A Close Look at DMZ part 9: Democracy in Action

I've repeatedly raised questions about how the DMZ is administered. From what we know of the early days of the fight for Manhattan neither side claimed significant territory. The United States and Trustwell conduct a lot of overt activities in the city (and the Free States many covert ones), but for all that interference in this unclaimed territory there doesn't seem to be any real administration or aid. "Blood in the Game" addresses that topic by holding the first election in the DMZ.

"Blood in the Game" doesn't address what's been going on in the DMZ up until now (there's mention of a U.S. envoy  administering it but according to Matty he's never even been in the DMZ). These details ultimately aren't relevant to the story, and without a viewpoint character to connect with from that time it wouldn't have much emotional resonance. The advantage of this lack of government is that we get a story that proves to be a major turning point for Matty and the series as a whole.

The following contains spoilers for DMZ 29-34.

Power to the People

DMZ 29

Yet another ceasefire is in place in the DMZ, this one negotiated so that the city can elect a governor. Both the Free States and the United States put forth candidates that DMZ residents have never heard of. Matty, having once again renewed his association with Liberty News, is covering their joint press conference (this kind of joint appearance and negotiation is noteworthy in a historical context because in the Civil War the Union steadfastly refused to recognize the Confederacy or negotiate with them on equal terms). It's interrupted by a DMZ resident named Parco Delgado, his look and the look of his bodyguards reminiscent of Che Guevara, who denounces the election as illegitimate because the two sides haven't allowed anyone from the DMZ on the ballot.

DMZ 29

Parco's dramatic entrance and forthrightness  catches Matty's attention, and he pursues Parco for an interview immediately after the press conference. Parco dismisses Matty as just a tool for Liberty News before laughing his comments off and granting Matty his interview. It's a casual interview, held over some beers and encompassing more of an overview of Parco's opinion about the DMZ than anything about the man himself. Parco's basic message is rooted in appealing to people's anger--directing it at the United States, the Free States, Trustwell, and any other outsider he feels is hurting the DMZ.

Matty's coverage of Parco turns from reporting to fawning almost immediately, and Liberty refuses to publish his pieces. The ersatz reporter attaches himself to Parco's campaign, and the candidate leads him on, flatters him as a good journalist, and generally hangs out with him throughout the city.

This cordial relationship is tested when Liberty runs a story about Parco's suspected ties to insurgent activity. Parco blames Matty for writing the story, a suspicion seemingly confirmed when Matty's father calls and tries to convince him that Parco is not the force for good that Matty thinks he is. Parco looks on as his men threaten to shoot Matty unless Matty refutes the story. Once that's done, Parco again embraces Matty as a friend and Matty reaffirms his commitment to Parco's cause--perhaps stronger than ever.

DMZ 30

Working for Parco complicates Matty's romantic relationship with Zee. More and more Matty's time with her is spent with him talking about Parco. With one exception, the few scenes that we get between the two of them seem to lack any emotional connection. On the contrary, they're all about Matty's obsession with Parco. That's all he talks about around her. Zee doesn't share Matty's enthusiasm and is very skeptical of Parco's political movement, going so far as to label it "fascist". She's also discovered Parco's men following her. Matty tries to explain it away as Parco providing security because of her connection to him, an excuse that only angers Zee because she knows the city more than well enough to have kept herself (and him) alive on her own. Feeling the relationship starting to slip, Zee opens up to Matty in perhaps the most emotionally vulnerable way that we've seen, expressing her fear that their relationship might end. Matty doesn't really have a response. A Zee versus Parco competition for Matty's affection is set up, and Parco is the obvious frontrunner.

The campaign grows and gets more attention leading Parco to bring in a high priced political consultant who champions liberal causes, Matty's mother, which results in Matty getting downgraded to a press flunky. It's at this point that Paro is shot in an assassination attempt. The candidate survives, but his condition and location are kept tightly guarded. In the wake of the assassination attempt, while visiting Parco's bedside, Matty starts carrying guns for the first time in the DMZ. As Parco recovers Matty insists that he has to get out in front of cameras and prove that he's fine, but his mother recognizes the public relations value of keeping Parco out of sight after the assassination attempt as a way to generate sympathy and argues to keep him hidden through election day.

