A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Seven Deadly Sinners of Gilligan's Island

This is rather interesting.
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Following Faith
Peggy Fletcher Stack

Published on Apr 30, 2012 11:40AM

In the wildly popular and enigmatic TV show "Lost," strangers found themselves marooned together on a mysterious island where they explored themes of love, death and redemption (and also the nature of time and mortality).

Today’' viewers might have missed the fact that an earlier program, watched by millions of Boomers, also had a reportedly spiritual message — "Gilligan's Island."

The seven castaways, who signed up for a "three-hour tour," washed up on an "uncharted desert isle," from which they could never escape. In this telling, no time travel tricks were allowed.

And each of them, according to a book by the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz, represented one of Christianity's "seven deadly sins."

So which figure represented which sin?
Here's a suggestion:

The Professor — Pride.

Thurston Howell III — Greed.

Ginger — Lust.

Mary Ann — Envy (of Ginger's looks).

Mrs. Lovey Howell — Gluttony.

The Skipper — Anger or wrath.

Gilligan — Sloth.

There's even a Bible study book titled Gilligan’s Island and the Seven Deadly Sins by Stephen Skelton.

A
separate site sees Lovey Howell as representing sloth, noting that the rich man's wife "has never lifted a finger in her life," and the Skipper represents both gluttony and anger.

This leaves Gilligan without an assigned characteristic.

"Gilligan is the person who put them there. He prevents them from leaving by foiling all of their escape plots. Also, it is his island," the site notes, "[and] he does wear red in every episode."

Could the goofy title character in the white sailor's hat be, well, Satan?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish I had access to this when I preached on the Seven during Lent!

Dan said...

So I wonder if there were covert messages being communicated when the Harlem Globetrotters or the Soviet astronaut or the head hunters dropped by.

larry said...

PastorMack, my thoughts too! I thought I might be the only UM pastor preaching on the seven sins for Lent this year - interesting to know somebody else was using the same idea as a framework. I hope it was a positive experience for you and your congregation - I received positive feedback here.