Posted on 04/05/2017 10:42:38 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
It was one of America's best-loved sitcoms at the height of the Cold War, but a new documentary claims "Gilligan's Island" was in fact a hymn to "communist" values.
In the last interview before he died in 2011, Sherwood Schwartz -- the television producer who also created "The Brady Bunch" -- said that the fictional utopia he invented for a group of castaways on a tropical island was meant as a light-hearted critique of capitalism.
Award-winning filmmaker Cevin Soling told AFP that Schwartz, a biologist who began his career writing jokes for Bob Hope, "affirmed to me what I had long suspected ... that Gilligan's Island was a communist paradise".
All property on the island was shared and the series' main heroes were its only two working-class characters -- the bumbling ship's mate Gilligan and salt-of-the-earth striver Mary Ann.
Although far from a communist himself, the left-leaning Schwartz told the documentary "The Gilligan Manifesto", which was presented at the MIPTV gathering at the French Riviera resort of Cannes this past weekend, that the comedy had a serious political side.
But he said he didn't want to force that down people's throats. "Sometimes those lessons are hammered into you, whereas doing it gently with comedy you achieve the same purpose and sometimes it's longer-lasting.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctvnews.ca ...
If they made that show today, who would be the obligatory gay character?
Quite the opposite, nobody knew whatever their motives were, so they had no effect. Like telling a joke that nobody laughs at. They failed.
When I was young, the question was always “Ginger or Mary Ann?”
Well now. 50 years later and I will admit:
That Mrs. Howell ain’t all that bad either!
They all did their part to put together a funny show. In a movie or TV show, I like having a variety of people who have different beliefs. It makes it more interesting. I know some conservatives want only moral people and same beliefs as they do but how boring would that be. I want outrage and disbelief when watching a movie or tv show. If a character is liberal, so be it. Big deal. Sometimes the outrage is hysterical around here.
Good one : )
Schwartz was no communist. It was a little utopian fluff, is all. There was no sinister plot, no pro-Soviet stance.
Next you’ll be telling me the Brady Bunch was a Cold War Rapprochment between two Superpowers and the Neutral Country of SwitzerAlice who glued them together.
As Sherwood would surely say to this article, “Oy vey.”
As much as Marx and his band of delusional a-holes hated the traditional family, the traditional family was the only real working model of some of the ideals of socialism and communism.
You had the father who was the main worker providing primary resources for the “people” who are the children and the mother. The mother worked and provided secondary tier resources and distribution of said resources to the children. The children didn’t contribute much, but they always were fed to the best of the ability of the father and mother to feed them, they also worked here and there and didn’t get paid.
But of course as the children grew they became less leechful and contributed more until they they went their own way and started contributing to family units of their own.
Of course Marx never grew the hell up so this concept is missing from socialism/communism because he approached it from the perspective of the “eternal child” which he undoubtedly was if you look at his life.
The Truth about Karl Marx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA2lCBJu2Gg
Most people conflate, “This thing was just like communism” when mostly it was just a family model instead.
Gilligan’s Island was sorta like that, Gilligan and the skipper and ginger where children, the professor and mary ann were the father/mother figures and the millionaire and his wife were the grand parents.
They did a lousy job of propaganda so it’s kind of irrelevant.
If they made that show today, who would be the obligatory gay character?
What a load of hooey ...
Rofl!
“If they made that show today, who would be the obligatory gay character?”
Gilligan?
Oh, and I fall into the Mary Camp as well ...
What a shame. She now has that universal “I love cutting up my face” look, making her perfect for the next Planet of the Apes remake.
And don’t forget the mixed race character and the smart Asian character.
I once saw an interview of Jim Backus and he said essentially the same thing tho I don’t think he mentioned Communism.
He did say he thought the whole thing was silly.
Mary Ann and Marcia.
Communist paradise? Yet, EVERY episode was a desperate attempt to get off the island! So, who exactly is the joke on again?
“I hate when they do this. Nobody needs to know this. Everyone enjoyed it for what it was, a silly show. Nobody needs to know the agenda behind it 50 years later. It seems they want to ruin everything today.”
We need to know. Read the Hollywood Party.
It’s downright funny to me how idiotic this is.
Nobody watching that show was thinking, “Ahah, Communism does have it’s finer points.”
It covered one version of how people shipwrecked on an island would behave, and > IMO, it was about as average as it could be. It was silliness, but something you might expect to see if in such a situation.
Some folks didn’t like it. Wow, first show ever that not everyone liked.
As a people we seem to have too much free time on our hands. Some things are just not worthy of our consideration.
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