DMZ 31

Seeing the writing on the wall as the election approaches, the United States and the Free States each try to persuade Parco to run on their ticket in place of their original candidates. In exchange they'll throw their full backing behind him and get him elected. The Free States go further by promising that they can provide the identity of Parco's shooter. Matty's mom handles the negotiations, and it's only when Matty is brought along to see the shooter's body that he realizes a deal was struck with the Free States.

Election day arrives. Despite incidents of violence and intimidation Parco is overwhelmingly elected, and he makes his first appearance since the assassination attempt. Parco talks about kicking the United States, Free States, and Trustwell out of the DMZ. He accuses them of trying to kill him to prevent the people of the DMZ from being heard. He talks about how despite what they might want, the response from the people of the DMZ was so strong that no one would dare try to take it away.

Matty is on cloud nine after the election. He's enthusiastic about everything he and Parco can accomplish. He envisions a future where the DMZ is its own independent nation. Matty is talking all this up to a barely interested Zee when he receives a call from Parco who now wants Matty to take a step back. Parco says he needs to build his own image and can't afford to have a press guy, especially one as famous as Matty, following him around all the time. But he promises Matty he'll reach out to him in the future.

Explicit Bias

DMZ 29

Over the course of the series Matty makes two major character turns that dramatically affect both his future and the future of the city. "Blood in the Game" sees the first of these as Matty abandons any kind of objectivity and completely throws in with Parco, going so far as to get combative with Liberty News. In the aftermath of Matty's two biggest stories (seen in "Public Works" and "Friendly Fire") it might seem counterintuitive that he would abruptly move away from his role as a journalist, but that's what makes his arc in "Blood in the Game" work so well.

Matty's conversion to a Parco true believer is a masterful piece of manipulation on Parco's part. When Matty initially approaches Parco, Parco rebuffs him by questioning his legitimacy before turning around and bringing him in not just as a reporter but as a friend. It's not until that relationship is well underway, until Matty is deeply invested, that Parco threatens it by telling Matty he can either go all in with the movement or pretend to stay objective (which Parco says is little more than an excuse for journalists to avoid doing what's right). By the time Parco's men threaten Matty's life, he's become so caught up in the validation and praise Parco gives him that he's desperate to keep it.

Parco recognizes from the start that Matty's weakness is his ego and lack of self-awareness. Matty's interest in journalism began when Zee told him he would be unique among the media if he reported the truth from the DMZ. He pursued the story against Trustwell for the notoriety it would generate (and he published the story so that he didn't lose his scoop regardless of the consequences). He convinced himself that he could find a special meaning behind the Day 204 Massacre when no one else had managed to tie it all together. Parco pushed this angle time after time, repeatedly suggesting Matty was illegitimate in one way or another. Somewhat unsurprisingly Parco distances himself from Matty as soon as the election is over, strongly suggesting that Parco was merely using him to his advantage. Also not surprising is that these character flaws will continue to haunt Matty (and by extension the DMZ) for a long time to come.

Focused as Matty is on helping the campaign than reporting on it, the only messaging we see is Parco's. Arguably the other candidates' proposals doesn't matter because the story frames it as an inevitability that the DMZ residents will vote for him. Parco's messaging is focused entirely on what many would call grievance politics. He talks about the violence being visited upon the residents of the DMZ, he talks about the military being in place "not to protect but to intimidate and exterminate". He lobs charges of racism. He talks about Trustwell's depredations. He makes a point to say that while the DMZ might eventually forgive its occupiers, it will never forget what they've done. But at no point does Parco articulate any kind of way forward for the DMZ beside kicking people out.

DMZ 31

Despite all of this very good development for Parco, Wood does misstate how he fits into a larger American political context. Matty's father attempts to sway his son from the idea that Parco is a "romantic freedom fighter for the people." It's important to note that all the evidence the series has so far provided tells us that Matty's father is conservative (or at the very least decidedly center-right). Yet the people he compares Parco unfavorably to are Che, Mao, and Chavez. No one on the right of the American political spectrum would ever identify those three men as freedom fighters or of otherwise being "for the people". The idea that any politically active conservative-aligned American would consider a gangbanger worse than Che, Mao, and Chavez is beyond absurd. Wood seems to be using Matty's father to make the claim that Parco is, in fact, a freedom fighter like character. His visual presentation evokes Che who Matty's father identifies as that kind of person. And since Matty's father and his affiliation with Liberty News has never been portrayed as trustworthy, we're induced to believe that Parco is exactly what Matty's father says he isn't. It is possible that Wood wanted to set Parco up as a force for good that ultimately does bad things (a frame that's still a big stretch given the many, many human rights abuses those three men were responsible for), this is a politically clumsy if not ignorant way of doing it.

