Hi, I've recently started watching Green Acres on TV. (hello not having cable!) I wasn't born whenit was out, so obviously I'm watching themout of order when ever they are on. I've seen comments on this messages board about if some characters are insane or not, and "surreal" episodes. Can anyone explain what this is referencing? I've been watching a while (and all out of order) and I have yet to see an episode like that. Thanks in advance!
shareThe scarecrow being relieved for a lunch break
shareThe show's commentary on society as a whole back in the sixties. To put in simple terms, think of Arnold as representing a minority back then and him getting discrimated against all the time. (he wasn't allowed in school 'cause he was a pig)Oliver successfully defended his rights.
Keith Moon was the greatest 'Keith Moon Style' drummer ever!!share
The show's commentary on society as a whole back in the sixties. To put in simple terms, think of Arnold as representing a minority back then and him getting discrimated against all the time. (he wasn't allowed in school 'cause he was a pig)Oliver successfully defended his rights.
For me the biggest surreal aspect of the show was the fact that Oliver was, what appeared to be, a very wealthy successful man with lots of money, but he doesn't level the Haney house and build a brand new one, instead has bad patchwork done on it. You're talking about a couple who lived in New York's upper east side in a luxury apartment. Even a middle class family would have destroyed that home and rebuilt. But it's that surrealism that makes the show what it is.
There was nothing "surreal" about the show. People are using the term wrong, thinking it means the same as "wacky" and "offbeat."
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I'm unclear about the difference between "surreal" and "wacky." From what I've seen, "surreal" is an elitist term, reserved for the films of Luis Bunuel or Jacques Tati. "Wacky" refers to everything else. But after studying both words for about 40 years, I still can't discern a difference between the two, except that "wacky" tends to be a lot funnier than "surreal."
shareThere's a huge difference between "wacky" and "surreal."
Wacky refers to anything that is over the top in a very goofy, very silly way. For example, stuff like Looney Tunes and Laugh In are wacky, because of the broad slapstick comedy. Other wacky examples: The Three Stooges, Mr. Ed., My Mother the Car, The Addams Family, etc.
Surreal refers to anything that is reminiscent of the strange things you would see in a dreamlike or altered state. In other words, it's "trippy," like if you had gone on an acid trip or had a very weird dream where everything felt random and none of the stuff you saw or heard made any real sense. If you want to get a better idea of what surreal is, check out Salvador Dali or Rene Magritte's paintings, especially Magritte.
From what I've seen, "surreal" is an elitist term, reserved for the films of Luis Bunuel or Jacques Tati.
Thanks for responding.
Although your points are well-taken, I still don't see much of a distinction between the two terms. All of the wacky examples that you mentioned would be described as "surreal" if Luis Bunuel tried them. (Three mutually abusive friends? A talking horse? A talking, re-incarnated car? A family of morbid lunatics?) These all seem pretty dreamlike and trippy to me. Unfortunately, they all appealed to a mass audience at one time (except for My Mother the Car, which apparently has never appealed to anybody,) so therefore they are often dismissed as "wacky."
I already like Dali, and will try to learn more about Magritte, but I submit that the difference between surreal and wacky is about as slim as the difference between po-TAY-to and po-TAH-to.
A pig functioning like a human, and no one finding it odd, seems pretty surreal to me.
shareWhen Lisa changes clothes in 2 seconds and when Oliver and Lisa are in the kitchen and then Oliver walks into the living room and Lisa is in the living room, I think those things are surreal.
shareI would describe the "surreal aspects" as being more of visual humor.
Humor styled after that of Ernie Kovacs (who often used "kooky credits" in his shows, among other things).
Having not read any in-depth books on "Green Acres" I have to wonder if Jay Sommers was influenced by Kovacs.
You might use the term "surrealistic" (not strictly surreal,but related) to describe this show. The happenings and visuals are often absurd and nonsensical, like things in a dream, or in an imagination run wild.
"Surrealistic" is a nicely nuanced way of looking at.
I've enjoyed reading this thread and considering "surreal" and "wacky." For me, there is still a difference in intent between the two -- I see surreal as trying to be jarring and dreamlike and evocative of different things, and the stuff on Green Acres is generally outlandish and wacky and humorous. So for me, just my way of thinking, GA is absurdist and slapstick and outlandish more than surreal.
However, I do think the way some of the illogical or silly things the characters do that then get taken up by the other characters and adopted by them as though they are not silly or incorrect, and the way Oliver's generally rational and just way of looking at things almost inevitably gets subverted or turned on him in some way -- those things approach the surreal to me because there's a relentlessness to it -- rarely does Oliver catch a break or have a situation proceed in what most of us would consider a "normal" fashion. It almost becomes tiresome, it is so dogged and certain that almost nothing will ever proceed in a "predictable" or "normal" fashion for Oliver.
So I really think "surrealistic" captures the vibe of the show well. But I can't quite categorize it as "surreal" like Dali or Magritte. Outlandish and absurd and wacky for sure.
In one of the episodes of the arc in which Arnold goes to Chicago, Mr Drucker is printing up the town's paper and gets the Written By credit as a headline and says "those fellas don't write for the Gardian!" Also the fact that Arnold has to go to noted meat possessing city Chicago to collect his millions.
shareI think what gives the show it's "surreal" tone - rather than being just another wacky sitcom like Mr. Ed or Gilligan's Island - is the fact that Oliver KNOWS the stuff is as insane as we do. Essentially Oliver breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging that his world is a TV-created fantasy world. It's the show's self-knowledge and acknowledgment of its make-believe absurdity that gives it a surreal quality that, say, the Beverly Hillbillies lacks.
shareIts like when Oliver and Lisa are in the kitchen talking and Oliver walks out of the kitchen into the living room and Lisa is already in the living room. It reminds me of the Airplane and Naked Gun movies.
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Arnold Ziffle gets his draft notice and the Ziffle's hire Oliver to represent him in front of the draft board. The legal issue isnt't the fact that Arnold's a pig. No. The real issue is that he's still in the 7th grade.
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