A Scholarly Critique of Gilligan’s Island

Thursday, May 6, 2010
Joe Carter

Almost every American who owned a television from the late 1960s to the early 1980s has watched an episode of Gilligan’s Island. And if you were a child during that era—in a time before cable and console video games—you probably watched all 98 episodes more than once.

It shames me to consider it now but I suspect I’ve seen each episode at least a half dozen times—over 8,000 hours engaged with this single cultural artifact. Even more embarrassing is the that despite spending so many hours watching the show I never considered whether there was a deeper meaning in this “text.” the rest image

“Here On The Island: A Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan’s Island.”