Deconstructing the semiotics* of Knight Rider

[davywavy]

Every generation grows up convinced that the entertainment when they were children was the best ever, and kids today - tsk! - they just dont' know what they're missing. Obviously, most generations are wrong in this belief as it has been established as scientific fact that kids entertainment was best in the 1980's when I was growing up, and all the other, lesser, decades just don't have a patch on it.

Anyway, I recently picked up a box set of Knight Rider because I loved it when I was about ten. The gripping adventures of a man and his cybernetic, artificially intelligent robot car who drove around together solving crimes and bringing criminals who operate above the law to justice. What could be more wholesome than that?
I hadn't seen an episode in maybe twenty years and it's nice to have a bit of nostaligia when I get home from work now and again, but as I've watched my way through the first few eopisodes something has dawned on me which I just never realised when I was younger. You see, as I watch it I realise that it isn't just a simple gripping adventure story. It's the story of a love affair between a man with his shirt open to his navel and his big, black, sleek, powerful, but curiously camp car. To be blunt, it is really quite incredibly homoerotic. I didn't pick up on that when I was ten.

Take the episode I watched last night as an example. Kitt (the supercar) was stolen by a villain who removed the AI CPU from the car and dropped it in the middle of nowhere. Michael (the hero) found the CPU (containing KITT's personality) simply by following his instincts. As he said; "I just had this feeling of his presense", and the two then spent most of the episode driving around in an ancient jalopy arguing like an old married couple.
Eventually, the villains were defeated, the chassis recovered and KITT's mind put back in. To celebrate their reunion, Michael and Kitt went for a drive and the episode ended with this exchange:
Michael (pressing hard on the accelerator): "C'mon, Kitt! Let's open you up and see what we can do!"
Kitt: "Oooh, Michael, that feels good. Faster!"
I'm just surprised that the titles didn't roll over a shot of them driving into a tunnel.

The things is, all the episodes are like this. If you look for it, they're crammed with innuendo. It is, to coin a phrase, eye-opening. And the more I think about it, this sort of thing was everywhere in the films and TV I liked as a kid, and I just never noticed. I mean, everyone knows that Top Gun is about the passionate affair between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, but what about The A-Team? Four rough, tough single men who live together in a van and vie for Hannibal's attention in a grim 'daddy'bear' relationship. Predator? A bunch of heavy-muscled single men being picked off one at a time by an 'invisible killer'. Rambo? A muscular, shirtless single man who'll do anything for a man in uniform as they're the only people who understand him. And don't even get me started on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I'll tell you what - if I'd realised all this when I was fifteen it'd've completely changed my perceptions of television. I wonder just how much of this was deliberate, or whether the entire 1980's were just inadvertantly spectacularly camp. But what do I know? So, a poll.

[Poll #1520661]

*Does anyone actually know what a Semiotic is? For all I know it might be a type of fish.

Comments

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

Never mind homoeroticism. On revisiting 80s primetime action shows I'm far more surprised by the outrageously Libertarian undercurrent that runs through them all which I was oblivious to in my childhood. Knight Rider, Airwolf and The A-Team are all basically about unaccountable and heavily armed private individuals who all go about dispensing justice-for-hire.

It must've been one hell of a Zeitgeist they were capturing.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Knight Rider, Airwolf and The A-Team are all basically about unaccountable and heavily armed private individuals who all go about dispensing justice-for-hire

I know. Isn't it awesome.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I just find it a very interesting and era-appropriate take on the hero archetype. They're not doing it out of revenge, or honour, or responsibility, or some elaborate moral code. They're doing it because they bloody love it, and they're getting paid for it.

There's a bit in the trailer for Iron Man 2 where it's ruled that the authorities can't force Tony Stark to hand over the Iron man suit, and he stands up, turns to the court spectators and announces how he's successfully privatised world peace. I bloody love that line.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

(Cheers)

They're all about the individual taking responsibility for their world they live in rather than abrogating it to the state. Naturally, I find myself cheering at such sentiments :)

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see the postmodern counterpoint to it, with private individuals who come into possession of a sleek sexy superweapon and use it exclusively for self-indulgent, git-like behaviour.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

That'll be the plot of most 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's Bond films then.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking more like Richie and Eddie from Bottom Getting their hands on Airwolf.

[riksowden.livejournal.com]

What, a film about a helicopter crash?