The Case for Remaking Gilligan's Island
Jun. 16th, 2015 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastThis comes largely from a conversation over on the Slactivist Patheos page*. I made the point that television shows, such as Gilligan's Island couldn't have the kind of character development and story arc that we more often enjoy today, due to the needs of accessibility. Without websites dedicated to providing an easy access to catching up, one episode had to be interchangeable with any other in the same season.
My comment was as follows
"Gilligan's Island had to be accessible to someone who hadn't seen the show yet or hadn't seen the last few episodes and had no means of catching up on anything.
So, there couldn't be story-advancement. Gilligan couldn't learn skills and become more self-assured and the Skipper couldn't mellow and Ginger couldn't discover a talent for writing theater and Maryanne couldn't become the engineer that made the professor's ideas work and the Howls couldn't have an ongoing conversation on economic theory that evolved and referenced previous episodes (unless they were a season or two prior)."
Another commenter, Hawker40, felt inspired and did a good amount of my work for me.
"OK, first draft outline:
Gilligan is the skipper's nephew, knows nothing about the sea, and is a slacker but actually very intelligent. Sent to his uncle after high school to teach him discipline.
Skipper is a career navy man (enlisted) who can't move on. He insists that Gilligan never calls him "uncle" and absolutely not "Uncle Captain".
The Millionaire and her spouse: She had to marry to inherit, and choose him. He's a 'artiste' and generally useless but sucks up to her because money. She's somewhat older that he is.
The Movie Star: A fading star, but a real star not a wannabe like the original Ginger.
The Professor: his degree is in a science that prevents him from making a radio receiver into a transmitter or building a boat. (Biology?)
Mary-Ann: Least changed character; she won a Hawaii trip in a contest. Just broke up with boyfriend/fiancé."
As Hawker40 said, this is a rough draft. So, while I enjoy most of this, for my Case, I'll make some adjustments.
Firstly, Gilligan's relation to the Skipper. I like the Skipper being Gilligan's uncle. And, I like Gilligan being sent after High School, ostensibly to earn money and learn some discipline.
But, something that we can learn in the oncoming episodes is that Gilligan is the victim of the same form of abusive parenting that the Skipper endured. There's a pattern of abuse in which a parent pushes hopes upon one child (making them the golden boy that can do no wrong) and blame upon another (making them the scapegoat for all problems and the subject of verbal abuse at least).
Gilligan's arc will be to, as he steps out from the shadow of abuse and into a world where he can be rewarded with praise as well as corrected on error, to be able to come into his own in which he finds that he actually does have an intellect and basic competence upon which to draw. Primarily, his competence will be social, the ability to read people, listen, and understand.
The Skipper isn't the perfect uncle to take on the task of trying to undo the damage of parental abuse. He can be given to frustration and, even though he now makes his money by conducting three hour tours of the islands, he still sees himself as, primarily, a Navy man. But, those days are behind him and he just doesn't have that credibility anymore.
The Professor should have an understanding of microbiology, with enough enough of an understanding of macro biology in order to determine what is safely edible on the island and what isn't. He should also have enough of an understanding of physics to be able to explain, in theory, how certain technology works, such as a radio.
It should be Maryanne, with her farming background, that actually engineers the radio.
These two should have mirroring issues. Both Maryanne and the Professor are moved to provide a showing of the expected. In Maryanne's case, she's expected to be the good country girl with good values. In the Professor's case, he's expected to always be upstanding, professorial, and, to put too-fine a point on it, straight.
Both of them have expectations that they've internalized and, away from the rest of society, their story-arc can be the freedom of not having to be what they're expected to be for the base reason that there aren't enough people on the island to care.
For the Millionare and Spouse, I'm going to merge my idea and Hawker40s. The Millionaire expresses power through wealth, that's her primary means of dealing with the world, how she knows her position. Not the borish joke of, say, Donald Trump, but sharing some of the same failings. That wealth got her a younger husband (who we should be careful to note actually does love her and she him). But, now, she's not just without money, but in a situation in which money no longer has value.
