VLVL2 (15): Gilligan's Island

[joeallonby]

on 5/25/04 1:38 PM, dedalus204 at comcast.net at dedalus204 at comcast.net wrote:

> 368.4:  "First time you ever noticed the Tube, remember, Frenesi?  A tiny
> thing, less than four months old -- 'Gilligan's Island' was on, Prairie, and
> your eyes may've been a little unfocused yet, but you sat there, so serious,
> and watched the whole thing -- [...]"
> 
> 
> The Ballad of Gilligan's Island (Theme Song)
> by George Wyle and Sherwood Shwartz
> 
> Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
> a tale of a fateful trip.
> That started from this tropic port,
> aboard this tiny ship.
> The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
> the skipper brave and sure.
> Five passengers set sail that day,
> for a three hour tour, a three hour tour



> The weather started getting rough,
> the tiny ship was tossed.
> If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
> the Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
> The ship took ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
> with Gilligan, the Skipper too,
> the Millionaire, and his Wife,
> the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann,
> here on Gilligan's Isle.
> 
> http://home.mn.rr.com/classictv/Gilligan'sThemeSong.html
> 
> 
> Of all the TV sitcoms to choose from (most of which with catchy theme songs),
> why would Pynchon choose to have Prairie become smitten with this particular
> song?  Isolation?  Rescue?  Cartoonish reality?  Coconuts, perhaps?
> 
I once wrote a paper on the sexual dynamics of Gilligan's and Hogan's
Heroes. Had I thought of it at the time I probably would have included
McHale's Navy. None of this was anywhere near as offensive as my comparison
of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns to Elizabethean revenge drama that drew
that particular ire of Sylvan Barnett.

So here goes:

Since the Howells brought all of their money with them in cash on a three
hour tour they must have sabotaged the trip in order to hide out from an
indictment of some sort. Ginger brought a selection of evening gowns and
lingerie; Mr Howell's mistress. Mary Anne was of course an innocent
bystander. The Professor, who has no name, is obviously in their employ as
well as being Lovey's secret lover. He is an expert on everything. Sort of
like the late Dr Hopps but white. Gilligan and the Skipper are television's
most famous committed homosexual couple. Their relationship is challenged by
Gilligan's obvious attraction to Mary Anne and Ginger's constant sexual
manipulation of the bisexual Gilligan. You'll note that none of the women
have anything to do with the Skipper who is 100% gay. The professor is
polymorphous perverse and is doing everybody except the Skipper.

In answer to the cliched question, I'm a Ginger kind of guy.

Peace,
Joe