Sweaters and Social Change in the Neighborhood

 

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) – A documentary look at the legacy of Pittsburgh legend and children’s TV icon, Fred Rogers.

Why I Like It: Seriously? Fred Rogers.

Yes, I have a built in bias in favor of Mr. Rogers. He’s from Pittsburgh. He is beloved there. There’s a statue of him that watches over downtown (“dahntahn”, in the local patois). While he came along a bit too late to match with my childhood years, Fred Rogers was always part of the culture growing up. He’s one of those rare people that has few critics beyond the people who automatically hate anyone who is famous and reputed to be a nice person.

Because here’s the thing –

By all reports, he WAS a nice person.

But not the vanilla sing-song voiced children’s host that many of us pigeon-holed him as. Rogers knew what he wanted and would push to get it. His speech before Congress on funding Public Broadcasting is both legendary and still compelling decades later.

Fred Rogers didn’t grow up wanting to be a children’s TV host. Yet, in that role, he created changes that extended far beyond television or childhood. His inclusion of people of different races seems mundane today, but were seismic in their time. The documentary includes all the parts of the Mr. Rogers legend we know, and many more small stories of the man behind the legend. Stories from his wife Joanne, stories about his interaction with the members of the cast and crew, children everywhere, and his wider community. There’s a touching story here about his visit with the gorilla KoKo. Koko learned to communicate using sign language. When Fred Rogers visited her, she took his shoes off. The documentary drops an important part of that story. Koko watched “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” every day. And she knew that the first thing Fred did in each episode was to take those shoes off.

It’s stories like these that make this documentary the wonder that it is. Fred Rogers made compassion, caring for those around us, the center of his work (and given his background as a minister, his ministry). It’s easy to make fun of his mannerisms. But using simple songs, simple stories and a rainbow wardrobe of cardigan sweaters, Fred Rogers made the world a better place.

It’s interesting to note that the following year (2019) a biopic on Rogers starring Tom Hanks (because who else?).

“So let’s make the most of this beautiful day. Since we’re together, we might as well say,

Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”

Hi, neighbor!

Rating – ***** Highest recommendation