Batman or Superman?
Coke or Pepsi?
Star Wars or Star Trek?
Chocolate or Vanilla?
Those are some pop-psychological choices that seem to be ever present throughout the ages. But how about, Ginger or Mary Ann? Now there’s a question from my youth that I thought was long forgotten. But it turns out that deep philosophical choice between those two Gilligan’s Island beauties is still being pondered by many a fan.
Now, just in case you’re reading this with a puzzled look on your face, let me quickly fill you in. Gilligan’s Island was a goofy little 1960s sitcom about a mismatched bunch of stereotypical folks—a millionaire husband and wife, a movie star, a brainiac professor, a bumbling, accident-prone first mate named Gilligan, etc.—who were all lost at sea.
It was completely illogical: Even as a youngster, I knew that much. But week after week, I watched and chuckled as the professor made rocket ships out of clam shells.
Through it all, we school boys started asking: “Which girl would you rather be lost on an island with: the glitzy and glamorous flame-haired Ginger or the perfectly sweet and cute-as-a-button Mary Ann?” And it turns out that question still rages on.
I recently spotted a poll to that effect online and had to stop and cast my vote. But something struck me as I punched in my choice: Back when we were kids hemming and hawing over which woman we’d prefer running with on the beach—and even today as an older fan casting a vote—it wasn’t simply all about making a call on who we thought prettiest. And it wasn’t about preferring redheads or brunettes either. I think, whether we recognize it or not, the choice has always had to do with the kind of person “Ginger” and “Mary Ann” represent.
Actress Dawn Wells, who played my perennial choice Mary Ann in the series, once described her character, saying, “She either would have been the girlfriend, (or) she’d have been your best friend. I wouldn’t have tried to take your boyfriend away from you. I’d have gone to the prom.”
Ginger, on the other hand was a Hollywood byproduct. Beautiful but plastic. A starlet in a silver dress who fit more comfortably on a poster than in real life.
For girls watching the show, I’d venture that Mary Ann was also the much more identifiable one. In fact, Wells reported that between the two characters, Mary Ann was the one who received the largest amount of fan mail.
The question is, though, has that changed? Some have suggested that today, with the Kardashians, Real Housewives and other reality TV pretties romping across our television screens, that that point of identity may have changed for the average young viewer. The storylines and characters in reality TV are, in some ways, just as crazy and inane as a Gilligan’s Island show, and the thinking goes that maybe girls today lean more to the glamorous-if-plastic Ginger.
The Girl Scout Research Institute, for instance, released a survey of more than 1,100 girls from across the country, and found that regular consumers of reality TV shows had their views of reality dramatically impacted. In the relationship realm, regular reality TV viewers thought that “gossiping is a normal part of a relationship between girls,” “it’s in girls’ nature to be catty and competitive with one another” and that “girls often have to compete for a guy’s attention.”
On top of all that, 38% of the survey’s reality TV-viewing respondents said they believed a girl’s value is based on how she looks, compared to 28% of non-viewers. And that point of view has led to kids jumping into everything from extreme dieting to plastic surgery. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that in 2010, nearly 219,000 cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed on kids between the ages of 13 and 19.
Before you go getting all glum, though, there is perhaps one small ray of hope. At least in a certain classic fan demographic, the small town virtues of a Mary Ann still win out. That survey I mentioned up above? After some 20,000 votes cast, the girl next door was winning 83% to 17%.
So now … we just gotta get the kids away from reality shows and watching Gilligan again.
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