MacGyver's Multicultural Appeal

“Somewhere in Central Asia…present day”- that’s how MacGyver’s “Pilot” episode begins. Those words are written on the screen, immediately letting us know that MacGyver’s adventure is not taking place in the United States of America. It would also seem to be a safe bet that MacGyver will probably have further adventures in countries all across the globe. And it doesn’t take long for that to be proved true. The very next episode, “The Golden Triangle” has MacGyver heading to Burma (now Myanmar). As the title suggests, the next episode, “Thief of Budapest”, sees MacGyver doing a mission in Budapest, Hungary. From there, he heads to Central America (most likely Guatemala) in the next episode, “The Gauntlet”. The list of examples goes on and on. Throughout all seven seasons of the show, MacGyver visited most every part of the world- from Asia to Central and South America to Europe to Africa to the Middle East to the Caribbean and even out to the Arctic Circle and the middle of the Pacific Ocean and of course, all over North America.
To be sure, MacGyver is an American and proud of it, as he himself says on the show. He lives in Los Angeles, California through all seven seasons of the show. But he never stayed at his observatory, apartment, loft or houseboat for too long. In fact, he lived in at least five different places during the show’s run, though they were all in the LA area. Though it’s hard to say what sort of world travels he may have done as a child, MacGyver definitely got out to see more of the world while he served the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. From there we know that he toured some of Europe and perhaps other parts of the world as a young man, as he related in “Jack of Lies” and “The Gauntlet”. He tells Kate Connelly in the latter episode that he had a little of “itchy feet”, but also mostly “wanted to see how the world worked- meet people- learn how they’re different and the same.” It’s clear that MacGyver has travelled pretty extensively throughout his life and certainly as we saw (or sometimes just heard about as MacGyver might mention in passing) on the show.
All of this was just to say that MacGyver has a global view of things. While he’s certainly patriotic to his own country, he’s also interested in visiting others and seeing the way of life in other nations. And perhaps because of this, MacGyver has gained a status of nostalgic cult fandom all over the world. Certainly MacGyver is still very popular throughout Europe, where it seems in some places Richard Dean Anderson is still totally synonymous with MacGyver and is probably better known as Angus MacGyver than by his own actual name or any of his other characters. All the associated merchandise produced there (soundtrack, VHS video releases, and original novel- to name a few) alone should help to prove that. Especially given that MacGyver is an American television program but hardly got any related merchandise released anywhere in North America, outside of a few cheaply-made toys which sadly, did not include an action figure. (But Brazil’s Glasslite company took care of that! ;-)) And MacGyver continues to be aired in reruns all over the world, just as it was aired worldwide when it first appeared on the air, from 1985 to 1992. MacGyver continues to hold multi-cultural appeal largely because of his incredible MacGyverisms and action, but perhaps partly because of the multi-cultural hero that he has proved to be on the show. And this also leads into an important Christian quality MacGyver holds.
MacGyver is a hero who shows love and concern to everyone no matter who they are. That includes extending mercy to the bad guys, as he’s shown on a number of episodes, like “To Be A Man”, “Unfinished Business”, “Humanity” and “Gunz ‘N’ Boyz”, to name a few. And MacGyver makes a definite stand against racism. It’s a natural thing for MacGyver himself to show love to everyone no matter what color they are and that’s easily seen to be just part of who he is. The show itself has dealt strongly with racism in one key episode that contains a very defining moment for MacGyver the character. In the episode, “The Challenge”, we are introduced to The Challengers Club, a Boys and Girls Club that MacGyver volunteers with and has in fact, worked full time with in the past. And isn’t it just like MacGyver that he would be working at such a job? It’s obvious that MacGyver doesn’t care about making a lot of money or a prestigious position- he invests his time in things he cares about and places where he can make a difference for good in the world. And that’s exactly why he works at the Phoenix Foundation- because he couldn’t be doing anything else. His altruistic nature and the weight of the talents God’s blessed him with compel him to use them both for good. Otherwise MacGyver would be like the worthless servant who hid his master’s talent in the ground rather than use it for good so it would multiply, as Jesus told in His parable in Matthew 25:14-30.
