Yet More In the Flesh: A Few Thoughts on the ULA and Blue Oblivion

Though In the Flesh’s treatment centers teach those with PDS to mask their condition and society deems them decidedly inferior, not all the undead accept their subjugation meekly.  Resistance takes many forms, from small defiance – going without makeup and colored contacts in public – to large-scale extremism – using the drug Blue Oblivion to temporarily return to their rabid state and attack the living.  It’s an engrossing exploration of social rebellion and terrorism from oppressed groups.

I’ve written enough about this show that it’s clear people with PDS have cause to be angry.  Even putting aside the open hatred and potential violence they face from the general public, they’re also subjected to unjust laws designed to keep them down; all the undead have lost their citizenship, and they’re forced to take part in a “give back” program (essentially, unpaid menial labor) to have so much as a vain hope of regaining it.  Their movements are restricted, their employment opportunities are limited, and the threat of being sent back to the treatment center for “non-compliance” is forever held over their heads.  And, as I’ve already discussed, the overall public aversion to PDS fosters self-loathing and a dehumanizing sense of worthlessness.

As they find themselves losing so much, being dragged so far down, it’s little wonder that some are captivated by the Undead Prophet, who tells them they’re not damned but redeemed, not subhuman but superhuman.  They’ve been starved for self-worth, desperate for a scrap of agency in their lives, and the thought that they’re superior to the intolerant people keeping them subservient is an appealing one.  Thus, the Undead Liberation Army (ULA,) a fringe group dedicated to dismantling the unjust system.  In the Flesh does a fine job showing why people would be attracted to the ULA and even the good it does – encouraging PDS folk to love and accept themselves, providing a true community, trying the help the untreated – while simultaneously showing why it’s so dangerous.

It contains seeds of goodness, and it’s in fact ULA activists who put Kieren on the path to self-acceptance, but its sin is that it preaches superiority instead of equality and seeks vengeance more than justice.  The Undead Prophet predicts a second Rising in which the undead will emerge as society’s dominant class, and certain devotees stage rabid attacks by taking Blue Oblivion in public places.  It seems odd that people would want to turn rabid again, even for a short time, but the show provides some fertile groundwork.  There’s the highly-justifiable anger, of course, and when dangerous ideas prey on disadvantaged populations, anger can lead to revenge.  It’s more than fighting back or self-defense; it’s a desire to see their tormenters suffer.  A taste of power for the powerless.  There’s also the anti-PDS propaganda that permeates society.   After constantly being told that they’re nothing but monsters and murderers, after it’s eroded everything they ever believed about themselves, some will give themselves over to it and decide to play the monster.  Finally, I find it so interesting that the drug that turns them rabid isn’t called Blue Vengeance or Blue Justice or Blue Power, nothing like that.  It’s called Blue Oblivion:  an erasure of one’s self.  By taking the drug and giving in the mindless, destructive monster, extremists are, I think, chasing a reprieve.  A reprieve from their oppression, powerlessness, and fear, but it’s also a reprieve from their guilt.  The medication that gives them back their minds shows them the horrors they committed in their untreated states, and I think a hit of Blue Oblivion allows them to escape, however briefly, from the weight of those horrors.