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What is something from Gilligan's Island that is really kind of dark, but gets ignored?


https://www.quora.com/What-is-something-from-Gilligans-Island-that-is-really-kind-of-dark-but-gets-ignored/answer/Jon-Mixon-1

The castaways met a number of sociopathic individuals - Think about it: The people who they encountered KNEW that they were trapped on the island, and yet did almost nothing (or nothing at all) to help them. They seem to be unconcerned whether they lived or died.
The Howells were older people at a time when the life expectancy age was far lower than it is today - It's virtually certain that either one, or both, would have died within a year or two of arriving on the island.

It was a tropical island, and so it would have been hot, humid, and rainy most of the time - While that's tolerable with air conditioning and refrigeration, it would be far less so with few methods to keep cool.

Their fruit-heavy diet would caused a great deal of diarrhea - That would definitely be unpleasant considering that there was no sewage systems, nor running water. Dehydration would also be a problem, especially for the Howells and The Skipper.

The Howells seem to have had a sizable number of people who wanted them dead - Despite being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the search for them (forget the rest of the crew) was surprisingly brief. Michael Rockefeller, the scion of the famous Rockefeller Family disappeared in New Guinea, and they spent YEARS looking for him even though it was a virtual certainty that he was dead. The Howells barely got a month or so of searching, and their search was particularly incompetent as it didn't discover the same island that nearly a dozen others did. Clearly someone seems to have hoped that they were dead.

The Professor and The Skipper were surprisingly, and even dangerously, incompetent - The island couldn't have been farther than 3–4 days sailing/drifting time from the Hawaiian Islands, or they would have died from thirst. It's also relatively easy to determine your location on the Earth using the stars as reference points. That means if they had constructed a raft, and stocked it with provisions, then someone could have sailed into the shipping lanes within 2-7 days; and to Hawaii itself within two weeks. That rather obvious fact escaped a polymath and an experienced sailor.

There were an unusually high number of single people on the “three hour cruise" - Considering that it was the mid-1960s, that marriage rates were higher, and divorces were difficult to obtain, at least three of the five unmarried people really should have been married. That they weren't was so unusual that it really should have been a topic of conversation among them.

Given Gilligan's clumsiness and overall stupidity, coupled with the lack of antibiotics, meant that he really should have been dead within a year or so - Basically they would have named it “Gilligan's Island “ in memoriam of their late companion, as he would have been unlikely to have survived.

Mary Ann and Ginger were still in the age range where their menstrual cycles would be an issue - Obviously it would have been difficult to handle that on a deserted island, and it would been a major source of discomfort and difficulty for them during the YEARS that they trapped there.

They were extremely unlucky when they landed on that island - Somehow in the mid-1960s, they managed to locate an “uncharted desert isle" that had apparently not only escaped the US Navy, whalers and pleasure sailors, but also the Polynesians who settled the Hawaiian Island chain and who would have discovered every speck of land within 2,000 miles centuries earlier. Basically both The Professor and The Skipper would have had to realize that they were likely going to die on that island because of that, and that would have been a huge burden for them to bear.

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THEY HAD COCONUT CREAM PIE...THATS YUM.

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None of the castaways were black.

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Gilligan had a taint of the tar brush!!!

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Oh the horror.

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TMC-4 those are all good points, and many more could be added. I think it would be interesting to make a "Gilligan's Island" film today, with a serious, realistic approach using observations such as yours as a guide. Undoubtedly, some of the castaways would perish.

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There was a TV movie called "Haunts of the Very Rich" in which a group of people wind up stranded on an island resort. They are told not to worry. Naturally, they should.

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I remember this TV movie and was trying to find it. The only thing I could remember was maybe Ed Asner (or Vic Tayback) was in it and they were all dead. I think they were trying to radio for help.

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That's the one!

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I think your thought about the Howells age is slightly ridiculous. Jim Backus was 51 at the time of Gilligans Island an Natalie Schaefer was 63. I'm not one of those that always says an actor's age is the same as the characters, but average it out and they were in the latter fifties.

Officially, life expectancy was lower, but human age range was the same. The shortening was largely due to infant mortality (improving over 15th to 19th century) was still higher than today and our medical abilities were not up to current standards. (and that is not a criticism)

As an example, my paternal grandparent's were both born in the 19th century; my grandfather in 1870 and my grandmother in 1884. My grandfather died at the age of 98 1/2 and my grandmother at 99. That was unusually high but not uncommon. Most people in good health would easily live to the latter 70s and 80s. The Howells probably had a good 20 to 30 years in them. Even if you think the medical abilities of the castaways would be poor their diet and exercise was likely superior. At the least they could easily last 10 years.

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You are correct. People often confuse life expectancy and life span. The life span of a human has changed very little. Although modern medical care can extend a human life beyond it's natural ending point.

Life expectancy is an average, which as you correctly pointed out, includes infant mortality and death due to lack of advanced medical care. Just think of how many people died of basic infections and primitive hospitals that didn't have the life saving equipment we have today.

Life span however, is how long a human would live and die of natural causes, discounting disease and injury.

Ben Franklin lived to be 84, for example.

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Their clothes are always super clean.

Speaking of Mary Ann and Ginger....nobody ever gets pregnant on the island?? interesting. Are we supposed to believe they are chaste during all of those years? Highly doubtful

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Professor whipped up homeopathic contraceptives..

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He wore a coconut condom

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Not really dark, but...

Gilligan purposely ruined the escape attempts because he was sleeping with all three women.

He was the only outlet for the sex drives of the women. Howell was impotent or pretty close. Professor suffered from premature ejaculation (watch the silent movie when he kisses Ginger for confirmation). Skipper was a fat oaf. Gilligan was lean, wiry, and in his prime.

On the island, he was banging a home town hottie and a glamorous movie star, plus gigilo-ing for Mrs. Howell. Do you think he got that kind of action in Hawaii?

Why would he want to leave?

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Awesome post and I found it hilarious in a disturbing kind of way😂😂

In all honesty, I never even had a hint of these thoughts while watching Gilligan's Island when I was a kid.

Now I do! Damn you!!!!

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