Jacques Derrida Visits Cicely
57
valuable to society than those with less ambitious goals; individuals who read
Shakespeare are more intellectual than those who prefer Stephen King; those
who watch “quality television” have better taste in entertainment than those ^\1lo
prefer such shows as “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.” By
affirming rather than questioning the significance of individual difference as a
component of identity, “Altered Egos” declares that there are no problems with
an uncritical acceptance of a value system that privileges people on the basis of
difference.
The failure to acknowledge the issues raised by Deconstruction in
effect dismisses their claim to serious consideration, and by transforming these
concerns into the stuff of comedy, both episodes reassure viewers that perceived
differences are in fact significant, valuable, and no^\fiere near as problematic as
modem critical theory argues they are. And the show’s intellectualism—John
Thornton Caldwell calls it “a kind of Cliff notes intellectualism”^^—gives it an
air of cultural authority it probably ought not to have, for under its auspices,
viewers can laugh, breathe an intellectual sigh of relief, and confess to
themselves they knew all along that these arguments were really intellectual
masturbation. But the issues raised by Deconstmction are really no laughing
matter; they have important social, cultural, and political implications. It is hard
to say whether Brand and Falsey have done the culture a favor by discussing
important issues in such a grossly over simplified manner. But then again.
Northern Exposure is entertainment, not academic discourse, and that’s a
significant difference.
University of Texas-Pan American
Donald J. Newman
Notes
^ Tom Green, “‘Northern’ stars: Popularity o f Alaskan burg snowballs,” USA Today,
September 23,1991. ID.
^ Sanford Pinsker, “Academic Exposure,”
Questions 8, no. 3 (1995): 14
^ Dorothy Collins Swanson, The Story o f Viewers fo r Quality Tel ]