Summary:
The episode, “The New World,” from The Man in the High Castle, starts off with a man, Joe Blake, who is going to a building that seems to manufacture in order to get a job. The setting begins in New York. The man who interviews him at first acts like he doesn’t know what is being talked about, but after he shows him a card, the man discusses whether Joe is going to be able to handle what is in store. As the interviewer shows him to a coffee truck and tells him what to do, the Nazis catch on and kill him. Joe is free to start his journey, in which he will not be able to sleep, hence the pills that his interviewer gave him.
Then we are brought to another location, on the West Coast, which shows the life of a lady by the name of Juliana, whom is shown to be fighting in a karate studio, where she is doing Aikido. When Juliana enters a tea shop, her sister, Trudy, shows up to say she got a job, and that she found “the reason.” Juliana goes to visit her mother who seems to hold a hatred for the Japanese, and sort of despises her daughter’s love for them. This visit was short. Juliana who is going to see her boyfriend, Frank, at a Japanese bar finds him drawing a picture of Juliana. They both discuss marriage and kids. Juliana has a fear about raising kids in this world, and Frank thinks it may be because he has some Jewish blood in his ancestry. Frank’s friend joins in, and Juliana decides to leave them alone as they discuss the ways of Hitler and bombs. While Juliana is going home, Trudy tells her to take a film before running off and getting killed by the Japanese. When Juliana gets home, she watches the film and sees a different world after the US had won the war. Frank arrives home and watches it before telling her to turn it in. Juliana finds a ticket for a bus that leaves to the Neutral Zone, but Frank wants her to return the film and even offers to do it himself. While Frank is at work, making replica fire arms, Juliana decides to take the bus to the Neutral Zone. She grabs a few films such as Popeyes and leaves her heart necklace made by Frank. On her way there, a woman robs her of her belongings, but luckily it was not the secret film.
Back to the other side of the American land, not owned by Americans anymore, Joe is journeying to the Neutral Zone, and pops the energy pills he was offered to stay awake. Before Joe crossed the border, he searched the truck and found a film that was hidden. After crossing the border, his tire blows out, and a road officer stops by to help him change the tire. He asks him for his documentation and they carry on about their day.
Juliana and Joe both reach the Neutral Zone where they cross paths near the café where they were supposed to meet, and Juliana claims her name is Trudy. They both are not too sure of each other. Frank is taken into custody because Juliana is missing, and there was a connection with Trudy’s endeavors. The Japanese and the Reich are both plotting attacks. At the end of the episode, when Joe makes a call to Oberguppenfurher Smith, he is discovered to be a part of the Reich.
Analysis:
Connections:
This episode can relate fairly to Trump in his first days of being president. Trump does not like the media, because he does not like the freedom they have to say information that may or may not be true, and it makes him look bad. He would rather us people have one news stations, such as Fox, to speak to us through. In this way, Trump or his administration would have the ability to say what they please so that we the people will believe it. In this article, The First 100 Lies: The Trump Team's Flurry of Falsehoods, it is about the first 36 days of the Trump's presidency and how he has already said, if not more, 100 lies. One of those lies is in reference to the keystone pipeline in creating 28,000 construction jobs. Now that is a great way to get people to vote for the pipeline project to be put through, but in reality , the pipeline only created about 16,000 jobs, and most are not construction jobs as Trump had mentioned.
The episode, “The New World,” from The Man in the High Castle, starts off with a man, Joe Blake, who is going to a building that seems to manufacture in order to get a job. The setting begins in New York. The man who interviews him at first acts like he doesn’t know what is being talked about, but after he shows him a card, the man discusses whether Joe is going to be able to handle what is in store. As the interviewer shows him to a coffee truck and tells him what to do, the Nazis catch on and kill him. Joe is free to start his journey, in which he will not be able to sleep, hence the pills that his interviewer gave him.