As seen in “The Challenge”, MacGyver works closely with a black couple, Cynthia and Booker Wilson, as they run their shelter for kids with no place to go after school until their parents get home, or for kids who are on the run from home, or for the drug addicts and drunks and the homeless or just whoever needs a place to stay for a while. “We’ve never turned anyone away yet,” as Cynthia says in “The Madonna”. One of those kids is a young man named Ray, whom MacGyver helps clear from a falsified murder charge. And MacGyver’s always related well with the kids at the Challengers Club or anywhere else he might run into someone in his travels, regardless of their age or background. Even from the “Pilot” episode, we see that MacGyver serves as a Big Brother to a young African-American boy, Reggie. And then there’s his fast bond with a young Asian boy, Chan, in “The Golden Triangle”. And then, in the next episode, “Thief of Budapest”, he bonds with a young European girl, Yanna- who also happens to be a Gypsy. MacGyver’s been a good friend to them and many others throughout the series, from all parts of the world and different backgrounds. Like Lisa, a young 11-year-old Caucasian girl, facing the “Nightmares” of being out on the streets of LA on her own. Like Ahmed, a Middle Eastern young boy in Afghanistan, who’s quickly learning “To Be A Man”. Or like Kate Lafferty, the young genius girl who MacGyver helped transform into a beautiful swan from an “Ugly Duckling”. And one of my favorites- the young Indian girl MacGyver makes a sock puppet for and declares her to be worth all the hardships of medical work in India in the “Slow Death” episode. And that’s just in the first season!
There’s still MacGyver’s young Asian-American friends, Lisa and Paul Chan, the latter of whom he saves from forever being “The Wish Child”. Or how about the young gang members he works with as a “Final Approach”? (And these include white Tommy and Gina, black Luther and Hispanic Ramon.) There’s Darrin Cooper in “Eagles”, a young white boy MacGyver takes under his wing, so to speak. And there’s Karin Graff, the young Russian girl MacGyver meets in “Ghost Ship”. And there’s the college-age kid, David Ryman, who MacGyver helps out of “Hell Week”. MacGyver even briefly helps take care of a baby in “Rock the Cradle”. MacGyver helps another young Asian-American friend, Luke Chung, in “Murderers’ Sky”. MacGyver also helps out some high school-age guys, Danny and Sean, in “Blood Brothers”. And there’s yet still Violet, a young girl MacGyver helps overcome the butterflies for a Christmas pageant in “The Madonna” and Tony Milani, a young guy MacGyver helps stay in school in “Live and Learn”, and Lobo, a young Latino graffiti artist MacGyver helps out of a jam in “Off the Wall”. And of course, some of MacGyver’s young friends, like Lisa Woodman, Breeze, and his “adopted” daughter Mei Jan, make more frequent appearances in latter episodes of the series. (See "Cease Fire", "The Madonna", and "Children of Light", respectively.)
And while there are still lots of other children MacGyver met over the course of the series that could be mentioned, the main point in listing all these people is to point out the variety of people MacGyver encountered and his reaction to each and every one of them. No matter who they were, what color, nationality, sex, religion or background- MacGyver always showed love and compassion. And MacGyver associated with people of all kinds- anyone from slightly scatter-brained aspiring actress Penny Parker to goofball scheming dreamer pilot Jack Dalton and of course, his boss, Pete Thornton. And for better or for worse, MacGyver stands by his friends no matter what. Like in the “Black Rhino” episode when he flew to Africa to help out Billy Colton, youngest member of a black bounty-hunting family, The Coltons. Or when he helped his neighbor, a black voodoo priestess known as Mama Lorraine, rescue a kidnapped friend of hers in “Walking Dead”. As much as MacGyver might be tapped on for assistance, sometimes probably unwillingly initially, MacGyver also generously volunteers his assistance to anyone in need. His stand with the Amish family against developers in “The Outsiders” is a great example that comes to mind. Or when he helped Trumbo fight off a killer ant invasion in “Trumbo’s World”, or when he helped a rural family from getting suckered by a UFO scam in “The Visitor” or when he helped Hispanic migrant workers in “Bitter Harvest” or in basically every single episode!
