20 Outsiders

I think that fiction began articulating this well in the 50s and 60s, though I could be convinced it started earlier with the aftermath of WWII, or even WWI. I'll probably talk about alienation elsewhere, but this is about outsiders, particularly found family groups of outsiders, particularly in cult television series.

Outsider status is fascinating because everyone feels like an outsider while also fearing that more than just about anything, to the point that I suspect it has some kind of survival value to us as a species. Don't go off on your own! It's dangerous! Stay with the group where it's safe! It's so pervasive as a fear that it's easy to exploit, also. Threaten exclusion and you win.

In this episode I consider a lot of cult television shows in the context of the S.E. Hinton novel The Outsiders, the grandparent of them all. I also get into frontier thinking and all that American obsession with being the outlaw, not the establishment.

Lots of good material for my own writing here. I hope it's helpful to others. 

Sacred cheese of life!