The Millionaire's Husband, as Hawker40 says, is an artist by trade, but not so good an artist as he pretends to believe. His position in his world has always been that of the passionate artist, a role that he has played well but has less place where survival is the business of the day, rather than spiritual, artistic, or passionate depth.
Ginger is a fading star, but let's change her a bit more from the original. Rather than putting her in long flowing dresses, let's make her a once-action-star. Just as much as the long-flowing dresses, action stars make their money on their looks and, either way, looks tend to make the difference. She's made her position by looking tough and looking good and, yes, showing off some skin.
Looking tough and being tough... not exactly the same thing.
This will give Ginger and the Millionaire something to bond over (but not romantically, please) as they both have to look inward to express something, rather than outward for validation.
And, validation would be the theme. Each of these characters, in their own way, defines themselves and their position against other people. That's not always bad, we do have a society for a reason. But, as much as Hell is Other People, it's also Not Enough Other People.
This is where the fan theory of Gilligan's Island comes into play. It's a theory in which Gilligan is an analog of the Devil (keeping people on the island with his bungling) and the others represent the 7 deadly sins (The Skipper getting both Wrath and Gluttony).
The Island is not only not on maps, but it's in a part of the ocean that's well explored and should not be there. What's more, exploring the full length of the island (even with a telescope created by the combined efforts of the Professor and Maryanne), there's no sign of civilization. Even if human civilization had never touched the island directly, some sign should be there if only in trash washed ashore.
Gilligan will be the key to escape from the island. But, he'll also be a reason why they don't escape. The Island can be a good place, a place of healing and of growth. It can also be an evil place, of entrapment and torment. The difference is if you choose to leave.
Gilligan fears not only for himself but for the others. His fear of each other is a mask for his fear for himself. He knows what awaits him, either a return to being the family scapegoat or, possibly worse, becoming the family golden-boy and seeing his brother become the scapegoat in his stead.
The choice becomes Gilligan's. Does he return to the dangers of the world or does he stay in the safety of the Island? Does he become the angel that heals and frees the others or does he become the demon that entraps and torments them?
*http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist
The actual page of he conversation http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2015/06/15/valar-dohaeris/
My comment was as follows
"Gilligan's Island had to be accessible to someone who hadn't seen the show yet or hadn't seen the last few episodes and had no means of catching up on anything.
So, there couldn't be story-advancement. Gilligan couldn't learn skills and become more self-assured and the Skipper couldn't mellow and Ginger couldn't discover a talent for writing theater and Maryanne couldn't become the engineer that made the professor's ideas work and the Howls couldn't have an ongoing conversation on economic theory that evolved and referenced previous episodes (unless they were a season or two prior)."
Another commenter, Hawker40, felt inspired and did a good amount of my work for me.
"OK, first draft outline:
Gilligan is the skipper's nephew, knows nothing about the sea, and is a slacker but actually very intelligent. Sent to his uncle after high school to teach him discipline.
Skipper is a career navy man (enlisted) who can't move on. He insists that Gilligan never calls him "uncle" and absolutely not "Uncle Captain".
The Millionaire and her spouse: She had to marry to inherit, and choose him. He's a 'artiste' and generally useless but sucks up to her because money. She's somewhat older that he is.
The Movie Star: A fading star, but a real star not a wannabe like the original Ginger.
The Professor: his degree is in a science that prevents him from making a radio receiver into a transmitter or building a boat. (Biology?)
Mary-Ann: Least changed character; she won a Hawaii trip in a contest. Just broke up with boyfriend/fiancé."
As Hawker40 said, this is a rough draft. So, while I enjoy most of this, for my Case, I'll make some adjustments.
Firstly, Gilligan's relation to the Skipper. I like the Skipper being Gilligan's uncle. And, I like Gilligan being sent after High School, ostensibly to earn money and learn some discipline.
But, something that we can learn in the oncoming episodes is that Gilligan is the victim of the same form of abusive parenting that the Skipper endured. There's a pattern of abuse in which a parent pushes hopes upon one child (making them the golden boy that can do no wrong) and blame upon another (making them the scapegoat for all problems and the subject of verbal abuse at least).
