And anything else you may desire. Within reason.
Eric Portman's Number Two may be not be reciting the exact words written for him, but far from sabotaging or subverting the original intention behind the script, the subtle deviation hints at a world of meaning beneath and beyond the glossy surface of easy-to-remember catchphrases and hackneyed (electoral) sound bites. A world, indeed, of myth and metaphor, ambiguity and insecurity, that the P will soon be compelled to enter through the customary rabbit hole and subsequent "truth test" - which calls into question the very concept it appears to promote - only for him to arrive, finally, at what he believes is the pinnacle of power.
The illusion of omnipotence quickly evaporates as the P is taught a very brutal, but ultimately very human, lesson about human vulnerability - and the fragility of his own physical existence: without the ability to verbalize, and to rationalize his experience, the P must learn, on the most basic level of instinctive and non-verbal communication, that he is not in control of anything.
While being trapped is, by definition, the P's preordained fate as a fictional character, we are left to ponder the metaphorical, allegorical implications of his eternal incarceration within an imaginary world he cannot leave and cannot control. Interpretations that dwell on the shock of betrayal and abuse fail to recognize the fantasy for what it is: a deliberate fictional construct that invites us not simply to identify with the stricken hero and rage against the apparent injustice, but to include the creative process in our efforts to explain what is, in fact, a fantasy within a fantasy within a fantasy.
And anything else you may desire.
If we assert, as I do, that what transpires in Free For All is underneath the superficial display of public politicking the reenactment, in controlled conditions, of a private fantasy, and if we then consider that fantasies are most often defined as a way of experiencing one's innermost, perhaps even secret, desires in a safe environment we end up with a whole host of interpretive options. Or implications.
Within reason.
If again we accept the premises above and that we need a safe, rational environment in which to contain the fantasies - and this safe containment is not provided by "the enemy," the safety net is not an ominous external - or internal - form of coercion but the realization that we must recognize our fantasies for what they are: dreams. Illusions. Desires. That help us battle the real, eternal, and mortal enemy, of our own worst nightmares: or own demons, within and without.
If after all those hypothetical assumptions you are still willing to suspend your disbelief, imagine your worst fear is the loss of control. What would your most secret fantasy be? And would you not feel safe in the knowledge that you can, at any point in time, control that fantasy? The knowledge that your safe word will always be, "Cut!"
