Symmetries in "The Americans" Part 3
Feb. 22nd, 2014 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quantumrealityAs promised, I'll continue on! :)
A bit of an aside, however; the fact of my handle has some relevance, since it's what I do, more or less, in my real-world studies. And in quantum mechanics, what's been found is that one of the most fundamental aspects of nature is driven by something called a "broken symmetry": the weak interaction.
What this means is that a mathematical symmetry still exists, but it's been hidden or modified so it's no longer obvious in a simple way.
And one thing I've noticed, in studying the women of this series, is that the symmetries aren't so exact. They're also broken symmetries.
Let's begin with Elizabeth Jennings and Sandra Beeman.
First, the differences: Elizabeth is a spy, just like her husband Phillip, and she's spent her early life in a whole different country, a whole different culture. Sandra, by contrast, is pretty much Ms. All-American, and unaware of the substance of the things her husband does in the line of duty.
But there are similarities as well: both at least act the role of house-wives, taking on more of the domestic tasks in the household than might be considered a fair 50-50 split, and both are mothers, having had a child or children. In addition, they have differences of opinion with their husbands, Elizabeth's having to do with her impatience with Phillip counselling caution at times, and Sandra's having to do with her resentment at Stan's inability to decompress from his undercover job and throwing himself straight into FBI counterintelligence, a demanding new job.
If I had to boil down the thing these women both are experiencing, I think I would call it "dissatisfaction". Neither woman is totally satisfied with the decisions made by the husband in their lives, and as a result both experience friction in their marriages that, in some cases, could have potentially explosive long-term downstream effects.
Let's now look at Martha and Nina.
They're not exactly "swappable" with each other either - again, the symmetry is not exact.
But they're both moles, one unintentional, the other intentional.
They're both "mistresses" in a sense, as well - hidden romantic partners of the two opposing men in the series, one for Phillip and one for Stan. Here, the major difference is that Martha is acting voluntarily out of reciprocation of what she sees as affection from a man she interacts with on a daily or weekly basis. Nina, however, could at best be said to have consented under duress, under the belief that if she didn't sleep with Stan he would cease to protect her as a viable asset to the FBI.
Finally, for both, the risks they're taking professionally and personally could prove to be their undoing, if the wrong person ever finds out what they've been up to. I think if I were to sum up these two women in one word or a phrase, I would say, "in the fog of night". Neither of them has the full picture of what's going on beyond their immediate day to day meetings or of the true motivations of the man that's loomed large in their lives.
And then, upon marathoning the Americans this weekend, I came to realize that another broken symmetry exists between Elizabeth and Paige. For starters, look at how they wear their hair. Even if Paige doesn't consciously intend it, she's taking on some of her mother's traits:
I think, that for all Elizabeth worries that Paige isn't like her, she's missing some aspects of Paige's character. Yes, Paige may be fundamentally American in a way Elizabeth will never be, and lacks the sharp experience of war privation and the years of dicey ideological tightrope-walking (Nadezhda's mother refusing the Party man's aid box has to have caused difficulties down the road, even if she was able to keep handling the accounts for the local CPSU) before committing herself wholly to her homeland.
But just like Paige, Elizabeth talks back and will get her back up over anything she really doesn't like. She'll even push her superiors to the point of openly calling out whether they'll yank her leash by actually sending her back to Moscow for disciplinary proceedings.
The only reason Paige can't go that far yet is she's still a teenager and is subject to Elizabeth's authority in a way that Cladia can't exert over Elizabeth. But come adulthood, I do not envy the boy or girl that antagonizes Paige!
So, "like mother, like daughter", even if Elizabeth doesn't think she sees it.
I think for parts 4 and onward, I'll explore some of the plot arcs in the series, because just as with the opening credits, I believe that the writers have purposely and consciously chosen to show, in microcosm, how similar and alike - how symmetric - the erstwhile diametrically-opposed ideological enemies actually are: in this series, we're seeing the best and brightest spies on Earth capable of calling on the vast resources of two entire nations to do their bidding in their hidden battles with one another.
