I usually count myself as a TV person. I spend a considerable portion of my spare time watching shows or movies. I even like to buy CDs of my favourite ones since I watch them again and again in the future. I mention this to say one thing: despite watching thousands of hours of digital media, I hardly find something that obsesses me for as long as the first season of Pluribus did. And here, in the next few paragraphs I try to explain why. And as always, these are only my personal thoughts and feelings and I am not by any means an expert.
⚠️ Spoiler alert: upcoming paragraphs will reveal the story of the first season. ⚠️
It doesn’t take long for the show to reveal the main story. I feel that the whole idea behind the show is not to surprise the audience with sudden plot twists or by various visual effects. In fact, the show has a relatively slow pace compared to most products these days. Maybe because what it tries to present is beyond the entertainment; it tries to plant some questions in our minds, and that’s what makes it stand out in the age of Reels and Shorts, something to think about even after the show is over.
I feel I shall not be alone in getting trapped by the first seed of Which team do I belong to? which gets stretched to find different answers as the show progresses. We all may start feeling to belong to Team Carol, resisting against the bastards who killed our beloved. We may then find it appealing to join Team Diabaté and enjoy the new reality of the world! Especially when we find out they won’t be able to convert us with force anymore. Some of us may even start going to the other side of the spectrum, fighting next to and as a part of Team Manousos, or even ignoring the reality and continue living as nothing has ever happened. I myself, still to date, think about the side I’ll belong to. How will I cope in this situation? Ignorance? Adoption? Taking advantage? Fighting to the death? The answer is yet unclear to me! I’ve shown to be capable of doing all in the past, so I don’t dare to give the final answer yet!
But what I could say for sure is that being a member of Team Diabaté never felt good to me! I couldn’t find enjoyment in such a world, which is probably the closest we can imagine for a Zootopia. A world where nobody commits any crimes, no one is murdered, there are no bullies around, there will be no war, and no kid should have to starve to death anymore. And yet, something deep down made me feel unsettled about this world. But Why?
To me the answer lies in a belief of mine: humans are animals seeking meanings. I think the search for meaning, even in the most unmeaningful ones, is the distinguishing part that makes us stand apart from other animals. I can’t remember any time in my life that I have done something that had no meanings whatsoever, even if the meaning wasn’t necessarily worth the effort. And I doubt I’ve ever met anyone that had managed to continue as such. So when I think about living in the Pluribus world, I, as myself, as this individual that I refer to as “me”, has absolutely no purpose nor meanings to do (or not do) basically anything. There is no point in any actions when you are isolated to such a degree. There is no point in working, so there is no pure enjoyment of the free time! There won’t be more pure arts coming out in the future, so there is no point in learning to master them! No one would ever write controversial books, so there is no point in reading anything! The enjoyment in team Diabaté soon ends up in nihilism for me! I can’t enjoy a life of nothingness.
My point here is that we are defined within a context in this world; you may name it culture, religion, nationality, or something else, without which, there will be holes popping up in our lives. Our identities will be forgotten, and what are we without our identities after all? How to enjoy a life with no identity, with no feelings of belonging to a context; a context that does not flow, does not produce, does not create, does not even bother to communicate at some point to stay more efficient? Isn’t this the underlying reason why Carol couldn’t continue further and asked “them” to return? What was life for her without loving and being loved?
I’d rather suffer a meaningful short life than have an empty luxurious one! That’s maybe why I will never feel good about joining Team Diabaté