La necesidad de sentido en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en lenguaje

Historically in the United States, Romani appeared on television in romanticized and stereotypical roles just as they had in movies. We will discuss here at some length an example of representation that was typical of the portrayal of Romani throughout the history of U.S.

television. In 1966, an episode of the Andy Griffith Show aired titled “The Gypsies” (Maclane & Rafkin, 1966). This episode depicts the arrival of a family of gypsies on the outskirts of town. The gypsies begin selling goods and telling fortunes throughout the town, prompting the sheriff to ask them to move on. The gypsies place a “curse” on the town due to their lack of hospitality, causing fear in the townspeople. The gypsies decide to remove the curse and they are eventually found out to be nothing but con-men. The Sherriff asks them to leave Mayberry and not return.

I chose this episode of The Andy Griffith Show (Maclane & Rafkin, 1966) because the episode successfully represents on every major stereotype associated with the Romani, “good” and bad. At the beginning of the episode, Sherriff Andy Taylor and his girlfriend see smoke coming from a field on the outskirts of town. They stop to investigate. The scene changes to four gypsies, two men and two women, cooking over a campfire while the men play cards and guitar. They sit in front of a brightly painted Caravan and are all clad in bright colored clothing and gold. The younger woman of the group suddenly exclaims, “Policeman is coming.” She picks up a tambourine and the man his guitar, they all begin to dance and sing and laugh as they wait for the Sheriff to arrive. This one scene manages to capture the “gypsy” life in its romanticized glory, colorful clothing, music and dancing, a carefree lifestyle. It also hints at a darker side to “gypsy” life, putting on a show for law enforcement, having something to hide.

As Sherriff Taylor arrives at their camp, one of the men greet him by saying “Welcome to the gay, carefree camp of the Gypsies!” The men become overly flattering of the Sherriff and his girlfriend and the young woman begins to act suggestively towards the Sherriff. They introduce their mother as the “Queen of the Gypsies.” The Sherriff warns the “gypsies” about having a fire lit due to the dry season. As he leaves he wonders if they plan to stay or if they are just passing through. “What difference does it make?” his girlfriend asks. “We’ve had gypsies here before,” he says with a knowing look and decides to head back to their camp.

The gypsies see the Sherriff returning and immediately fall back into their singing and dancing as he approaches. He questions how long they plan to stay outside of Mayberry and explains his questioning: “The reason I ask is last year we had some gypsies pass through here and they went around and started cheating people, they had a lot of different angles.”

The Gypsies respond in the negative, those must have been “bad” gypsies but we are “gay and carefree” and would never sell “worthless” junk. This scene begins what is the theme for the remainder of the episode, the darker side to the gypsy life, lying and hustling others. Sherriff Taylor’s response to them is unfortunately a fairly accurate depiction of historical interactions with law enforcement. Sherriff Taylor views gypsies in a homogenized and prejudicial manner and insinuates that a long term stay would be unwelcome.

The scenes following show the gypsies going from door to door selling fake gold earrings, telling stories and flattering their customers to make a sell. They tell fortunes for money, which Sherriff Taylor believes is dangerous and dishonest. He visits their camp again and where the elderly mother is drinking heavily. The gypsies once again begin to sing and dance. Sheriff Taylor tells them it’s time to “move on.” In retaliation they come to the town square and put on a ritual dance in which they place a “curse” on the town. They state that rain

will not fall in Mayberry until the gypsies are allowed to return. Both this scene and a scene towards the end of the episode where they “lift” the curse play into the mystical nature of the gypsies, able to curse or bless someone at will. As the gypsies leave town for good, having been “found out” as hustlers by the entire town, Opie asks his father, Sherriff Taylor “Can gypsies do any magic at all?” “Yes, yes they can,” he answers “They can take out a pair of worthless earrings, show them to your Aunt B and make 12 and ½ dollars disappear like nothing.” His statements leave the viewer with the underlying message that despite all their showmanship and fancy words, the gypsies are nothing more than common thieves and hustlers (Maclane & Rafkin, 1966).