NationStates Jolt Archive

Link (http://deadlysins.com/features/isle.html)

In 1965, the American public was first treated to the whimsical story of Gilligan and six other hapless castaways, trapped on a small Pacific island after their pleasure cruise ends in a violent shipwreck. During the show's three-year run (ninety-eight episodes), the island's inhabitants attempted to leave the island by broadcasting radio messages, sending smoke signals, repairing the Minnow, building a raft, and fixing a deep diving suit to permit Gilligan to walk along the ocean floor back to Hawaii. They were visited by headhunters, a wayward trans-atlantic stunt pilot, and astronauts in a returning moon capsule. A television special brought the entire Harlem Globe Trotters to the island. Yet the castaways were strangely unable to get off the island, apparently doomed to spend eternity in each other's company.

In fact, what seemed to be perfectly disarming, if somewhat frustrating, situation comedy was a representation of a Sartre-like nether-world in which the characters represent the Seven Deadly Sins, forced in the days after Armageddon (in the form of the Flood) to live in unceasing torment with each other. The viewers witness the characters' eternal damnation through Gilligan, a name derived from the Scottish "gillie", a hunting or fishing guide. Also symbolizing the sin of Sloth, Gilligan has fallen among the other sinners through his own inability or unwillingness to escape. In the show, it is almost always Gilligan who unwittingly sabotages the castaways' attempts at rescue.

One interpretation of the Gilligan's Island/Deadly Sins correspondence:
Pride - the Professor
Covetousness - Mr. Howell
Lust - Ginger
Anger - Mrs. Howell
Gluttony - the Skipper
Envy - Mary Ann
Sloth - Gilligan
I have never seen the show, but this seems to fit. What do people here think? Can anyone think of any other malagies, a word I just created which means, "outrageous or poor analogy?"

So basically, Gilligan's Island has some good literary elements to it?
Cool.

Link (http://deadlysins.com/features/isle.html)


I have never seen the show, but this seems to fit. What do people here think? Can anyone think of any other malagies, a word I just created which means, "outrageous or poor analogy?"

There's another theory, that the Howells were trying to escape the government arresting them on tax evasion charges. In this theory, the professor and the skipper were in on it. I mean honestly, the professor can build a radio out of coconuts, but can't fix a boat? And why didn't the other castaways kill Gilligan for the many times he screwed up their rescue? The Howells NEEDED Gilligan to prevent them from being rescued (and to a lesser extent, the professor and the skipper needed the same thing, otherwise they wouldn't get paid).

What I want to know is if this was a three hour trip, then where did all the extra clothes come from? Maybe it ties into what Gun Manufacturers was saying about the Howells escaping tax evasion charges.

There's another theory, that the Howells were trying to escape the government arresting them on tax evasion charges. In this theory, the professor and the skipper were in on it. I mean honestly, the professor can build a radio out of coconuts, but can't fix a boat? And why didn't the other castaways kill Gilligan for the many times he screwed up their rescue? The Howells NEEDED Gilligan to prevent them from being rescued (and to a lesser extent, the professor and the skipper needed the same thing, otherwise they wouldn't get paid).

Interesting idea. For some reason, it made me think of Lost, which brings up the question: are Gilligan and the gang the Others?

I always suspected Gilligan was a veritable retarded Mephistopheles. Now I have proof.