Gilligan's arc will be to, as he steps out from the shadow of abuse and into a world where he can be rewarded with praise as well as corrected on error, to be able to come into his own in which he finds that he actually does have an intellect and basic competence upon which to draw. Primarily, his competence will be social, the ability to read people, listen, and understand.
The Skipper isn't the perfect uncle to take on the task of trying to undo the damage of parental abuse. He can be given to frustration and, even though he now makes his money by conducting three hour tours of the islands, he still sees himself as, primarily, a Navy man. But, those days are behind him and he just doesn't have that credibility anymore.
The Professor should have an understanding of microbiology, with enough enough of an understanding of macro biology in order to determine what is safely edible on the island and what isn't. He should also have enough of an understanding of physics to be able to explain, in theory, how certain technology works, such as a radio.
It should be Maryanne, with her farming background, that actually engineers the radio.
These two should have mirroring issues. Both Maryanne and the Professor are moved to provide a showing of the expected. In Maryanne's case, she's expected to be the good country girl with good values. In the Professor's case, he's expected to always be upstanding, professorial, and, to put too-fine a point on it, straight.
Both of them have expectations that they've internalized and, away from the rest of society, their story-arc can be the freedom of not having to be what they're expected to be for the base reason that there aren't enough people on the island to care.
For the Millionare and Spouse, I'm going to merge my idea and Hawker40s. The Millionaire expresses power through wealth, that's her primary means of dealing with the world, how she knows her position. Not the borish joke of, say, Donald Trump, but sharing some of the same failings. That wealth got her a younger husband (who we should be careful to note actually does love her and she him). But, now, she's not just without money, but in a situation in which money no longer has value.
The Millionaire's Husband, as Hawker40 says, is an artist by trade, but not so good an artist as he pretends to believe. His position in his world has always been that of the passionate artist, a role that he has played well but has less place where survival is the business of the day, rather than spiritual, artistic, or passionate depth.
Ginger is a fading star, but let's change her a bit more from the original. Rather than putting her in long flowing dresses, let's make her a once-action-star. Just as much as the long-flowing dresses, action stars make their money on their looks and, either way, looks tend to make the difference. She's made her position by looking tough and looking good and, yes, showing off some skin.
Looking tough and being tough... not exactly the same thing.
This will give Ginger and the Millionaire something to bond over (but not romantically, please) as they both have to look inward to express something, rather than outward for validation.
And, validation would be the theme. Each of these characters, in their own way, defines themselves and their position against other people. That's not always bad, we do have a society for a reason. But, as much as Hell is Other People, it's also Not Enough Other People.
This is where the fan theory of Gilligan's Island comes into play. It's a theory in which Gilligan is an analog of the Devil (keeping people on the island with his bungling) and the others represent the 7 deadly sins (The Skipper getting both Wrath and Gluttony).
The Island is not only not on maps, but it's in a part of the ocean that's well explored and should not be there. What's more, exploring the full length of the island (even with a telescope created by the combined efforts of the Professor and Maryanne), there's no sign of civilization. Even if human civilization had never touched the island directly, some sign should be there if only in trash washed ashore.
Gilligan will be the key to escape from the island. But, he'll also be a reason why they don't escape. The Island can be a good place, a place of healing and of growth. It can also be an evil place, of entrapment and torment. The difference is if you choose to leave.
Gilligan fears not only for himself but for the others. His fear of each other is a mask for his fear for himself. He knows what awaits him, either a return to being the family scapegoat or, possibly worse, becoming the family golden-boy and seeing his brother become the scapegoat in his stead.
The choice becomes Gilligan's. Does he return to the dangers of the world or does he stay in the safety of the Island? Does he become the angel that heals and frees the others or does he become the demon that entraps and torments them?
*http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist
The actual page of he conversation http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2015/06/15/valar-dohaeris/
no subject
Date: 2015-06-17 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-17 07:12 pm (UTC)That could be following the reboot I proposed or following the original series (having the original characters grown into positions of owning/managing the resort). Could be good comedy in the uncharted island resort sit-com.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-17 08:05 pm (UTC)