Page 250 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

MYTHIC APPROACH

the sheriff, decides to fix the problem in his own practical way and give
a boost to Barney as well. He wanders by the truck and tells the men that
they better move on along because they may think Barney is a fool, but
watch out if he loses his temper! If Barney coughs once then straightens
the collar of his shirt, that is a sign he is ready to get tough and no one
wants to see Barney in that state. The next day, Barney sees the men with
their roadside stand set up, he gets out of the car, coughs once, straightens
his collar, the men see this, get frightened and leave before Barney can
do any damage. However, the men later stop at a gas station and find out
Barney is not really as tough as the sheriff and Barney had led them to
believe after all. Everyone has a good laugh, and the next day, the men
set up shop again.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Andy tells Barney he is going down
to tell the men to move their shop someplace else. But Barney insists he
should do the job. Barney goes back to the men, tells them all he needs is
the power of the badge and to move on or they will be arrested. It finally
sinks in that they are not wanted, and they drive off. The shopkeepers are
happy and peace is once again restored to the city of Mayberry.
The Andy Griffith Show, which ran from 1960 to 1968, still appears on
cable television across America. The show’s enduring popularity can be
attributed to the appeal of the cultural Myth of Small Town America.
Mayberry is a mythic place, imagined by Griffith, producers Shel-
don Leonard and Aaron Ruben, and the show’s writers. Although The
Andy Griffith Show premiered in October 1960, it seems more in tune
with the 1950s as the community, the values, and even the props, such
as the old-style telephone, reflect earlier times. The series seemed far
removed from much of the tumult of the 1960s, Watkin says. “It was at
a point where America was really in turmoil. The Andy Griffith Show
and Mayberry represented in some sense this kind of idealized view of
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what America was.”
The serenity of Mayberry was uninfluenced by hard news. The char-
acters rarely watched television; instead they sat on the front porch and
talked or sang. Mayberry was somewhat like the eye of a hurricane, a
quiet world while the rest of America was dealing with issues like un-
employment, the quest for civil rights, voter registration, the uneasiness
of nuclear war and a looming war in Vietnam. In contrast, Mayberry
offered a simple life with easily solved problems. Thus, in the episode
cited above, the problem created by the men (who were, significantly,
strangers), was resolved within the half hour.

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