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Plot wise the story does stumble in one place--the introduction of Matty's mother. Bringing in a political consultant makes sense; it impacts Matty's standing here and in the future. But while the consultant being Matty's mother adds a little extra juice to Matty's experience, her insertion into the story feels like the writer's hand at work. Matty speculates to himself that Parco might have brought her in specifically because she is his mother, but that doesn't go anywhere. In the end it feels like her presence in the story is solely to service Matty's arc rather than an organic development.

The Revolution in Pictures

DMZ 32

Parco's movement here is built upon a foundation of populism and revolution, two forms of political engagement that live or die based on grassroots energy. Riccardo Burchielli delivers. The crowds Parco attracts look unlike any other groups we've seen. Burchielli infuses them with emotion and enthusiasm that we really haven't seen yet in the series. Wood doesn't have to belabor the point of what's going on--doesn't have to make Matty go in depth for the reader's benefit. Burchielli's art conveys the dynamic at work, and seeing the reactions of the throngs of supporters says a lot about Parco despite how little we see of him actually reaching out to his constituents.

It's also worth noting, after I've repeatedly pushed back against the unsupported idea of the DMZ being "post racial", that Parco's crowds are a mix of pretty much everyone a reader can think of. Whether that was specified by Wood or merely the result of Burchielli's art and Jeromy Cox's colors I don't know. But it is nice to actually see the idea in action.

Even more effective than how Burchielli's depiction of the crowd, though, is his depiction of Parco. Obviously there's his gun toting men with the star emblazoned berets (that same star is front and center on Parco's fishing hat). Parco's facial hair also plays into the mood a bit. While Che did have a heavy beard at times, the most famous picture of him (the one printed on countless shirts) presents more as a goatee than a beard. The visual association with Che says a lot without saying anything, but with as divisive as his historical reputation is, it almost certainly says many different things to different people.

Vote or Die

DMZ 34

"Blood in the Game" naturally brings to mind the first elections held in Afghanistan and Iraq following the United States' invasion of each country. The fictional elections in the DMZ are reminiscent of both of those real life events in the way they needed security from occupying sources to take place but were still marred by accusations of corruption, fraud, and violence. The scene with the United States and Free States trying to co-opt Parco's campaign so he will be an asset for them in the DMZ is reminiscent of Hamid Karzai's leadership of Afghanistan after having been a CIA asset.

DMZ's spin on the war time elections in an occupied territory story has a bit of a twist compared to those real life events, though, because the United States has a 200 year history of democratic elections. The series gives voice to this in small bites via Liberty News and Matty. They both express the idea that elections are an important part of our identity. Matty comes close to a feeling of reverence for the people that brave violence and risked their lives to vote. This was hardly a controversial notion in 2008 on the verge of Barack Obama's election--though after 13 years of growing partisan strife, anger, and distrust in government it might seem outdated. But for as much as we might want to greet this idea with cynicism, the 2020 presidential election saw the greatest raw vote total ever (beating the previous record by over 11million) and the highest turnout percentage since 1900.

DMZ 34

"Blood in the Game" isn't any less hostile than preceding story arcs when it comes to opinions about the United States government or politics in general (there's a not so thinly veiled dig at the country's two party system). But bringing in the political system as a major story point gives it a realistic weight that the series often relegates to unambiguous corruption. That isn't to say that what Parco is selling isn't controversial. But it feels more considered than many of the series' attitudes. It's thanks to that consideration that the consequences unfolding during and after the story arc are believable. And while the question of whether or not it's the best story arc is subjective, I think its status as the most critical proves indisputable by the time the series ends.

Matty's On-Again, Off-Again Liberty Love Affair

Back together with Liberty: ✔ (3 times in total)

Broken up with Liberty: ✔ (3 times in total)

Credits

Brian Wood: writer

Riccardo Burchielli: art

Jeromy Cox: colors

Jared K. Fletcher: letters

For an index of all Close Look at DMZ entries, jump back to the landing page here, and for an issue-by-issue commentary check out Twitter @theroncouch #BWDMZ.

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