![]() ![]() Tombstones mark the burial site of truth all the unrevealed secrets that people take to their graves stay there. The “gimmick” is realization of McLuhan’s assertion that the medium is the message. The choice of structure may seem like merely a clever sales gimmick concocted by Edgar Lee Masters, but like his fictional little village, appearances are deceiving. In other words, Mayberry is Spoon River without the tombstones. ![]() Mayberry is all idealized small town with all of its defects conveniently erased from the record. For many viewers, Mayberry came to represent the ideal of long lost past, but dig a little deeper into the show’ consistent misogyny, overwhelming “whiteness” and an almost total lack of evidence that the world had changed at between the introduction of Mayberry in 1960 and its finally disappearance after the most tumultuous decade of the century and the reality corrodes. ![]() Few shows in TV history managed to present such a coherent portrait of the essential “goodness” of a setting quite like The Andy Griffith Show and it spinoff Mayberry, RFD. ![]() When poring over the poetic epitaphs of the late citizens of Spoon River, one may well be reminded of the fictional TV town of Mayberry. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. ![]()
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