1995) and then seventh (PAX, 1998) network. 16. Quality programming, as a strategy as opposed to aesthetic or moral judgement, consists typically of ‘high production values’ and the conspicuous display of large budgets, in the form of multi-character, sensitively written, drama. The idea was that such efforts would come to be associated with an assurance of quality and satisfaction, something only the big networks, with their deep coffers, could offer. There is an increasing and increasingly diverse literature on the idea of ‘quality television’. For an important early text, see Feuer (1984 Feuer, J. 1984. “‘The MTM style’”. In MTM: Quality Television, Edited by: Feuer, J., Kerr, P. and Vahimagi, T. London: British Film Institute. [Google Scholar]). For an analysis of a particular ‘quality’ program, see Williams (1994a Williams, B. 1994a. “‘North to the Future: Northern Exposure and Quality Television’”. In Television: The Critical View, Edited by: Newcomb, H. 141–54. New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]). For a perspective from the television industry, see for example Coe (1991 Coe , S. (1991) ‘Quality TV: Hollywood's elusive illusions’ , Broadcasting , November 18th , p. 3 . [Google Scholar]). For a recent collection of critical responses, see Jancovich and Lyons (2003 Jancovich , M. & Lyons , J. (eds) (2003) Quality Popular Television , British Film Institute , London . [Google Scholar]). This article thinks, along with Caldwell, of quality television not as an aesthetic judgement but as one specific, industrial production and programming strategy which has resulted from a host of economic, technological and regulatory changes to the American television industry. 17. See ‘The Making of Highlander: The Series’ packaged as ‘Behind-The-Scenes Video’ distributed by Artisan Entertainment for Republic Pictures included in the box set ‘The Gathering.’ The ‘B-T-S Video’ is copyrighted 1997, although it was clearly shot circa 1992. 18. Included, for example, with the home video and DVD collections are a series of behind-the-scenes promotional documentaries collectively entitled ‘Under the Kilt’ which go into great detail elaborating the research and preparation establishing authenticity for each episode. 19. Gracen would later star in her own, albeit short-lived, spin-off entitled Highlander: The Raven (1998–1999) which ceased production after 22 episodes. For more on Gracen's encounter with Clinton, see Kettle (1998 Kettle , M. (1998) ‘I slept with Clinton, says Miss America’ , The Guardian , 1st April , p. 12 . [Google Scholar]), Tom Squitieri (1998 Squitieri , T. (1998) ‘Actress Still Dodging Jones’ Subpoena’ , USA Today , 16th March , pp. 7A . [Google Scholar]). 20. See http://www.highlander-official.com/index.html 21. Tessa (speaking first) and Duncan from the Highlander episode ‘For Tomorrow We Die’. 22. Official, that is, as opposed to other forms of international joint ventures, such as co-ventures and twinning packages. Official co-productions meet the treaty criteria of the participating countries. For the screen industry there are numerous incentives for such co-production arrangements. The co-production offers an opportunity for smaller companies, or companies with access to only smaller markets, to distribute the cost and risk of a series with otherwise unobtainably high (expensive) production values, actors, and locations. A co-production between producers in at least two different nations allows for the pooling of financial, technical, creative resources, and labor between partners; the sharing of risk in exchange for the possibility of back-end profit; access to another government's incentives and subsidies established to encourage domestic production; and a greater variety of locations for shooting. At the same time co-productions offer increased market penetration in areas where content quotas exist and occasional access to a third country's market where additional applicable treaties exist (in tripartite co-productions for example). The particulars of each arrangement are determined by the treaties existing between the partner countries. Productions considered ‘official co-productions’ in Canada, for example, ‘are eligible as Canadian content for broadcasters seeking to fulfill their regulatory obligations.’ Thus, official co-productions between France and Canada (as Highlander was) ‘are eligible for assistance from various public support programs available in Canada, including … the Equity Investment Program of the Canadian Television Fund (CTF); the CTF's License Fee Program, and tax credits.’ (Canada Telefilm 2002 Telefilm Canada (2002) Available at http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/intro.htm . [Google Scholar]). At the same time, however, co-productions do require engagement in intricate partnerships between different companies and different nations. These treaties mark an interesting and somewhat contradictory point within the globalization of culture. For a succinct summary of the various types of ventures and the advantages they potentially hold for production partners, see Tinic (2003 Tinic, S. 2003. “‘Going Global: International Coproductions and the Disappearing Domestic Audience in Canada’”. In Planet TV: A Global Television Reader, Edited by: Parks, L. and Kumar, S. 169–86. New York: New York University Press. [Google Scholar]). For more details on Canadian co-productions see, for example, Hoskins & McFadyen (1993 Hoskins, C. and McFadyen, S. 1993. ‘Canadian participation in international co-productions and co-ventures in television programming’. Canadian Journal of Communication, 18(2): 219–36. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 23. The language he uses reveals the US industry's automatic presumption of authority in these matters despite the unique circumstances of Highlander: The Series production arrangements at the time. 24. In recognition of this ambiguity, fans have taken to calling the location ‘Seacouver.’ For an explanation of why Canadian cities are not allowed to play themselves on TV and in Film, see, for example, Gasher (2002 Gasher, M. 2002. Hollywood North: The Feature Film Industry in British Columbia, Vancouver: University of British Colombia Press. [Google Scholar]). 25. Hoskins and McFadyen's research into French-Canadian co-productions concludes, ‘the French partners in such projects are using the co-productions to participate in projects which have the promise of US sales (and in some cases, US partner participation) while Canadian partners are using the co-productions to assemble the financing necessary for such ambitious projects’ (Hoskins and McFadyen 1993 Hoskins, C. and McFadyen, S. 1993. ‘Canadian participation in international co-productions and co-ventures in television programming’. Canadian Journal of Communication, 18(2): 219–36. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 26. French-Canada would soon come on board with cfcf-tv (the CTV Television Network affiliate in Montreal). 27. Most reports indicate that Japan was actually mostly interested in acquiring the rights to the series’ music, which included songs by the British band Queen. 28. Rysher TPE was acquired by media conglomerate and cable MSO Cox Broadcasting in April 1993. In May 1999 control of Rysher was assumed by Viacom's Paramount Studios. 29. As Keith Samples explained at one point, ‘the deal that we have on it is not the kind of deal that we're ever going to make an inordinate amount of money no matter how successful the show is.’ Instead, he suggested, Rysher got involved to ‘‘make us a player internationally’ by starting relationships with key foreign players.’ Quoted in William Mahoney (1992 Mahoney , W. (1992) “‘Highlander”’ Deal reverses typical co-venture tide’ , Electronic Media , 3 August , p. 4 . [Google Scholar]). 30. In fact this arrangement made the series hard to resist even for American broadcasters used to having a much stronger say in the content of co-produced programming. Typically, as Steven Maier was quoted by Mahoney, ‘When push comes to shove, I think the American broadcasters expect to get their way’ (Mahoney 1992). More than one international producer has noted ‘Co-productions with Americans invariably suffer from identity problems: … The American determines the script. There are no compromises’ (Hoskins and McFadyen 1993 Hoskins, C. and McFadyen, S. 1993. ‘Canadian participation in international co-productions and co-ventures in television programming’. Canadian Journal of Communication, 18(2): 219–36. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 31. While it is true, on the other hand, that US television producers have looked to foreign syndication as a significant site of profit generation for several decades, such an observation can be misleading. Most programming aired on the US networks is deficit-financed, relying on a successful network run to create secondary-market interest in the program which can then be licensed into syndication where costs are recouped and profit generated. With this reliance on a successful and lengthy US network run, it is not completely accurate to say that international markets figure prominently in the conception and execution of programming. US network concerns instead reign supreme. Furthermore, US syndication markets are still the single most favored, due to sheer size (210 individual markets, plus cable) and relative wealth. Foreign markets, on paper, look the most profitable only because by the time a program is sent abroad US producers have already made back their initial investment as well as some profit and all overseas sales are sheer profit on each program. 