Seven Deadly Sins and Gilligan's Island

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I used this to teach my children about the seven deadly sins, what do you think about the interpretations?

The Gilligan’s Island Connection
*"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 sailor 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 ship struck 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."*

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 nether-world in which the characters represent the Seven Deadly Sins, forced to live in unceasing torment with each other. The viewers witness the characters’ eternal damnation through Gilligan. 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:

Pride - The Professor
Avarice (Greed) - Mr. Howell
Envy (Covetousness) - Mrs. Howell
Lust - Ginger
Gluttony - The Skipper
Anger (Wrath) - Mary Ann
Sloth (Apathy) - Gilligan
 
Fascinating concept! This is the first I have heard the idea. I think Mary Ann was a bit of a stretch in that skipper always seemed the angry one, but hey, no allegory is perfect. Thanks.
 
Absolutely clever! Another interesting point is the 3 hours and the ship :hmmm:… I’m sure somewhere along the line someone could make an analogy to the Church.
 
It works as long as your children have seen enough episodes of the TV series to appreciate the individual traits of the characters. I don’t believe my kids have ever seen the show so it would fly right over their heads. 😉
 
I have to disagree with MaryAnn and anger. If anything, she was the sweet / wholesome one – but 6 out of 7 ain’t bad.
 
i think mary ann is anger because i was always angry that the “girl next door” never actually looked like her. i had such a crush on mary ann!
 
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bengal_fan:
i think mary ann is anger because i was always angry that the “girl next door” never actually looked like her. i had such a crush on mary ann!
LOL I did too :rolleyes: In fact, I named my old pickup truck after her. And then I named my bassoon Ginger because I couldn’t think of anything else. Go figure…
 
i rather enjoy the show 🙂

i think that Skipper is anger mroe than glutony. and Gilligan is always bring the worst out from him.

Tak
 
I love Gilligan’s Island!

I think The Skipper was anger though.
 
This is what I heard:

Skipper - Anger and Gluttony
Mary Ann - Envy
Mr Howell - Greed
Mrs Howell - Sloth
Professor - Pride
Ginger - Lust

Gilligan - Satan.:eek:

Bill
 
Bill,
That’s funny! But Gilligan really didn’t fit any of the 7 Sins - specifically.

Determining who is what Deadly Sin is actually like a game.

The Professor - Definitely Pride
Mary Ann - Envy (over Ginger), and possibly Gluttony (Coconut Cream pies!)
Mr Howell - Greed (and Sloth)
Mrs Howell - Sloth (Absolutely! She rarely added anything to the group. And she and Mr H were always laying around on lounge chairs.)
Ginger - Lust, as she always wanted to be thought of in that particular way.

The Skipper I think combined all of the Sins nicely:
Pride (Being Skipper is being a leader, and he always let it go to his head. Nothing was ever his fault, always Gilligan’s)
Envy (over the Professor’s smarts, the Howell’s wealth, etc)
Gluttony (obvious)
Greed (He always went first before Gilligan: the hammocks, entering into the hut, the food, etc)
Sloth (made Gilligan work in his place. As I recall, he pretty much delegated work alot, and when Skipper did work, he was always panting & sweating)
and Lust (always after Ginger, who would just coo at the Skipper and he’d melt for her.)

Gilligan may be the Devil (Ugh! I don’t want to think about that! :eek: He was so funny!) But he always seemed to bring out the worst in the other cast-aways. And you folks are right - if success seemed eminent, Gillian always fumbled the rescue effort.

Funny though - the cast-aways had forgotten about Gilligan’s sabotages by the next episode! 😉

Mrs C
 
I’ll always remember a line from the “Bloom County” comic strip where Opus the penguin is watching “Gilligan’s Island” and in a fit of outrage screams at the TV:

“IF THE PROFESSOR CAN MAKE A RADIO OUT OF TWO COCONUTS, SOME WIRE, AND GILLIGAN’S HAT, WHY CAN’T HE JUST FIX THE #&^@ BOAT!!!”

Good point.
 
Fascinating! But if the castaways are emblematic of the 7 deadly sins (not completely convinced of that analogy, but it is interesting), I wonder what modern television programs represent! Also, despite the shortcomings of the shipwrecked survivors, you could always find a deeper sense of virtue behind their outward characteristics.
 
I’ll always remember a line from the “Bloom County” comic strip where Opus the penguin is watching “Gilligan’s Island” and in a fit of outrage screams at the TV:

“IF THE PROFESSOR CAN MAKE A RADIO OUT OF TWO COCONUTS, SOME WIRE, AND GILLIGAN’S HAT, WHY CAN’T HE JUST FIX THE #&^@ BOAT!!!”

Good point.
I once heard Russel Johnson (the actor who played the Professor) on a radio talk show (back in the days when talk radio was entertaining and informative, before the advent of Rush Slimebaugh) propose an interesting theory.

The reason the Professor was never able to get the castaways off the island was because he liked being on the island. It was his own private open-air laboratory.
 
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