Then we are brought to another location, on the West Coast, which shows the life of a lady by the name of Juliana, whom is shown to be fighting in a karate studio, where she is doing Aikido. When Juliana enters a tea shop, her sister, Trudy, shows up to say she got a job, and that she found “the reason.” Juliana goes to visit her mother who seems to hold a hatred for the Japanese, and sort of despises her daughter’s love for them. This visit was short. Juliana who is going to see her boyfriend, Frank, at a Japanese bar finds him drawing a picture of Juliana. They both discuss marriage and kids. Juliana has a fear about raising kids in this world, and Frank thinks it may be because he has some Jewish blood in his ancestry. Frank’s friend joins in, and Juliana decides to leave them alone as they discuss the ways of Hitler and bombs. While Juliana is going home, Trudy tells her to take a film before running off and getting killed by the Japanese. When Juliana gets home, she watches the film and sees a different world after the US had won the war. Frank arrives home and watches it before telling her to turn it in. Juliana finds a ticket for a bus that leaves to the Neutral Zone, but Frank wants her to return the film and even offers to do it himself. While Frank is at work, making replica fire arms, Juliana decides to take the bus to the Neutral Zone. She grabs a few films such as Popeyes and leaves her heart necklace made by Frank. On her way there, a woman robs her of her belongings, but luckily it was not the secret film.
Back to the other side of the American land, not owned by Americans anymore, Joe is journeying to the Neutral Zone, and pops the energy pills he was offered to stay awake. Before Joe crossed the border, he searched the truck and found a film that was hidden. After crossing the border, his tire blows out, and a road officer stops by to help him change the tire. He asks him for his documentation and they carry on about their day.
Juliana and Joe both reach the Neutral Zone where they cross paths near the café where they were supposed to meet, and Juliana claims her name is Trudy. They both are not too sure of each other. Frank is taken into custody because Juliana is missing, and there was a connection with Trudy’s endeavors. The Japanese and the Reich are both plotting attacks. At the end of the episode, when Joe makes a call to Oberguppenfurher Smith, he is discovered to be a part of the Reich.
Analysis:
- Themes: The themes that appear in this episode are new beginning and oppression. The new beginning theme stems from how the show starts with Joe getting a job, Juliana and Frank talking about their future and possibly marriage, and also from Juliana taking this big leap with the film to go to the Neutral land after her sister was killed. The oppression theme is represented by Frank's fears of his Jewish ancestry and how he has to oppress who he truly is, Juliana's oppressing her future endeavors for marriage because of the world she doesn't like, and when Juliana meets Joe, she oppresses her personal details and uses her sister's name, Trudy. Censorship seems to be a big role in the episode/season in general. Neither the Pacific states nor the Reich want people to know what is going on in the world.
- Motifs: A few motifs that were in this episode are Trudy's odd appearances before she is killed off, the continuous visual of the swastika, the films that are trying to be hidden, and Juliana's heart necklace that was created by her boyfriend.
- Symbols: Two prominent symbols in this episode are Trudy's first account with Juliana in which she said she found "the reason," and also the name of the film, "Grasshopper." Trudy says she found the reason, and we aren't really sure to what. When Juliana watches the film, she starts to see maybe Trudy did find the reason. The film shows freedom to America as the Allies had won, unlike the current situation with the Pacific states and the Reich on the East coast. The reason is symbolic of finding out something that could make everything different, even though we don't know what the reason is, it still holds symbolism in that moment. The "Grasshopper" name in that movie could stand for what a grasshopper is thought to be, a burden. When I think of grasshopper, I think of an old myth I heard from my mother about a grasshopper and an ant (could possibly have a name), and in this myth, the winter season was coming, and the ant was preparing by storing food, meanwhile the grasshopper was partying. Once the season got cold, the ant had plenty of food to spear, and the grasshopper was starving and tried to get food from the ant. In this respect, the film could show what freedom is as opposed to the control the Reich and the Pacific states have now. Maybe the Americans stood for the ants in that myth, or was it vice versa?
- Conflict: The conflict in this episode has to do with a choice of freedom or oppression. It does seem like a choice when you think you could join the resistance or stay clear and just live life as it is set out. That happens when Juliana and Frank discuss their future of marriage and kids, and although Frank is okay with being oppressed, Juliana does not agree with raising kids in this world.
Connections:
This episode can relate fairly to Trump in his first days of being president. Trump does not like the media, because he does not like the freedom they have to say information that may or may not be true, and it makes him look bad. He would rather us people have one news stations, such as Fox, to speak to us through. In this way, Trump or his administration would have the ability to say what they please so that we the people will believe it. In this article, The First 100 Lies: The Trump Team's Flurry of Falsehoods, it is about the first 36 days of the Trump's presidency and how he has already said, if not more, 100 lies. One of those lies is in reference to the keystone pipeline in creating 28,000 construction jobs. Now that is a great way to get people to vote for the pipeline project to be put through, but in reality , the pipeline only created about 16,000 jobs, and most are not construction jobs as Trump had mentioned.