32. ‘Because of the partnership,’ explains Goodman, ‘we had to find a French actress that would be appealing on a television screen. Not appealing physically, but appealing in the sense that you were comfortable with her accent and her character. I also liked Alexandra a lot. She was able to be exotic, pretty and not so unfamiliar to an American audience that she was accepted’ (Thomas 2002). 33. Demonstrating the extra-textual knowledge deployed to compensate for and to discipline the series’ semiotic excess, these extra seven or so minutes of each episode are known to American fans as the Eurominutes. 34. Voice-over pre-credit introduction (season 4–6). See note 2. 35. The vaguely chivalrous ‘Rules’ include never interfering in the fights of other Immortals and considering all ‘Holy Ground’ a safe zone. 36. Although little elaborated within the series, ‘The Prize’ is presumed, among fans, to be a sort of all-knowing, all-powerful, world leadership. We might think of it as Immortal omnipotence. Alas, even within the text of the series it is constantly deferred, and always only (vaguely) aspired to. 37. See for example Caldwell (1995 Caldwell, J. T. 1995. Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American Television, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. [Google Scholar]), Olson (1999 Olson, R. S. 1999. Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). 38. And at times himself as well. ‘Chivalry is not dead’ he told TV Guide in 1998 when asked about his personal dating style. ‘I like to send flowers, a bottle of wine and sweep them off on a surprise vacation’ (Rudolph 1998 Rudolph , I. (1998) ‘Immortal beloved. Visit with star Adrian Paul as Highlander leaves TV (and heads for the big screen)’ , TV Guide , 16 May , p. 20 . [Google Scholar]). 39. Indeed one of the favorite minor characters of the series is Methos, the oldest living Immortal at more than 5000 years, with a different world view, different morality, and a history so old he cannot even remember his early days. 40. If the 1970s series had a mystical orient in which to place Caine's childhood, the newer series had 400 years of world history to place its flashbacks. For more on Kung Fu, see for example Tasker (2001 Tasker, Y. 2001. “‘Kung Fu: Re-Orienting the Television Western’”. In Action TV: Tough Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks, Edited by: Osgerby, B. and Gough-Yates, A. 115–26. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]). 41. Indeed there might be plenty to say alone about Mac's accent as a marker of national distinction that fades and is typically a difference that is glossed over in the contemporary. 42. Brian Taves notes the example of George Alfred Henry (1832–1902) whose adventure stories urged ‘his readers to manliness’ and ‘invariably deal with a boy of modest background who is taken into service by a great general or noble. Growing into manhood, the lad makes good in a dangerous situation by virtue of his courage and daring, proving his worth to his mentor’ (Taves 1993). 43. See Laurie Likes Books (2000 Books , Laurie Likes (1997) Romance and Magic are Eternal , The Romance Reader , (cited 7 August 2000). Available at http://www.theromancereader.com/highlander.html [Google Scholar]). 44. Stan Kirsch, who played the character of Richie Ryan. Quote is from Krieger (1995 Krieger , T. (1995) “‘Highlander”’ fling for fans: convention for lovers of films, TV Series Begins Today’ , The San Francisco Chronicle , 14 April , C1 . [Google Scholar]). Richie was inadvertently killed by Duncan MacLeod at the end of the fifth season. At least one fan website exists, entitled ‘Clan Denial’ (www.clandenial.org), dedicated to undoing the narrative injustice imposed by The Powers That Be (TPTB). 45. Grayson to MacLeod as they begin their final sword duel in the first-season episode ‘Band of Brothers.’ 46. The ‘Official Highlander Web Page’ (produced by Davis Panzer Productions, but also cited in several of the fans’ FAQ sites) states that ‘While in the writing program at UCLA's Film School, Gregory Widen traveled to Scotland and then England where he visited the Tower of London's world famous armory collection. This visit inspired Widen to imagine life in the Middle Ages and then the life of an Immortal ‘born’ at the same time.’ Bill Panzer tells a similar story in interviews, suggesting the Immortal came into existence when Widen noted a suit of armor and asked himself, ‘what if this guy was still alive?’ (Hunt 2002). 47. Worse, a Zoroastrian demon (!) had tricked Mac into beheading Richie himself. As the season begins, the demon is still loose and Mac has spent a year mourning in a remote monastery (Holy Ground). He returns, but in a despotic funk. By the end of the shortened season (in the two-part final episodes of the series) Mac is deemed potentially suicidal and heavenly intervention in the form of Roger Daltrey (as deceased friend Hugh Fitzcairn) is called upon, in an explicit riffing of Dickens's ‘A Christmas Carol’ via It's A Wonderful Life, to show Mac the world had he never been.