Gilligan's Island

Gilligan’s Cave

28 Gilligan’s Island Mrs. Howell as vanity, Mary Ann as envy, Ginger as lust, and the Professor as pride)—Schwartz was able to recombine plotlines with wild abandon. One episode could explore Mary Ann’s love of soap operas, whereas another could feature the Professor’s scientific work on the island. That is to say, its vast wasteland telefilm status notwithstanding, Gilligan’s Island was a bold narrative experiment that combined the axial and ensemble traditions of the sitcom. Gilligan’s Cave The comic simplicity of Gilligan’s Island was deliberately offered as a parody of Cold War liberal Newton Minow’s elitist critique of “mindless” early 1960s television. This critique was built into the very name of the sunken boat that marooned the castaways, the Minnow. However, Gilligan’s Island was not simply apolitical trash. The show’s very interest in establishing a utopian island outside of mainstream representational techniques made it a distinctly political show, for which “Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho” is just one of the best examples. The imposition of law and order on the utopian island results in the castaways missing their chance at rescue once again. The ending of “Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho” serves not only as an ideal defense of popular culture—the most visible 1960s critique of law and order is not found in some countercultural Joseph Heller novel but instead on archconservative William Paley’s CBS television network—but also as an object lesson in practical pedagogy. One of the foundational texts of Western political philosophy is, of course, Plato’s Republic (380 BCE). In the book, Plato suggests the best path for human governance. The most ubiquitous pedagogical lesson in Republic is book 7, which begins with the “Allegory of the Cave.” In this familiar story, a man escapes from chains inside a cave where he has only been al01 Metz text.indd 28 1/20/12 12:00 PM 29 Gilligan’s Cave lowed to see two-dimensional shadows on a wall. Outside, he discovers a three-dimensional world filled with light. When the man returns to his compatriots chained inside the cave, they resist his teaching, since he is assaulting the very nature of life as they know it. Plato uses the story to argue for the benefits of enlightened education, but also to warn of the dangers to those who try to enlighten those who live in darkness. Given the ubiquity of caves on Gilligan’s Island, it seems likely that Plato’s cave is part of the intertextual fabric of Schwartz’s plan. His show is a kind of popular culture republic, showing 1960s Americans an enlightened way of life every week on a fictional tropical paradise. The thwarting of the rescue at the end of “Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho” does not just happen in any location, but in Plato’s cave. The episode “Hi-Fi Gilligan” (season 2, episode 46, November 25, 1965) offers a particularly emotionally moving use of the enlightenment motif of Plato’s cave. As the episode begins, the castaways are preparing for a typhoon to hit the island. Gilligan and the Skipper carry boxes of provisions into a cave that the Professor has deemed solid enough to survive the storm. However, through slapstick comic high jinks, the Skipper accidentally hits Gilligan over the head with a crate, hurting his jaw. When Gilligan opens his mouth, it plays music as if it were a radio. The Professor examines Gilligan’s mouth, concluding that the boy has become a radio receiver due to the accident: one of his molars is now in contact with a silver filling, thus completing a radio circuit in Gilligan’s head. Skipper jokes, “Wouldn’t it be great if my little buddy could be turned into a color TV?” This of course is close to the truth: after a first season in black and white, season 2 found Gilligan beaming into people’s homes as a color television image at long last. After much comic hilarity about Gilligan interfering with their radio reception, the castaways learn of the imminent approach of the typhoon. They all rush into the cave. However, 01 Metz text.indd 29 1/20/12 12:00 PM 30 Gilligan’s Island between the stockpile of provisions and all seven bodies, they cannot possibly squish into its cramped confines. Even after taking out all of the supplies, still only six people can fit...