God is this gonna be one of those shows where I have no interest in it but it’s gonna take up so much oxygen in the “discourse” that I’m going to have to have some sort of “position” on it?
The show is largely driven by visual storytelling, which lends itself very well to people projecting their own meaning onto it.
That’s why the discourse is all over the place, from “literally nothing happens” to “this is obviously deep commentary on my personal experience!” and they could be talking about the same exact scene.
Its definitely political. The show runner has said as much.
“I really wasn’t thinking about AI when I came up with Pluribus, partly because I came up with it almost 10 years ago, but if people have that takeaway, more power to them,” he laughs.
I think everybody hates that we live in a country that feels like there’s two sides, two armed camps. It feels like we’re on the edge of civil war some days, and I hate that," he says.
"I don’t think anybody wants to live like this. They want to figure out a way to get back to a culture, a civilisation where people can disagree. The world of Pluribus, where everybody agrees, that doesn’t sound so good either. “But can we find a place where people disagree but they’re cool about it?”
“But can we find a place where people disagree but they’re cool about it?” Fucking no? Not when the disagreement is about socialism or barbarism.
The show’s “villain” is a classic case of making the bad guy too reasonable, and having to tack on some bullshit to sour them to the audience.
A decade ago HRC lost to Trump after usurping Burnie in the primaries. That’s the space he wrote this script in. Couple that with his own words above and I’m not sure how this could be anything but political.
People who want to “find a place where people disagree but they’re cool about it” only want to do so because back then people suffered in silence. People “disagreed” about the rights of trans people (or queer people, or people of color, or immigrants) but “were cool about it” while those groups suffered. But that wasn’t enough, that didn’t make the line go up enough, so now people suffer in the fucking daylight and it makes guys like this fucking uncomfortable.
That’s what sits at the center of this plot. People starved to death every day before the virus, and would continue to do so every day if it never arrived. Now that some arbitrary rule set by the Stalin Virus is going to kill off everyone in a decade , and they tell you its going to happen, now suddenly the situation is “insane”. Say nothing of the massive amounts of death coming down the pipe thanks to climate change! Something the woke mind virus fucking solved.
The show is pure liberalism. The show runner is treading into ideological currents he can’t possibly understand let alone swim in. The entire show hinges on the arbitrary limitations created by the writers. Instead of simply creating an interesting utopia that some people are missing out on and using that as the vehicle for the character development.
Sorry but I think you’re just reading way too far into this.
Yes of course Gilligan has utterly shit politics like 99.99% of all Burgerlanders, but I just don’t think the premise of the show is political whatsoever, even in spite of those quotes of his that you referenced.
Maybe I will be proven wrong with the way that the show progresses in further episodes, but for the time being I think it’s just enjoyable slop.
I largely agree, what bothers me more than those quotes is this one:
“I’m kind of intrigued about the difference between individuality and conformity,” he says.
THIS is the kinda shit I was REALLY hoping he wouldn’t say. The premise has so much potential beyond “iNdIVidUAlIsM vS cOlLEcTiVIsM” aka generic anti-communist slop. That being said, having watched the first season, the show is about multiple things, not just one theme. Ep7 is particularly good as a juxtaposition of Carol’s position of great material comfort in the US vs. Manousos’ trek through one of the most dangerous jungles on Earth just to try and get to her. It’s the best episode of the show for that reason
Yeah that is very low-effort lib-shit for sure. However, I do think the fact that Carole was put into a gay conversion therapy camp as a kid plays heavily into the whole “conformity” thing with the Plurbs.
While watching this show I am choosing to temporarily disable the communism lens that I see everything through and just enjoy the show. The plot could be viewed in so many different ways (ie: antivaxxers interpret the show as being about covid-19 and people wearing masks lmao) and I don’t think that there’s any real axe being grinded here.
Although maybe I’m wrong and Gilligan is just a political dipshit lol.
Anything that isn’t “political” is just going to passively support status quo liberal political values, all art is political, whether we like it or not.
I mean, sure, yes, I cannot possibly argue against that. I just get the impression that Gilligan isn’t going out of his way to make something overtly political. But I guess it may be absorbing liberalism through osmosis, as with all mainstream media.
Yeah, I don’t think we were ever in disagreement about it, liberals will passively put pro-status quo messages in things because they don’t even perceive the status quo and assume that is just the “default” for storytelling.