I also think it’s important to note that MacGyver was familiar with and friends with people of different belief systems. I’d like to think MacGyver was a Protestant Christian of course, but it’s hard to say that for sure. However, MacGyver is friends with two Catholic priests, a voodoo priestess and a Jewish family. (See “The Madonna”, “There But For the Grace”, “Walking Dead”, and “Honest Abe”, respectively.) He’s stayed with an Amish family (in the aforementioned “The Outsiders”) and has encountered a bit of Asian mysticism in episodes like “The Wish Child” and “The Mountain of Youth”. It’s probably safe to say he may well have met Buddhists and Confucianists in these and other episodes as well. By the same token, it’s a good bet he ran into Muslims in “To Be A Man” and Hindus in “Slow Death”. And MacGyver’s also had brushes with Native American beliefs as seen in “Mask of the Wolf” and “Trail of Tears”.
And of course, MacGyver also reached out to all kinds of people, including society’s untouchables. He dealt with gangs in episodes “Final Approach” and “Gunz ‘N’ Boyz”, to name a few. He associated with the homeless and even temporarily became part of their world in episodes like “Nightmares” and “There But For the Grace”. He didn’t shy away from reaching out to people involved in drinking (“Twenty Questions”) or drugs (“Blood Brothers” and “The Challenge”). And he got involved in helping reform a young prostitute in “Runners”. He stood by the elderly in their times of distress (see “Faith, Hope & Charity”, “Deadly Silents”, and “Off the Wall”) and helped those with mental disorders, as seen in “Two Times Trouble”. And the show very clearly dealt with disabilities, as this became a very personal issue for MacGyver as he helped Pete in dealing with glaucoma, which led to his blindness, as seen in “Blind Faith” and throughout the rest of the series.
All of these examples just continue to show how much of the Good Neighbor MacGyver was to everyone he met. Just as Jesus described in His parable of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37), your neighbor is whoever is in need. And Jesus calls us to love everyone, as commanded numerous times in The Bible. (see John 13:34-35, John 15:12-14, Luke 6:27-36, Mark 12:29-31, and 1 John 3:11- to name a few.) And MacGyver even displays righteous anger (though definitely tinged with vengeance) in a key moment in “The Challenge”. Upon finding out about the murder of his friend, Booker Wilson, by a white supremacist racist, MacGyver is racked in anguish over the death of his friend. And when MacGyver confronts the killer at the climax of the episode, demanding to know why he would kill his friend, the killer makes a statement that shows that racism still has not died for some people- as he killed Booker simply because he was black. MacGyver had previously wrestled the killer’s gun away from him and still brandished it in his hand, and in a fit of rage very nearly bashed the guy’s skull in with it. Some speculate he may even have been ready to put a bullet through his brain. Thankfully, Ray got there in time to stop him and MacGyver releases him to the custody of the police. But that moment shows the intensity of MacGyver’s anger against the bigotry of others and the vengeance he sought for the death of his friend. As MacGyver quotes Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion in “The Challenge”, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Perhaps MacGyver answered his own question to the killer in an earlier episode, when, in “Thief of Budapest”, he explained to Yanna why some people hate others- “Some people are scared of anybody who runs free.”
And all we need to do to see God’s view on racism is look at how Jesus interacted with people. First of all, we know it’s a sin because to hate someone and belittle or hurt them otherwise on account of their race or anything else for that matter is certainly wrong and definitely not loving. And Jesus made it clear that we are to love everyone no matter what because He loves everyone no matter what. Genesis 1:27 should be reason enough to afford every man and woman with love and respect because the verse clearly tells us that everyone is made in God’s image. For a very clear example, just look at all the boundaries Jesus crossed in John 4, when He stopped to talk with a Samaritan woman. In this account, it’s important to understand the culture of Jesus’ day. The Jews absolutely hated the Samaritans and so much so that they would literally go out of their way to avoid even crossing into Samaria when traveling- even if it meant lengthening the trip by a considerable distance. Besides the racial issue, Jesus also spoke to a woman and even asked her for water. He put Himself in a position where He was asking a woman for help, which in that society, was just unheard of. And on top of all that, the woman was a known adulteress as Jesus pointed out in John 4:16-18. When He asked her to call her husband and she had to admit she had no husband, Jesus clarified by explaining that she had had five husbands and the man she was currently with was not her husband. Yet Jesus did not let any of this stop Him from talking to the lady and offering her the living water He came to give us all. And of course, she became a believer in Christ through this encounter because Jesus was willing to lower Himself and associate with her. Though not an exact parallel, this scene just brings to mind the “Birth Day” episode of MacGyver for me, as MacGyver helps a pregnant woman on the run from her criminal husband. Somehow it seems like a similar unlikely pairing, yet MacGyver is still that 10 percent of people who doesn’t run from trouble, but instead can’t resist cleaning up the mess. (as Pete declared of him upon their first meeting in “Partners”)
