Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization [Hardcover]

Paul Cantor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2001

In Gilligan Unbound, a distinguished Shakespeare scholar and literary critic proves once and for all that popular culture can be every bit as complex, meaningful, and provocative as the most celebrated works of literature-and a lot more fun. Paul Cantor analyzes and interprets a wide variety of classic television programs with the same seriousness, care, and creativity as he would Hamlet or Macbeth to reveal how dramatically America's image of itself has evolved from the 1960s to the present. Cantor demonstrates how, during the 1960s, Gilligan's Island and Star Trek reflected America's faith in liberal democracy and our willingness to project it universally. Gilligan's Island, Cantor argues, is based on the premise that a representative group of Americans could literally be dumped in the middle of nowhere and still prevail under the worst of circumstances. Star Trek took American optimism even further by trying to make the entire galaxy safe for democracy. Despite the famous Prime Directive, Captain Kirk and his crew remade planet after planet in the image of an idealized 1960s America. With the end of the Cold War and the onset of unprecedented globalizing forces, faith in the American way of life has wavered. Contrary to the claims of those unacquainted with the cartoon, Cantor shows why The Simpsons is actually a powerful defense of the nuclear family and local communities, which has grown out of our growing disillusionment with national politics. In The X-Files we witness the treacherous workings of a government conspiracy, conveying the geopolitical anxiety that has emerged with the collapse of the clear-cut ideological polarities of the Cold War. By observing such trends in American popular culture, Cantor concludes that what had originally appeared to be the ultimate triumph of liberal democracy may in fact signal the beginning of a new phase of history, in which traditional forms of political organization have become obsolete and are being replaced by new global networks. Gilligan Unbou

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thanks to cultural studies, television was never more interesting. Here Gilligan's Island that most insipid of 1960s sitcoms is "a patriotic show, celebrating America and its democratic way of life," and The X-Files "reflects a growing cynicism in the American people about their government." Cantor, a contributor to the Weekly Standard, looks at how The Simpsons, Star Trek, Gilligan's Island and The X-Files reflect the impact of increasing globalization on U.S. culture. At his best (as when Cantor discusses the meaning of Shakespearean quotes in Star Trek), he resembles cultural studies guru Margery Garber (Academic Instincts), but too often Cantor's conservative political bent prevents him from accurately interpreting his material. After attacking what he sees as television's neglecting "the importance of the nuclear family," he praises The Simpsons as "the return of the nuclear family" that "celebrates the spirit of small time America" a curious assertion given that most of the show can, and usually is, read as the opposite. He is better with The X-Files, when he delineates how the show reflects the position of the nation-state at this historical moment. Cantor's traditionalist interpretation of U.S. history forces readers to question his judgments, as when he asserts (in a discussion of Gilligan's Island) that "issues such as civil rights and the counterculture created bitter divisions in American society" rather then the other way around. While Cantor's overriding theme provides a fascinating frame for discussions of popular culture, his examples fall short of his grand thesis.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Popular television shows are commonly a reflection of national principles. Shakespeare scholar Cantor (English, Univ. of Virginia) here analyzes four of the most famous prime-time series in the history of television with particular attention to how these shows portrayed American ideals and influences. Cantor shows us how the castaways of Gilligan's Island re-created America in their isolation and how Star Trek reflected Cold War fears and sensibilities. He also speculates about the post-Cold War, cynical, introspective Springfield of The Simpsons and how society's distrust of Washington is evident in the skepticism that characterizes The X-Files. Perhaps a little too cerebral for average TV viewers, this book is an upbeat if scholarly treatise on nationalism in popular culture. Recommended for academic media and communications collections. David M. Lisa, Wayne P.L., NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (August 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742507785
• ISBN-13: 978-0742507784
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,984,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best work of literary criticism in the 21st century, December 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Hardcover)

Every fan of the Simpsons or X-files should own this book. Paul Cantor is a true genius and perhaps the best at placing American pop culture in the context of our literary, historical, and political tradition.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good summer read, October 15, 2004

By 

Barty Simpson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Hardcover)

I really liked this book, perhaps it is my love for the simpsons and gilligan's island that made me feel this way.

Now when i have heavy philosophical discussions with my friends, i won't feel so insecure when applying simpson's references to them...thanks

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Cultural History at its Core, Problematic in its Polemics, June 29, 2006

By 

Adam Bahner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Hardcover)

In Gilligan Unbound, Paul Cantor argues that the content of American popular culture tracks important changes in the national experience of globalization during and after the Cold War. He largely focuses on four American television franchises to make this case. These are Gilligan's Island (1964-67), Star Trek (1966-69), The Simpsons (1989-) and The X-Files (1993-2002).

Cantor makes a case that during the Cold War, Americans saw globalization in a global imaginary of democratization and Americanization. In essence, America bestowed an essential kernel of freedom and equality to the farthest reaches of the Earth. This is evident in Gilligan's Island in which an economically, occupationally, and gender-balanced group of Americans become stranded incommunicado on a pre-industrial island. They are able to reproduce the convenient trappings of contemporary American life. More important is that although the characters represent scientific expertise, cultured wealth with business acumen, and physical prowess, it is the unremarkable Gilligan whose actions and insights are consistently pivotal. For Cantor, Gilligan is the hero of a classless society. Despite being amidst specialized aptitudes, it is the agency of the common man that is liberated by American global expansion. For Cantor, Gilligan's Island suggests that not only is industrial abundance an outgrowth of American character but its dividends are an essential egalitarianism that underlies any conspicuous difference in station or status.

The island as a project of American expansion is complimented by the cavalier actions of Captain Kirk in Star Trek. Here, Cantor notes more obvious economic undertones (the ship is called "Enterprise") as the captain remakes the society of many planets to "eliminate any vestiges of aristocracy or theocracy in the universe (41)." He also engages the movie Star Trek VI as an allegory of the end of the cold war. For him, the end of the Klingon threat in the Star Trek universe models a crisis of American national identity with the fall of the Soviet Union. He sees this crisis mirrored in a different global imaginary that rises in the popular culture of the 1990s. This is symbolized in The Simpsons, which reflect a disillusionment with national politics by centering political agency in the local. Cantor sees this agency, reflected in the direct influence that members of the Simpson family have in leadership and policy in their fictitious town of Springfield, as nostalgic for an earlier time in American history. This harkens to a global imaginary of encroachment on the local, a shift in which Americans are the recipients and not the purveyors of global expansion. The book also sees this shift in The X-Files, in which the government is a culpable conspirator in abstract global and extraterrestrial alliances. Rather than Americans growing more America from their privileged flesh on an island, Cantor models the experience of post-Cold War globalization as the American island being overrun by a globe of overwhelming plots that are the endless subtext of normalcy.

While Gilligan Unbound finds success in its project to document the changing culture of globalization, this project is damaged and obscured by the author's defensive political editorial. He is adamant that his politics are not liberal and he is also explicit that though his essays study culture, he does not associate with the field of cultural studies. Sound confusing? It is. Scholarly analysis commingles with unreferenced claims, like "Television generally acts as if religion played little or no role in the daily lives of Americans, even though *the evidence* points to exactly the opposite conclusion [emphasis mine] (78)." No such evidence is cited. Other opinions couched in scholarly language--like "the television community itself is largely secular in its outlook (78)"--result in a manuscript that is spastic at best. While it is unusual for a cultural studies text to avoid modeling social power (and whatever way he spins it this is a cultural studies text), Cantor's work is nonetheless a serious contribution to this field if one graciously exhumes his project from the grave of arbitrary polemics. I give four stars for scholarly significance, not for presentation.