Max Headroom Episode 13: Lessons

Episode Name: Lessons

Premise: The Blanks are targeted for pirating educational programming that viewers must pay for and Edison Carter is censored for any attempt to uncover what's taking place.

Themes explored: The first is censorship. A computer program is designed for Network 23 to censor any material deemed sensitive. The program's intent is to settle any debates network executives have about appropriate content for viewers. But the program does more harm than good as Carter seeks to reunite a girl with her mother and every attempt of his to report on a raid by the Metro cops is censored by the computer.

Censorship is still a subject of debate to this day, but it's interesting that the idea of a computer deciding what will be censored is becoming reality these days. Think about the algorithms designed for social media platforms and search engines that are supposedly created in the interest of protecting viewers from malicious material, but have the effect of censoring legitimate discussion.

The second theme explored is education. Network 23 offers PETV, or Pay Education Television, which is educational television only available to those who can afford to pay for it. That means the people who live on the fringes (who happen to be poor) are unable to access it. The Blanks pirate a signal to help educate children, but program executives are backed by Metro cops to ensure that pirated signals are cut off.

But it raises the biggest question about how access to education and knowledge can impact children -- those who learn to read and write gain a greater understanding of the world around them, while those who don't may never do so. And what happens when children from lower income families aren't able to access education and knowledge? It's not difficult to figure out that those children will find it harder to understand the world.

The issue is further raised when it's revealed that the Blanks are in possession of a printing press and are creating books. In this dystopian world, printing presses are forbidden for most people to possess. Losing access to the press means the Blanks lose a greater means of ensuring the children in the fringes learn to read and write, and thus gain more access to knowledge.

The education theme is a reminder about why public education, though it may have its own faults, is nevertheless important to a free society.

Max Headroom quotes:
"Have you any idea how successful censorship is on TV? Don't know the answer? Hmmm... successful, isn't it?"
“As a famous person once said, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. And as I, another more famous person, once said, if you don’t teach them to read, you can fool them whenever you like.”
“You know, writers have no freedom on TV. One rude suggestion and the censors are straight on their back... not on their back in a rude way.”

Personal observations: Another episode of the series that was timely in some ways and ahead of its time in others. Computer algorithms designed to determine what is and isn’t appropriate can do more harm than good if we aren’t careful how they are implemented. And to this day, it’s still important to ensure everyone learns to read, because it’s the most important step in acquiring knowledge and learning more about the world.