And there’s plenty of untouchables in Jesus’ society that He reached out to, like the disabled (blind, mute, deaf and paralyzed people- Jesus healed them all! See Matthew 9:27-34, Mark 7:31-37, and Matthew 9:1-8), the demonaics (see Luke 8:26-38 and Mark 16:9) and the prostitutes and adulterers (as already seen in John 4 and also in John 8:1-11). Look what Jesus told the woman caught in adultery in John 8. First of all, He said that whoever is without sin should cast the first stone. Of course, all her accusers went away until He was the only person left because only Jesus could rightfully condemn her. However, He chose to have mercy and told her that He didn’t condemn her either- Go and sin no more. John 8:11 is a great verse to show us how as Christians we should still stand against sin, but show mercy to the sinner. Because ultimately, we’re all sinners in need of a Savior. Look at what was said of Jesus in Luke 7:34 because of the company He kept- He was called a glutton and drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners. (And tax collectors were largely dishonest in those times and were despised as scum.) Indeed, the Pharisees (the “religious” people of Jesus’ day) continued to question Jesus about His acquaintances and all the things He did, like healing on the Sabbath and all. Jesus finally went off on them and just railed against them in Matthew 23, calling them snakes and a brood of vipers! (This was a huge insult to them since Jesus had just aligned them with the snake of Genesis 3, which of course, was the devil.) And just look at how Jesus answered the Pharisees when they asked Him why He ate with tax collectors and sinners. And this was during the dinner party Matthew threw for his tax collector coworkers and friends with Jesus as the guest of honor because Jesus saved Matthew and he wanted to share it! “On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)
Jesus was willing to associate with people of all kinds of backgrounds, including the ones that His culture told Him to avoid. And even for people who didn’t welcome Him, Jesus certainly practiced what He preached about loving your enemies. (Matthew 5:43-48) James and John wanted to call down fire from Heaven to burn up the Samaritans who didn’t welcome Jesus in Luke 9:51-55, but Jesus rebuked them and they simply left to another village. In Luke 14:1, we see that Jesus went to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee. Even though the Pharisees were the same people who were attacking Him and seeking to kill Him eventually, Jesus still loved them and was willing to reach out to them too. And look in Luke 17:11-19, where Jesus healed 10 lepers. Note that verse 12 says that the lepers stood at a distance. That’s because they were driven out of the town because they had leprosy and forced to live on their own in caves or whatever they could find on the outskirts of town. If ever a group that needed love, this was certainly one of the chief ones. And Jesus took pity on them and healed them all. And by the way, nine of them were Jewish, but one was Samaritan. And the Samaritan was the only one who returned to give thanks to Jesus after he was healed! And of course, there’s other examples in The Bible of Jesus healing lepers. Jesus loves everyone no matter what they’ve done or who they are or where they are. John 3:16 is one of, if not the best known verse in The Bible and it’s still so incredibly breath-taking to consider because it’s still absolutely true! “For God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (emphasis by me).
Thus, if God loves us so much that He would die for us even while we were sinners and not seeking after Him (see Romans 5:8), how can we do anything less but love everyone unconditionally? God is love. (1 John 4:8) 1 John tells it incredibly plainly in verse 4:20- “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, yet hates his brother, he is a liar.” You can’t love God and hate your brother. “Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (See 1 John 4:20-21) And Revelation 7:9 says that in Heaven, there will be a multitude of Christ-followers from EVERY nation, tribe, people and language! Heaven will certainly be multi-cultural with the common bond being salvation in Jesus Christ. We better get used to it on Earth in our churches and denominations because that’s how it will be in Heaven. Galatians 3:26-29 tells us that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. There’s no room for racism or hatred in Christianity. As MacGyver said in “The Challenge”, ‘It just goes to show you can’t always judge a book by its color.” And as Jesus said in Matthew 21:31-32, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” Don’t look down on anyone Jesus came to save! God thinks everyone in history, from Adam and Eve to the last person ever created on this Earth is infinitely important! And because of this, they should be infinitely important to us too.

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