The Mayberry that we see in the first few seasons of “The Andy Griffith Show” is systematically undermined, desecrated, and destroyed by the iconoclasm of sixties’ ideological hedonism.
Believe it or not, I had never heard of Andy Griffith until I was forty years old. For some reason, The Andy Griffith Show had never made an impact on British television; at least, I have no recollection of ever seeing it, unlike other American sitcoms which had formed part of the backdrop to my childhood, such as Bewitched and Here’s Lucy. It was not until I moved to the United States in 2001 that the existence of The Andy Griffith Show dawned on my consciousness, at which point I became aware that it held an affectionate and nostalgic place in the hearts of many Americans. Even then, I never really watched it until my wife introduced it into our family as “safe” and acceptable viewing for our children. And it was only over the past few weeks, while watching several episodes with our nine-year-old daughter, that I have come to realize that this iconic expression of American culture is not as “safe” or wholesome as I had thought.
The problem lies in the fact that the Mayberry that we see in the first few seasons is systematically undermined so that by the seventh and eighth seasons it has ceased to exist in all but the dereliction of its name, the iconic image of idyllic and idealized small-town America having been desecrated and destroyed by the iconoclasm of sixties’ ideological hedonism. What is presented over the eight years and more than 200 episodes is the demise of Mayberry and all that it represents. What we witness and experience is its decay and disintegration, and ultimately its death. This was brought home to me after I watched several episodes from the first season, in which I basked in the almost prelapsarian warmth of the benign sun that shines forth on the idealized simplicity of the small and beautiful world in which Sheriff Andy Taylor lives, and then, immediately afterwards, I watched an episode from the seventh season in which the ideal had been swept away by sixties “progressive” preachiness. In this later episode the simple but sagacious Sheriff of earlier seasons has become an emasculated shadow of his former self, passively embracing the feminist modernism of the female protagonist as she undermines traditional values at Mayberry’s high school, encouraging her students to usher in the forthcoming summer of “love,” which would lead to the loveless loneliness of postmodernist alienation. And thus the timeless moral verities that had formed the solid foundation of Mayberry had succumbed to the quicksand quagmire of relativism, sinking without trace into the desert of the urbanized wasteland. And all with Sheriff Andy’s approval.
Being moved to contemplation by this disconcerting experience, I found myself comparing the idealized world of Mayberry with the idealized world of Hobbiton, the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in Tolkien’s mythical Shire. It seems to me that Mayberry and Hobbiton move our minds and touch our hearts in similar ways. They are places in which our exiled hearts can feel at home. They show us an ideal to which the better part of ourselves wishes to aspire, an inkling of a perfection to which, paradoxically, all our imperfections point, the latter being merely the perceived lack of the former.
There is, however, a crucial difference between Sheriff Andy’s Mayberry and Frodo Baggins’ Hobbiton. Whereas Mayberry suffers the scourge of modernism, succumbing to its sweet-tasting poison and thereby ceasing to be, the Shire suffers the same modernist scourge but is scoured and restored to health. After the hobbits return home from their quest, they discover that their beloved homeland had succumbed to industrialization and the crass materialism and big government socialism that is its consequence. Instead of capitulating and moving with the times, as does Sheriff Andy, they fight with indomitable courage to defeat the modernist enemy and to heal the culture which had been contaminated by it. The Shire is scoured; it is cleansed and purged.
And this is perhaps the lesson that we can learn from the decline and fall of Mayberry, as distinct from the death and resurrection of the Shire. The process of decay leads to death, and if we believe that there is nothing but decay we can expect nothing but death. This is the deadly price of decadence. If, however, we believe that the very heart of life is love, and that love is inseparable from a dying to ourselves, we will see that this sort of death always leads to resurrection. If we truly learn to love our neighbours and to love our neighbourhoods, laying down our lives for them in the spiritual death which is the essence of love, we can scour the Shire and rekindle the vision of human dignity which makes Mayberry feel like home. If we truly wish to make America great, we need to love her back to life.
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
The featured image is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The Mayberry without Jesus is a little place awaiting destruction from without and within. No amount of Americanism or whateverism can save its soul.
Again I appreciate your insights. I would love to know your insights on how Shakespeare handled Joan of Arc in Henry VI.
I grew up watching the reruns, and even as a child, I never understood what he saw in Helen Krump.
I believed that Mr.Pearce was onto something with this essay, and anticipated its development. But there was none. He gave only one supposed example, and that too general to serve. I wish he would return and have at it.
Don’t know if this had anything to do with Andy Griffith’s politics, which were left-of-center, at least when he was old if not earlier…
What exactly happened in this later-season episode? The description given is rather vague.
The episode Mr. Pearce refers to is “The Senior Play.” Helen Crump is directing the high school kids in a musical that features hard-core rock music and dancing. The conservative principal is scandalized, but Helen gets him to see that kids today are no different from how they were in his day. It is, as Mr. Pearce says, a preachy episode and perhaps the point at which The Andy Griffith Show stopped being The Andy Griffith Show.
Great piece. Here is another cautionary tale about “The Andy Griffith Show”: Cute little Opie Taylor, played by Ron Howard, later grew up to play Richie Cunningham, of “Happy Days” fame, and still later became what he is now, a film director bringing us such anti-Christ “classics” as “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” A little Saruman playing with the Palantír of Hollywood and spreading its corruption.
Someone might chart the decadence of our culture by tracing the lines of Ron Howard’s career.
Our family too would turn to Andy Griffith as a “safe” entertainment. My husband was the first to notice “the fall”. And the kids started asking “Why doesn’t Andy ever get married?” Whenever we’ve mentioned this with friends you’d think we were blaspheming. Thanks for articulating so well what we were noticing. The kids really think Barney Fife is the draw to the show Janeway, so we stick with the earlier shows and poke holes in the relativism when it comes up.
Industrialization automatically gives way to crass materialism then socialism? Isn’t that part of Marx’s vision? Since when do we take Marx as an authority?
I grew up in an RFD watching Andy. This provocative discussion reminds me of my father’s 1960’s prediction of small towns becoming ghost towns, if our culture continued on it’s trajectory. His observation has turned out to be correct. As our society narrowed it’s focus on individualism and disenfranchised the community, the heartfelt fabric began to unravel. It has happened to our nation, but it is so much easier to observe in the small rural towns.
It’s funny that you have written about the two Mayberrys and really the Andy Griffith Show. My daughter and I have watched many times the early series years from 1960 through 1965; those were the best years of the series. Those first six seasons are the safest and the best.
The problem began MUCH earlier and was, in fact, present from the first season. From Ellie the druggist to Helen the bitchy school marm, all of Andy’s love interests were rebellious, obstinate feminazis who wanted to domineer Andy and everyone else around them. Thelma Lou was at least a lady but even she had her moments. Griffith must have been a staunch feminist and it shows. He layed the TV groundwork for what would become the disintegration and eventual demise of the American Christian home and family.
The irony of Andy Griffith is that the actor was a notorious cad and the young actresses who played the ‘love interests’ rarely lasted more than a few years because of his behavior.
It’s interesting that Mr. Pearce caught the shift in the show by comparing the earlier and later episodes. I don’t know much about the show except that I had also assumed it to be same family fare. That was until I saw an episode when Andy explains to his son, Opie, that sometimes married couples just choose not to have children.
I very much agree with your conclusions as to where the show headed toward the last seasons. It was obviously part of the times America was going through. Sadly, that mentality has taken root in the liberal party today. I only watch the first 5 seasons when life was simple and fun.