Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The Munsters' Home Life: An Allegory


I understand that, in keeping with the producers' with that The Munsters be an educational show, the following page in the coloring book was originally to be an explanation of why Lily Munster was sewing a spider-shape in her needlepoint project.  It was to show the Munster family watching a TV show explaining the myth of Arachne, who was such a good seamstress that (according to Ovid) she got snooty and Athena turned her into a spider.


The context for this image of Grandpa ascending from his basement lab was to be explained as a political allegory for society's treatment of its elderly.


Of course, the depiction of Eddie Munster dropping a coin into a bank made from a presumably human skull was to provide a commentary on the prevalence of gambling in society.  It's pretty pathetic that in Oklahoma (for example) public education in general is considered underfunded.  Yet a so-called "Oklahoma Education Lottery" raises millions of dollars -- very little of which, proportionately, goes to any educational use.

Eddie is showing where public money SHOULD be spent -- directly on the mind -- instead of investing in the fallacy that tricking the ill-informed into gambling will provide revenue for a public service.

It's all right there in the subtext!

 

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