CNF: The Extinct Island
by Brittany Oppenheimer
Dear Brittany
Remember that show you love? The one that shaped your life and made you decide to become a writer? Well, if you don’t, the name of that show is Gilligan’s Island. Remember back in 2015 when you became depressed? I do. All your life, you wanted to be a vet technician. You loved animals. You wanted nothing more than to help and save their lives. That’s what you wanted, right? It was only when you took biology that you realized this wasn’t something you wanted to do, forcing you to think that your life had no purpose.
Hey Brittany
Remember when you started watching Gilligan’s Island that year? I do. You watched every episode, laughing at the funniest moments and crying at saddest ones. I was there when you cried for Gilligan over the thought of him killing himself. This reminded you how useless you were. How you figured that no one would miss you if you were dead. You were such a tortured soul. You always thought no one understood you. That’s why your connection to this show was so special, because if your family didn’t understand you, your favorite show always did.
Brittany
Do you remember when you fell out of love with this show? I do. I remember your last semester of community college when you had to take a theater class. You were so excited to show everyone why a single frame from one of the episodes was so important to you. You admired the scenery, you admired the effects, you wanted to explain why you loved this show and why this scene had so much meaning to you. Instead of admiring your taste in film, they laughed at you instead. Every student made fun of how Gilligan looked and it made you sad. It made you embarrassed that you liked the show at all. No wonder you stopped talking about it. No wonder you stopped watching it. The show changed your life, set your course to become a writer, and they laughed at you for it. No wonder it took years for you to get back into it. You hated that you lost your innocence, your sense of love for film became tarnished forever.
Hello Brittany, this is Innocence.
The world is cruel. I know, I was there. I remember seeing so many people making you lose your way. Questioning what you should love and what you shouldn’t. Don’t be a fool. Never let anybody change you because, let me tell you something—
If a show gets you to laugh for a day, it makes you human.
However, if a show gets you to cry the whole night, it changes your life.
I know that no amount of hatred can change you now because your heart has been given to a boy that understands what it is like to be truly loved—
His name is Gilligan,
And the Island no longer exists.
Love Always
~ Innocence
Brittany Ann Oppenheimer is a writing studies major at Bridgewater State University. She loves animals, music, rusty basement smells, and writing for fun. Brittany recently has been published in The Y Syndrome Magazine and hopes to graduate with her bachelor’s degree during the spring of 2021. She cannot wait to return home to see her dog Kassie and two cats Loki and Binx after the end of each semester.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “The Extinct Island”? Honestly, I wrote this piece within an hour which is what fascinates me the most. I was actually trying to send this story to another publication which was about to close at midnight. I wanted to write and submit something quickly that inspired me, so I wrote about Gilligan’s Island and sent it to them around 11PM. I just find it funny sometimes that the pieces I work only an hour or two on get published and the stories I work on for days at a time continue to be stuck in limbo. The truth is, I love film. I love talking about the obscure stuff that most people either don’t remember or never heard of before. That includes black and white television shows that never got their time in the sun. I think that is the inspiration of this piece. To prove shows like this can be meaningful in one way or another, no matter how absurd it seems to be in the end.
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