I never really thought about it in those terms, actually. What I enjoyed was that the characters have these deeply-held convictions about how the world should work, that are generally in conflict with the concensus reality. What mainly fascinates me with the Beverly Hillbillies, fur instance, is that they have their own internally consistent way of viewing reality, that can't be fully reconciled with that of their neighbors, but can't be proven objectively wrong, either. In some ways the Clampett's version of reality is a better adaptation to circumstance than that of their neighbors. Green Acres works exactly the same way, except that the minority and majority roles are reversed.
Gilligan's Island is somewhat different, in that the characters seem to be cooperating to actively maintain a social order that each of them knows is maladaptive to their circumstances. It causes them grief again and again, yet for some reason that's the central anchor of their existence. Gilligan's Island is a very strange, even scary sort of show if you start thinking too hard about what's happening. I generally watch it on a very superficial level, to see the characters pursue their predictable follies. Watched that way, it's funny. There's just something appealing about the setwork there too - the sandy floor with the obviously fake jungle. I enjoy that for some reason.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-09-09 06:36 am (UTC)Gilligan's Island is somewhat different, in that the characters seem to be cooperating to actively maintain a social order that each of them knows is maladaptive to their circumstances. It causes them grief again and again, yet for some reason that's the central anchor of their existence. Gilligan's Island is a very strange, even scary sort of show if you start thinking too hard about what's happening. I generally watch it on a very superficial level, to see the characters pursue their predictable follies. Watched that way, it's funny. There's just something appealing about the setwork there too - the sandy floor with the obviously fake jungle. I enjoy that for some reason.