| For his time, William Shakespeare wasn't | | | | have a world unto itself separated from |
| considered all that hot a writer. His plays were | | | | civilization, a Hobbesian state of nature where life |
| thought to pander to the vulgar masses being at | | | | is nasty, brutish and short. Thus it is human |
| the same time the modern day equivalent of | | | | nature itself.By the way, if you're a High School or |
| either Soap Operas or Sit cons. Bob Denver's | | | | College student looking for stuff to steal for a |
| passing made me wonder if in three or four | | | | term paper ... go ahead and steal this. None of |
| hundred years time Gilligan's Island won't be | | | | these ideas are mine, anyways. And it's not really |
| considered the pinnacle of the Dramatic Arts, | | | | plagiarism if it's already been copied from |
| much as the Bard's plays are considered | | | | somewhere else in the first place, so feel free to |
| now.Think about it: In three or four hundred years | | | | use this all you want. What's that? Just a second |
| time, no one will really understand twentieth | | | | .....Oh. I just found out it is plagiarism. I'm sorry. My |
| century English, anymore than we understand | | | | Bad.There also is the Religious interpretation of |
| Elizabethan English. We think Shakespeare is so | | | | Gilligan's Island. This interpretation has each of the |
| great mostly because we don't know what the | | | | cast-a-ways representing one of the seven |
| hell they're friggin' talking about, you know, all | | | | deadly sins in a sort of morality play. The Howells |
| those 'Hither's' and ' thee's' and 'yon's". So, we all | | | | represent Greed, of course. The Skipper |
| pretend we do and nod solemnly and praise the | | | | represents Gluttony, that one's obvious, too. |
| 'beautiful' language when we really don't want to | | | | Gilligan is Sloth ... I think. Ginger is Vanity. The |
| look stupid. Centuries from now it will be the | | | | professor is pride, because he's so pround of how |
| same with Gilligan's Island. Our descendents will be | | | | smart he is and Mary Ann .... she doesn't seem so |
| 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the beautiful language of | | | | sinful, but I know there was one that was |
| this show.As envisioned by creator Sherwood | | | | supposed to represent her.Bob Denver by all |
| Schwartz, Gilligan's Island was meant to be Social | | | | accounts was a very intelligent and talented actor. |
| Commentary using the metaphor of cast-a-ways | | | | You'd have to think that it would take a genius to |
| trapped on an island, each one of the cast-a-ways | | | | play the part of such a boob to perfection. |
| was iconic of an American segment of society. | | | | Denver's career, I have to believe, must have |
| The interaction between the characters would be | | | | been forever crippled by brilliance of his character |
| symbolic of the interaction in our cultures. Thus, | | | | portrayal, such that he was never offered |
| you have Mr. Howell and his wife representing the | | | | another acting role of merit because he had |
| American Upper classes, The Skipper representing | | | | forever captured that one role to perfection, and |
| the working classes, The professor representing | | | | was condemned ever after to live in that twilight |
| the intelligentsia, Ginger the entertainment sector, | | | | world of Conventions and Super Market |
| Mary Ann the rural Midwest and Gilligan ... all of us. | | | | openings.Now, please remove your hats and sit |
| Gilligan was the American Everyman.As with The | | | | right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful |
| Tempest, the island setting represented the deep | | | | tripSteve Sommers is the author of Breakfast |
| psychological underpinnings of the story. Here you | | | | with the Antichrist. |