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Won’t You Be My Neighbor, 2018
This documentary follows Fred Rogers and his creation of the television show “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”, one of the most well-known and beloved children’s programs in history.
Like a lot of American children, Fred Rogers was one of the first television shows I ever watched and the compassion and gentle curiosity of its host is something that has always stayed with me.
As an adult, and specifically as an adult who works with children, it’s striking to watch the way that Fred Rogers was so firm in creating a show that eschewed the garish, mean-spirited, and capitalistic bent of so much of the entertainment that is aimed at children. It is easy to forget the things that children don’t know, or the things that can create anxiety in them, and it’s startling to see how naturally Fred Rogers navigated and curated experiences from a deeply empathetic place regarding his young audience.
Obviously a lot of what people want to discuss is how Rogers talked about topics like death or specific tragedies like the murder of Robert Kennedy. But most impactful to me was the examination of how he unpacked small ideas or moments, such as when he tells his audience that they are going to see how long a minute is. (One activity I have done with my students is to have them put their heads down and raise their hands when they think a minute has passed. Then we repeat the minute and they can watch the clock. It’s really cool!)
I’ve done a lot of work around restorative practices, and something that comes up over and over again is that children do not often believe that the adults in their lives actually care about what they think or feel. I cried quite a few times watching this movie, admittedly partly from a potent nostalgia, but also because it’s hard to see that we had a model RIGHT THERE of the kind of compassion that helps build emotionally resilient children and yet there are still people who deride such empathy and compassion as making kids “soft” or throwing around “everyone gets a trophy” panic.
But where this documentary really cuts to the heart is in the way it illuminates the doubts that Rogers had about not only the ability of his show to reach people and make a difference, but about his own goodness. The idea that as he lay dying he was not sure if he had been good enough breaks my heart, and probably nowhere did I cry harder during this movie than thinking about Fred Rogers not thinking he was deserving of heaven.
I was also really fascinated by the portrayal of the way that Rogers navigated his own Christian faith. My general take is that, for the most part, people just take from their religion what they want. And if they want to love, they find a way to love. And if they want to hate, they find a way to hate. Rogers has a deep and abiding faith, and he believes that God’s love extends to all people. While early on this leads him to reject racism, it later leads him to change his views gay people. I think it’s very powerful to watch someone live their beliefs in a way that is so strongly oriented toward trying to bring more love to the world.
I’m not sure how this would play to someone who did not grow up with Mr. Rogers, but I loved it.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor, 2018
This documentary follows Fred Rogers and his creation of the television show “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”, one of the most well-known and beloved children’s programs in history.
Like a lot of American children, Fred Rogers was one of the first television shows I ever watched and the compassion and gentle curiosity of its host is something that has always stayed with me.
As an adult, and specifically as an adult who works with children, it’s striking to watch the way that Fred Rogers was so firm in creating a show that eschewed the garish, mean-spirited, and capitalistic bent of so much of the entertainment that is aimed at children. It is easy to forget the things that children don’t know, or the things that can create anxiety in them, and it’s startling to see how naturally Fred Rogers navigated and curated experiences from a deeply empathetic place regarding his young audience.
Obviously a lot of what people want to discuss is how Rogers talked about topics like death or specific tragedies like the murder of Robert Kennedy. But most impactful to me was the examination of how he unpacked small ideas or moments, such as when he tells his audience that they are going to see how long a minute is. (One activity I have done with my students is to have them put their heads down and raise their hands when they think a minute has passed. Then we repeat the minute and they can watch the clock. It’s really cool!)
I’ve done a lot of work around restorative practices, and something that comes up over and over again is that children do not often believe that the adults in their lives actually care about what they think or feel. I cried quite a few times watching this movie, admittedly partly from a potent nostalgia, but also because it’s hard to see that we had a model RIGHT THERE of the kind of compassion that helps build emotionally resilient children and yet there are still people who deride such empathy and compassion as making kids “soft” or throwing around “everyone gets a trophy” panic.
But where this documentary really cuts to the heart is in the way it illuminates the doubts that Rogers had about not only the ability of his show to reach people and make a difference, but about his own goodness. The idea that as he lay dying he was not sure if he had been good enough breaks my heart, and probably nowhere did I cry harder during this movie than thinking about Fred Rogers not thinking he was deserving of heaven.
I was also really fascinated by the portrayal of the way that Rogers navigated his own Christian faith. My general take is that, for the most part, people just take from their religion what they want. And if they want to love, they find a way to love. And if they want to hate, they find a way to hate. Rogers has a deep and abiding faith, and he believes that God’s love extends to all people. While early on this leads him to reject racism, it later leads him to change his views gay people. I think it’s very powerful to watch someone live their beliefs in a way that is so strongly oriented toward trying to bring more love to the world.
I’m not sure how this would play to someone who did not grow up with Mr. Rogers, but I loved it.