God is this gonna be one of those shows where I have no interest in it but it’s gonna take up so much oxygen in the “discourse” that I’m going to have to have some sort of “position” on it?
The show is largely driven by visual storytelling, which lends itself very well to people projecting their own meaning onto it.
That’s why the discourse is all over the place, from “literally nothing happens” to “this is obviously deep commentary on my personal experience!” and they could be talking about the same exact scene.
As someone who hasnt watched it, Its looking like it
Don’t. They made it sound interesting but it went pretty lame by mid season.
Don’t waste your time, its liberal slop.
It’s a good show. IMO it’s not political at all. It’s just a neat sci-fi concept made into a tv series.
Its definitely political. The show runner has said as much.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-21/pluribus-vince-gilligan-interview-grand-finale/106123758
“But can we find a place where people disagree but they’re cool about it?” Fucking no? Not when the disagreement is about socialism or barbarism.
The show’s “villain” is a classic case of making the bad guy too reasonable, and having to tack on some bullshit to sour them to the audience.
A decade ago HRC lost to Trump after usurping Burnie in the primaries. That’s the space he wrote this script in. Couple that with his own words above and I’m not sure how this could be anything but political.
People who want to “find a place where people disagree but they’re cool about it” only want to do so because back then people suffered in silence. People “disagreed” about the rights of trans people (or queer people, or people of color, or immigrants) but “were cool about it” while those groups suffered. But that wasn’t enough, that didn’t make the line go up enough, so now people suffer in the fucking daylight and it makes guys like this fucking uncomfortable.
That’s what sits at the center of this plot. People starved to death every day before the virus, and would continue to do so every day if it never arrived. Now that some arbitrary rule set by the Stalin Virus is going to kill off everyone in a decade , and they tell you its going to happen, now suddenly the situation is “insane”. Say nothing of the massive amounts of death coming down the pipe thanks to climate change! Something the woke mind virus fucking solved.
The show is pure liberalism. The show runner is treading into ideological currents he can’t possibly understand let alone swim in. The entire show hinges on the arbitrary limitations created by the writers. Instead of simply creating an interesting utopia that some people are missing out on and using that as the vehicle for the character development.
“what if Bernie Bros had gotten their way with that stupid universal health care idea that destroys individual responsibility?”
Sorry but I think you’re just reading way too far into this.
Yes of course Gilligan has utterly shit politics like 99.99% of all Burgerlanders, but I just don’t think the premise of the show is political whatsoever, even in spite of those quotes of his that you referenced.
Maybe I will be proven wrong with the way that the show progresses in further episodes, but for the time being I think it’s just enjoyable slop.
I largely agree, what bothers me more than those quotes is this one:
THIS is the kinda shit I was REALLY hoping he wouldn’t say. The premise has so much potential beyond “iNdIVidUAlIsM vS cOlLEcTiVIsM” aka generic anti-communist slop. That being said, having watched the first season, the show is about multiple things, not just one theme. Ep7 is particularly good as a juxtaposition of Carol’s position of great material comfort in the US vs. Manousos’ trek through one of the most dangerous jungles on Earth just to try and get to her. It’s the best episode of the show for that reason
Yeah that is very low-effort lib-shit for sure. However, I do think the fact that Carole was put into a gay conversion therapy camp as a kid plays heavily into the whole “conformity” thing with the Plurbs.
While watching this show I am choosing to temporarily disable the communism lens that I see everything through and just enjoy the show. The plot could be viewed in so many different ways (ie: antivaxxers interpret the show as being about covid-19 and people wearing masks lmao) and I don’t think that there’s any real axe being grinded here.
Although maybe I’m wrong and Gilligan is just a political dipshit lol.
Anything that isn’t “political” is just going to passively support status quo liberal political values, all art is political, whether we like it or not.
I mean, sure, yes, I cannot possibly argue against that. I just get the impression that Gilligan isn’t going out of his way to make something overtly political. But I guess it may be absorbing liberalism through osmosis, as with all mainstream media.
Yeah, I don’t think we were ever in disagreement about it, liberals will passively put pro-status quo messages in things because they don’t even perceive the status quo and assume that is just the “default” for storytelling.
Seems like it.
its going to be the new game of thrones isn’t it
Game of Drones
When the “author who lives in New Mexico” bit is actually clever foreshadowing