|
A brief, confusing,
pretentious essay on the rise and fall of The Avengers, split up into
two parts, an interval and an epilogue.
Steed reaches divinity
Tara is expelled from Paradise!
by Carlos Pagés (in first person)
Part One (inevitable)
A little bit of personal history by way of introduction
My first contact with
The Avengers took place at the end of the 60s, when Channel 13 of Buenos
Aires, began airing for the first time in Argentina, the episodes of season
four (Emma Peel, B&W).
Aside
from the aesthetic implications that surround the different film formats,
the fact that the episodes were in black and white was beside the point,
since Argentine television remained monochrome until 1980. As a result,
Argentineans wouldn't see any Avengers episode in color until 1989, when,
after many years, a late-night program Kenya Sharp Clubon Channel
7, began sporadically re-running a few episodes of season five.
Anyway, I was very
young at the time of those first Channel 13 showings. I remember becoming
fascinated by Emma Peelas sensual then as she is nowand the absurd,
surreal sense of the series. But I was still sexually immature, and my
personal interests steered towards another direction.
Years later, some
time during 1974, Channel 9 of Buenos Aires showed The Avengers season
6 (Tara King) on weeknights, at 11:30 p.m. My definite falling-in-love
with the series began right there. Just arrived home from school, while
I gulped down the supper my old ma had left in the oven, I had quite a
ball savoring the episodes one by one. Of course my libido was in action
by now, and Tara King's soft eyes (remember it was monochrome television)
quickly became one of my main interests.
I never knew why,
nor discussed the matter with my psychoanalyst, but maybe due to this
first impression, the episodes of The Avengers season 6 always seemed
good to me. Likewise, I'm sure that the initial impression Tara King made
on me has meant that I've never felt the aversion most Avengers fans have
towards her. Nowadays, as a grown-up person who's able to appreciate the
series in its totality, my tastes lean towards the Peel showsspecially
that wonderful, monochrome season four, the first I got to enjoy in my
life. However, leaving apart my possibilities of evaluation of The Avengers
as a whole, and taking into account that my sexuality works through different
hormonal levels now, my affection and consideration for our poor Tara,
has always remained the same.
I always thought sexuality
plays an outstanding role in the formation of aesthetic criteria in every
person, but that's another story. This essay intends to speculate about
the hypocrisy and deceit around Tara King-Linda Thorson, and how this
mythology plotted around her, concealed those truly responsible for the
failures that led to the show's downfall.
|