Let’s be honest, it was always Mary Ann, not Ginger that brought a spike to my heartbeat. I think it may have been one of those things of how old you were when you first saw the show. If a teenager, I am sure Ginger would have been the one that sprung a smile, but I wanted a buddy because I was too young for Ginger thoughts, and Mary Ann was that bubbly buddy that accepted Gilligan for what he was. I know where my Mary Ann comes from, and how she fences in the rest of the others at times. She is my down home isolationist, don’t talk to me because I am working in the fields, getting away from all of the confusion and hectic city life. She is the part of me that dwells on the past and really does want to go back to a simpler time. The dreams of going back and doing it over, better, but not so differently, is something that strongly comes from that area of my psyche.
As I was being raised, the links to the past were strong in the traditionalistic groups and people that was a large part of my environment. The Bicentennial came along and the patriotism and love of history was ignited I think looking back now. Mary Ann is that traditionalist, the one that believes in remembering and never forgetting where I came from or the little things in life and the people who do them. The one that wants to live in a Mayberry RFD, Little House on the Prairie type of slower life, always just rolling along and everything made okay again with a smile or a home baked pie. But she is a bit bitter too, knowing she will never get that life, it is literally gone and a part of history, so she knows there are wild visions of the fantastical in her thinking too. I think that bitterness, or out of place-ness, that she feels about not being able to go home again gives her permission in her area of the psyche island, to boobytrap and fence in the others. Akin to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the others have to help her get home, to click her heels, and it would be magic… right? Fantastical Mary Ann…
My gratitude is enhanced though by having her little farm still going. The memories and gentle thoughts I hold about others, and the work they do reside much within her “character.” The one thing that she and Gilligan really get right is that love for people, whether they made life easier or more difficult. Both she and Gilligan knew that other folks were making fun of their ways or pointing out the oddities, but that didn’t matter. The things that were made to matter in Mary Ann’s corner was trust, that is the main thing she and Gilligan fought over, he giving it freely away and Mary Ann guarding the lockbox and counting the petty cash. You would think the Mr. Howell would be involved in that end of things, but Mary Ann had a frugality on a whole different level. My parents were Depression Era children, they learned and taught us much over the years, it amazes me that we as a people and country had gone through that time. It wouldn’t be tenable in today’s world of instant everything. So Mary Ann does represent that tie to the past, history and traditions.
The trust issues come from a lot of areas, not just on Mary Ann’s farm. The little half truths and lies people tell Gilligan, and he still trusts them; all of them, even Gilligan is aware of the level of psychology being implemented. When played, all add up to a general level of discomfort and desire to continue the work required to keep up with the ruse, so the psyche islanders get either bored or turned off out of frustration and irritation. Mary Ann was the farmer, but she studied animal behaviors in college and knows the ways of us mammals well. All of them were better at psychology than the person attempting to try it out on them.
The challenge to the Meyer’s – Brigg’s – 4 personality types
The amount of evidence that I have myself been presented in my research suggests that just as suspected, the MB assessment is considered outside the realms of true science these days. Yet, I just found out about mine four years ago, and for introspective purposes, it fits like a glove… consistently. So, as far as information goes, the counter arguments have a degree of boxiness that do not ring true to these sensitivities. I am not making a stand, just a comparison since I am open for all manner of introspect enhancement information sources, and the practices that go with them. Those practices, those traditions, yet there can be no traditions unless you were taught them or they were genetically handed down, which has recently been observed in the human genome for the first time with multiple subsequent models coming to fruition… genetic memories. So there is a genetic tie to some aspects of our lives that are not known as of yet, and those ties are playing their parts on this sitcom of life long proportions.
So, at this point of my Freudian exhibition into the layer cake of my personalities, past the twists and turns, there comes a filling… It’s coconut of course. The bubbling concoctions of thought and insight sometimes have to be left to cook before stock will thicken enough to stick to the ingredients. During the last simmer the evidence and inspirations have been overwhelming in numbers and aspects, the medication amounts reduced once more. The oversized personality issues that I will have to keep a watch on will meld well in my recovery as long as I remember to be mindful and keep them close together. The thing that came to me more and more, is a connection to being more cogent, and the codependency that is intertwined into my cast of character(s). I know that some are dependent on others outputs and inputs, the part I am trying to discover is the codependent areas that are covert, the ones that trip me up, the inside jobs of the inside jobs.
A recovery in recovery while recovering, and I am just trying to make sure that things are covered. Apparently I missed some areas the first couple of times around, and with my new vision abilities I can see them now. Always a good practice to keep the Islanders happy and content is to re-cover those old spots where I was involved in too much life to notice the missed or overlooked areas. Like a drawing that is examined when it is completed only the artist knows where there could be more or better work applied. Mary Ann is the discerner, the judge and sometimes the jury. She applies the best of the past as she can to this forward looking entity and is an anchor that the others must abide by and around. So, there must be a codependent tie to many of the cast as she plants her crops and fences in her animals, all while a naive smile and charm are emitted from her smiling face. Oh look! it’s Gilligan… “What’s he done now?”