Gilligan vs. Homer Simpson: Pop culture gets globalized.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick

WHEN THE Los Angeles Times named Paul Cantor's Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization (Rowman & Littlefield) one of the best books of 2001, it was almost certainly the first time that such a commendation was lavished on a tome dedicated to a videotape machine. "IN MEMORY OF MY DEVOTED VCR, SONY SLV-240/July 20, 1994-December 29, 2000," the author announces at the start of his study of the most famous castaways in history.

Cantor, an occasional contributor to reason, is a professor of English at the University of Virginia and is best known as a Shakespeare scholar. As his cheeky dedication suggests, he has a sense of humor, and Gilligan Unbound is, unlike much of what goes under the rubric "cultural studies," both accessible and a pleasure to read on the sentence level.

That's not to say the book is light, however: Cantor turns a sharp eye and a keen understanding of politics, economics, and history on the deeper significance of not just Gilligan's Island, but also Star Trek, The Simpsons, and The X-Files. In doing so, the Los Angeles Times noted, he goes far toward "uncovering a new thesis about where American pop culture is heading."

reason Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie talked with Cantor in late November.

reason: Summarize your book's thesis.

Paul Cantor: It's about the representation of globalization in American TV.I compare shows from the 196os and the 1990s and I contrast what I call eras of "national television" and "global television."

In the shows from the '6os, globalization takes the form of Americanization of the world. Gilligan's Island, for instance, suggests that you can take a representative group of Americans, drop them anywhere on the planet, and they'll end up recreating an image of the United States. You see all the elements of specifically American self-confidence in Star Trek, too. There, American democracy is "galacticized." In one out of two episodes, Capt. Kirk shows up and ruins any regime he encounters, especially if it smacks of aristocracy or theocracy.

reason: What changes in the '9os?

Cantor: In the more recent shows, you see the reverse process at work. Now, it's America that is being globalized. In Gilligan and Star Trek, you see American power being projected outward. In The Simpsons and The X-Files, you see outside forces transforming America. The Simpsons views this comically and positively; in The X-Files, it's tragic...