Writing and Reading

Damn you, Robby Crusoe, and your ability to get lost on an island. I hope your beard chokes you to death–

No, seriously, like many classics, Robinson Crusoe stands out–literature at its best. Daniel Defoe, God love you. As an integral part of the classic adventure genre, I also didn’t realize how infectious this whole ’stranded on an island’ thing was. We don’t really think about it because of its many variations. None of them look like the original. But the truth is they’re all derived from the classic “Robinson Crusoe” (I’ll spare you all from Defoe’s original title, which makes full use of the entire book cover).

I’m talking about a specific sub-genre with a rather affectionate name: Robinsonades.

Literary works that fall under this sub-genre share several characteristics ultimately with Defoe himself, thanks to the fighting spirit of one ‘Robinson Crusoe’, a man who knows how to survive. That’s the crux of it all: survival. It is the main characteristic. Oh, yes, there are others–like the traditional, always lovable theme of getting deserted on an island in the middle of nowhere, being chased by natives, facing starvation, all that cool jazz. But the MAIN characteristic is the concept of survival.

Just think about how gripping that is–to watch someone survive, to escape death many, many times–to struggle so deeply and hold onto faith so tightly. We hold onto our seats. We don’t want to see these characters fall. We want to see them survive. It’s INFECTIOUS. I bet you didn’t know, Defoe, that you’d spur on a complete subgenre that would span over several different genres–

That’s right, I said ‘different genres’.

This is how infectious the theme of ’survival’ is to all kinds of literature–let’s start from the beginning. We have such literary works as THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (the irony that it bears the same name, ‘Robinson’), or how about THE JUNGLE BOOK by Rudyard Kipling? Same theme. You guessed it. Remember that haunting book, THE LORD OF THE FLIES? And this one, my particular favorite–read it in grade school and absolutely fell in LOVE with the story–

HATCHET. By Gary Paulsen. The story was remarkable. Unbelievable remarkable. The adventure genre became something personal with the Robinsonade. We’re following the path of a ’survivor’. The antagonist is ‘time’. ‘Nature’. The enemy is ’shame’, ‘fear’. The conflict really infects us. We begin to look at our lives and cherish what we have–because these characters we’re reading don’t have it anymore–and are struggling to get it back.

Even other forms of media have been infected by the Many Crusoes–on several different genres, like I had said–

Remember “Gilligan’s Island”? Duh duh dadada dada duh duh, duh… “A tale of a fateful trip” (don’t remember the words, really). That’s a Robinsonade. Yes, it certainly is. Only we have comedy spun into it. Freshens the genre up a little bit, doesn’t it? How about this one–this one’ll stun you–

LOST IN SPACE. “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!” (Notice the reference to the same name? Coincidence?) The lovable series was most definitely an homage to Crusoe, a true veritable Robinsonade, spinning in a healthy amount of science fiction at the same time.

Try this one on for a brain wrecker–”MacGyver”. Remember that show? You know, the one about the dude with the mullet who can take a paperclip, some jello and a tampon and somehow trip the circuit breaker to an explosive device while scaling the wall fifty feet up to a window and then slide down safely without anyone knowing he’s gone? And we all go, “how the hell did he know to do that?” And then we try it ourselves, and it usually doesn’t work out. Because tampons aren’t for getting out of sticky situations. At least those kinds of sticky situations, anyway.

I could go on and on–even now in entertainment, we see the same theme–stemming from the great Crusoe. We saw it in “Star Trek: Voyager”. We have the show “Lost” on ABC. For crying out loud! That’s virtually Crusoe multiplied by how many people? I honestly don’t know. Twelve, maybe. The sub-genre has even hit reality TV with the show “Survivor”. I can go on and on–

Thank you, Tom Hanks, for “Cast Away”. Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin gave us the film, “The Edge”–teaching us to always be kind to bears. And speaking of animals, for all you animal-lovers out there–remember that cute, lovable wants-to-make-you-cry doggy BENJI?? Aaaaaaaaaaawww!! Referring specifically to “Benji: The Hunted”, quite possibly the best live action, full animal-cast film ever conceived (TWICE I think we see a human being in the whole film. Remarkable). We can’t help but root for Benji, man. Especially when he has to face that black wolf. Scary.

There’s “Homeward Bound”, that Disney story about the two dogs and a cat. What else? Oh, and this film made me cry like nothing else–”Eight Below”. How can you not love those Siberian Huskies? They’re survivors. I had to drink gallons of water to replenish my tears from that movie, let me tell you.

Okay, seriously, one last example–and I’m betting none of you will know this one–also Disney–

THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER.

Yes, you heard me. Yes, it’s a film. An animated film. And yes, I said “toaster”. It’s a story about a toaster, a vacuum cleaner, a portable radio, a lamp and an electric blanket traveling the countryside, surviving the perils of nature, to find their “master” (because their “master” had to move to a different house, see? So, you know….). Yeah. I’ve seen a lot. Talking toasters. Yeah.

So, really, next time you piss and moan about how agonizing Daniel Defoe is with his classic novel, just remember–

You actually might’ve read or watched something similar. Something you liked a lot, something that gripped you by your shoulders and stared you in the face and said, “We are going to get off this island if it’s the last thing we do! I PROMISE!”

[cue in epic adventure music and subsequent tears as Tom Hanks hugs and kisses Wilson]