Any more Survivors?

Survivors: Episode 2

In episode 2 those who have survived the plague must now work out how they will function as a community.

The former convict and escaped murderer, Tom, is convinced that he knows how to cope with the new world. The basic truth for him is that each person will do whatever they need to do in order to live. Violence is inevitable - it's a dog eat dog world.

This argument is illustrated in episode two as the group encounter Dexter's gang who seem willing to kill in order to protect their turf. This gang are attempting to control abandoned shops and keep all the available resources for themselves. They are young, aggressive and armed...

Abby Grant, on the other hand, argues that they need each other. It is only groups who will have the collective abilities and skills to survive in what will become an increasingly hostile world.

The episode raises the question of illness or accidents. What will happen to people who have relatively minor injuries? Without the right medicines or treatments they will probably die... This question is made more pointed by the fact that they have a doctor in the group who wants to keep her previous career a secret.

Greg is somewhere in between. He has some mysterious things that he wants to do, but has accepted Abby's argument that they need each other.

But this is not just a matter of teamwork. There is a need to build a new "social contract" since the old order has collapsed.

In this episode we meet Bob, a former shop manager, who has hooked up with Sarah, a former customer. Between them they have created their own "social contract". Bob works for Sarah in return for certain favours... This contract is fine but soon breaks down when Bob is injured and Sarah identifies a better offer...

Greg goes missing (having met up with Bob and Sarah). Abby is determined to go looking for him but Tom can't see the point. In the end they both find their way to a warehouse, where, by putting their lives on the line, Greg and Tom are able to win a significant stand off against Dexter and his gang. This reinforces the unity of the group and helps them to understand why they need each other. Dexter only had one bullet - while they had two big blokes willing to even the score...

The point of this episode is that communities only function on the basis of trust. No business or communal arrangement can work unless people guarantee to act in certain ways. People need to treat each other with respect, honour their commitments and even put others first - without such a "social contract" the dog eat dog rules of the jungle will result in rapid mutual destruction...

As I said before, I don't think Survivors is a programme about disease or even survival but about society. In an era or fear and uncertainty "empty earth" scenarios give writers an opportunity to explore the key issues of human society. As we face the credit crunch, peak oil and global warming we need to work out what sort of new world we should be building. Survivors reminds us that this new world needs a new social contract based on mutual respect, commitment and self-giving. Trust is more powerful than fear.

From a Christian perspective this is something that should not be ignored. Secular society has indicated that it wants to put issues of "faith" to one side. "Faith communities" can do their own thing, to a certain extent, but must contribute to society within certain narrow paramaters. The problem is that the main contribution that "faith" (or trust?) can bring is that it provides core values and a world view around which communities can be built. Can a materialistic society generate suficient shared values to achieve this? Can communities founded on trust in God find ways to build trusting relationships within the society in which they are set? It will be interesting to see if this issue comes up in the series...

As an extra note, I've heard that the Triffids are going to make a comeback. This was, of course, a classic "empty earth" story which will be good to revisit again without those pesky zombies...

Any survivors?

This evening I sat up with Isla and we watched the first episopde of Survivors, the remake of the sevinties drama by Terry Nation. This drama tells the story of a group of people who survive a rapid and near universal plague that wipes out most of the world's population.

This episode predictably focussed on the arival of the plague and the death of most of the UK population. It began with some fairly obvious links to a genuinely possible flu pandemic which had clearly been picked up from the various documents that have been produced about this. Fairly soon society was in collapse and the end 

was in sight. The lights went off and when the sun rose again there was no-one left.

It's interesting to see this apocalyptic vision resurface after 30 years. Last time there were a whole stream of "empty earth" scenarios inspired by nuclear war or scientific disaster. Even then there was a sense that mother earth might kick back against human foolishness and kill us off before we cause too much

 damage.

During the past decade or so we have had alien invasions (fear of the stranger) and tecno-thrillers (fear of our own ignorance) but very few genuine "empty earth" stories. The clossest thing to them have been zombie stories in which most of the population are reduced to mindless consumers who will do anything to satisfy their own urges...

Perhaps now that the consumerist society is teatering on the brink of collapse it may be time to revisit the "empty earth" scenario again. What is the purpose of human beings? What holds society together? Why do we need each other? What are we if we are not consumers - or on the run from agressive consumption?

These are genuinely interesting questions to ask - but where will Survivors go with them? The first episode was appropriately meladramatic with lots of death and loss. Otherwise it was, unfortunatley, a bit dull - and killing of Martha Jones after the first twenty minutes will have disapointed a few fans. Perhaps the most interesting moment was the final thrity seconds when, in true Lost style, we were given a brief hint that all may not be quite as straightforward as it first appears with the introduction of the mysterious lab... Will this be any good? Who knows - but I suspect it won't be the last "empty earth" that the media visits over the next few years...