The Fugitive in Flight

Book excerpt: Fish (Florida International Univ.; emer., Univ. of Illinois, Chicago) "reads" The Fugitive, the mid-1960s television series, as a work of classic literature, teasing out moral and philosophical themes in various episodes. Examining such oppositions as inner truth versus outer appearance, individual independence versus community conformity, justice versus law, innocence versus justice, he depicts the series as capturing a shift in American culture. Fish defines the shift by quoting William Pfaff on the impact of shifting population and decline of the influence of churches. "Add to these developments," writes Fish, "the ideological efforts of liberals who contributed to the old America's demise by [to further quote Pfaff] attacking its values, despising its conformism and subordinating the demands of community to those of individual liberty." Fish argues that the series is similar to a theological text because of its "preoccupation with primary values," most primary among them freedom "in the moral sense ... freedom from attachments that own [one] and circumscribe [one's] will." The author contends that the "moral and philosophical significance" with which he has burdened The Fugitive was in fact intended by Roy Huggins, the creator of the series. This interesting, well-crafted interpretation of the series resonates with cultural significance. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. Lower-division Undergraduates; Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty; Professionals/Practitioners. Reviewed by W. F. Williams.