A bit of an aside, however; the fact of my handle has some relevance, since it's what I do, more or less, in my real-world studies. And in quantum mechanics, what's been found is that one of the most fundamental aspects of nature is driven by something called a "broken symmetry": the weak interaction.
What this means is that a mathematical symmetry still exists, but it's been hidden or modified so it's no longer obvious in a simple way.
And one thing I've noticed, in studying the women of this series, is that the symmetries aren't so exact. They're also broken symmetries.
Let's begin with Elizabeth Jennings and Sandra Beeman.
First, the differences: Elizabeth is a spy, just like her husband Phillip, and she's spent her early life in a whole different country, a whole different culture. Sandra, by contrast, is pretty much Ms. All-American, and unaware of the substance of the things her husband does in the line of duty.
But there are similarities as well: both at least act the role of house-wives, taking on more of the domestic tasks in the household than might be considered a fair 50-50 split, and both are mothers, having had a child or children. In addition, they have differences of opinion with their husbands, Elizabeth's having to do with her impatience with Phillip counselling caution at times, and Sandra's having to do with her resentment at Stan's inability to decompress from his undercover job and throwing himself straight into FBI counterintelligence, a demanding new job.
If I had to boil down the thing these women both are experiencing, I think I would call it "dissatisfaction". Neither woman is totally satisfied with the decisions made by the husband in their lives, and as a result both experience friction in their marriages that, in some cases, could have potentially explosive long-term downstream effects.
Let's now look at Martha and Nina.
They're not exactly "swappable" with each other either - again, the symmetry is not exact.
But they're both moles, one unintentional, the other intentional.
They're both "mistresses" in a sense, as well - hidden romantic partners of the two opposing men in the series, one for Phillip and one for Stan. Here, the major difference is that Martha is acting voluntarily out of reciprocation of what she sees as affection from a man she interacts with on a daily or weekly basis. Nina, however, could at best be said to have consented under duress, under the belief that if she didn't sleep with Stan he would cease to protect her as a viable asset to the FBI.
Finally, for both, the risks they're taking professionally and personally could prove to be their undoing, if the wrong person ever finds out what they've been up to. I think if I were to sum up these two women in one word or a phrase, I would say, "in the fog of night". Neither of them has the full picture of what's going on beyond their immediate day to day meetings or of the true motivations of the man that's loomed large in their lives.
And then, upon marathoning the Americans this weekend, I came to realize that another broken symmetry exists between Elizabeth and Paige. For starters, look at how they wear their hair. Even if Paige doesn't consciously intend it, she's taking on some of her mother's traits:
I think, that for all Elizabeth worries that Paige isn't like her, she's missing some aspects of Paige's character. Yes, Paige may be fundamentally American in a way Elizabeth will never be, and lacks the sharp experience of war privation and the years of dicey ideological tightrope-walking (Nadezhda's mother refusing the Party man's aid box has to have caused difficulties down the road, even if she was able to keep handling the accounts for the local CPSU) before committing herself wholly to her homeland.
But just like Paige, Elizabeth talks back and will get her back up over anything she really doesn't like. She'll even push her superiors to the point of openly calling out whether they'll yank her leash by actually sending her back to Moscow for disciplinary proceedings.
The only reason Paige can't go that far yet is she's still a teenager and is subject to Elizabeth's authority in a way that Cladia can't exert over Elizabeth. But come adulthood, I do not envy the boy or girl that antagonizes Paige!
So, "like mother, like daughter", even if Elizabeth doesn't think she sees it.
I think for parts 4 and onward, I'll explore some of the plot arcs in the series, because just as with the opening credits, I believe that the writers have purposely and consciously chosen to show, in microcosm, how similar and alike - how symmetric - the erstwhile diametrically-opposed ideological enemies actually are: in this series, we're seeing the best and brightest spies on Earth capable of calling on the vast resources of two entire nations to do their bidding in their hidden battles with one another.
