The Blacklist Declassified

🔴 Book Review: “Unpacking The Blacklist”

 
Review: Unpacking “The Blacklist”: Season 1 Interpreted
Author: G Walter Bush
Publication Date: April 23, 2017
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2qOCqce
 

⭕ “A real find for fans as well as scholars” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 
I got this book about a week ago and consumed it in a day. Although it is a book of literary-style analysis, it is very easy to understand as the author provides all the necessary background. I laughed when I saw that the first chapter was titled “Ahab” and the last “Proust.” Of course, Red Reddington is Ahab, on a quest to conquer a past which unjustly crippled him. I have never read Proust, in part because I was always under the impression that it would be too daunting. But, the author quickly comes to his point. First, remember when, in the Anslo Garrick episode when Red gives Ressler a field transfusion? As his own blood enters Ressler’s veins, Red asks him “Donald! Donald! Feeling any wittier yet? Any strange cravings for Beluga caviar or Marcel Proust?” Red is trying, of course, to entertain Ressler as well as to revive him. He is both celebrating as well as mocking his own erudition and tastes. This leads into a discussion of the famous “One more time” monologue which the author brightens with insight and clarity.
 
But in the final chapter the author goes further. He describes Proust’s theory of memory and relates that to Red’s struggle with the past and his quest to reclaim and reshape it. Such observations and insights make this book a rare find and a delight to read.
 
Although the approach the author takes is to elucidate the “text” of The Blacklist – in other words, the script – he also addresses stagecraft and there is an entire chapter on cinematography in which he delves things like the association of Liz with light and the use of mirror imaging and framing.
 
This is the first book of several planned, one for each season. This volume focuses on the major characters, Red, Liz, Cooper, Ressler, etc. Ressler’s chapter is playfully – and astutely – titled “Wrestler” (another aha! moment). Yet the author freely reaches ahead to developments in subsequent seasons on the way to crafting an overarching view of the series.
 
This book would fit easily into a college curriculum on serialized dramas of the new “Golden Age of Television,” for although it is accessible to any fan of the show, it meets all the requirements of serious literary analysis. Unlike shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Outlander” which began as novels, The Blacklist has no prior incarnation. Yet it displays impressive writing, remarkable erudition, and seriousness of purpose as it delves into history, politics, science, and even reflections on literature and art. It is an ambitious, epic project rarely attempted within the demanding constraints of broadcast television. As such, it deserves the kind of elucidation provided by this study. Fans wishing for new insights into The Blacklist will enjoy this book. Students of serialized drama will return to it again and again as an example for how to write about the dramatic arts.
 
– Review posted on Amazon, May 7, 2017: http://amzn.to/2pPAnpC