THE GILLIGAN MANIFESTO is Coming to Reel Women's Network
Soling interviewed several professors from Harvard and succeeded in getting Chicago 7 defendant, Rennie Davis, to narrate the documentary.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Apr. 14, 2022
A documentary that takes a unique approach to the iconic comedy show "Gilligan's Island," THE GILLIGAN MANIFESTO, lands on Reel Women's Network beginning April 8. Cevin Soling produced and directed the film, along with Associate Producer Deborah Gilels.
In 1963, television writer Sherwood Schwartz began filming his comedy classic series "Gilligan's Island," which depicts seven Americans shipwrecked on a deserted island. The Gilligan Manifesto reveals that this seemingly innocuous sitcom was inspired by Cold War fears of nuclear war and preparing for survival. Gilligan's Island's depiction of castaways rebuilding civilization tapped into the fears of a post-apocalyptic world.
Soling interviewed Schwartz as well as Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells, who played the Professor and Mary Ann. Soling also interviewed several professors from Harvard and succeeded in getting Chicago 7 defendant, Rennie Davis, to narrate the documentary.
"Sherwood Schwartz said that he conceived "Gilligan's Island" as a social microcosm where people from all walks of life would have to figure out how to get along," Soling said. "He confessed to me, in his final interview, that the show was deliberately designed as lowbrow humor to conceal its political message. For this reason, American audiences never realized that the show celebrates Marxism and lampoons Western capitalism and democratic governance."
"The most transgressive message conveyed by Gilligan's Island is that it shows how much better off people are under 'utopian' communism - not the dictatorship governments the Soviets and McCarthyites called communism. The characters who represent the pinnacle of success in capitalist society - the millionaire and the movie star - become whole people and establish social bonds they could never have otherwise. On the Island, their lives cease to be empty."
Bringing a fresh perspective to the world of streaming, the Reel Women's Network advances the unique voice of Women Filmmakers and Creators to Viewers Worldwide. Its team brings together years of production and content management experience, as well as thousands of viewers and subscribers. Information for filmmakers can be found at https://reelwomensnetwork.com/filmmakers/.
CAST
Dawn Wells
...
Herself
Russell Johnson
...
Himself
Sherwood Schwartz
Rennie Davis
...
Himself
Narrator
CREW
Written and Directed By
Cevin Soling
Produced by
Deborah Gilels
...
associate producer
Cevin Soling
...
executive producer/producer
Film Editing by
Joe Davenport
Animation Department
Olga Poliektova
...
animator
Tatiana Poliektova
...
animator
Music Department
Sean Fernald
music supervisor
Comments
Videos