Thursday, November 16, 2006

Regression

I have discovered that every morning at 9:00 a.m., when Montel takes over after my beloved Fox4 News, I can click the remote a mere four times to wander down memory lane. That's right, I watch Sesame Street for an hour while I write, knit, pick my toes, whathaveyou. Luis is currently carrying a crib with Gordon while Elmo and Big Bird interrogate them about adoption. The child to be adopted is destined to arrive at Sesame Street today. I can't wait to see how they do this - you know, deal with diversity and the rainbow-colored cast on SS. OMG, Bob is on and he is ancient! Oh, here's the baby... and it is a boy from Latin America. He is being adopted by a single woman who appears to be of Anglo ancestry. So on the screen, we have: Asian male, Latino male, African American male, Latina female, caucasian female, caucasian male, Latino bambino, Zoey Monster, Telly Monster, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Burt, a talking dog, and Big Bird. I challenge you to find as diverse a group of creatures interacting without conflict in any setting.
I am trying to think back to the days of Mr. Looper's corner store and determine if SS was as diverse when I was young and was expected to watch it, or has it changed dramatically? You have probably heard about the more newsworthy changes to the show: Everyone can see Snuffalupagus now (not seeing him was teaching children that grownups wouldn't believe them when they were on the receiving end of bad touches); Mr Hooper/Looper died in reality, so they wrote it into the show to deal with loss; Cookie Monster doesn't eat cookies constantly (I always thought he was a bad influence anyway - teaching kids how to perfect an eating disorder by having his throat removed); and Oscar the Grouch is married and has children.
Celebs vie for the chance to guest star on SS, more so than for the SNL host spot, and the writing on SS is better than SNL in my opinion. My favorite episode is where Jamie Lee Curtis introduces Elmo as a new character in the menagerie of colorful, animated fluff.
Obvious changes I am noticing today:
*I am learning sign language - a new word every day, Today's word: exercise.
*A dancing millipede just sang to me about exercise.
*"One of these things doesn't belong" tells me to get up and move; Sitting around doesn't belong.
*There seems to be less emphasis on sharing and learning to count and read, lots of emphasis on cultural diversity, acceptance of differences, and dealing with obesity issues.
* Characters, human and muppet, of all levels of handicapability, family composition, and ethnic background but nobody overweight other than Big Bird, who could be well within the acceptable weight range for a canary of his height. I cannot find documentation on the USDA mypyramid site for him.
*The Noodle Brothers are dancing - a bang over the head about exercise.

I've noticed the McDonald's commercials that air on Nick and Disney stations are all about Ronald being athletic and they really don't try to overtly sell any food to kids. Some of the kids at church indicated that they get the damn message - Move it! Get off your asses! They are tired of hearing it. They get it at school all day long. When did education stop being about the 3 R's and turn toward obesity (school lunches are notoriously fat-filled and carb-loaded), how to turn your parents in for drug use, and using puppets to teach good touches vs. bad? I guess the assumption is that the parents don't have the time, the skills, or the wherewithal (include their perceived responsibility to address the need, which may or may not exist) to face all of the crap that kids have to deal with in our current social construct.

I'll end my rant with one of my fave SS songs, which I have on CD and they just sang: We Are All Earthlings...
Some of us have feathers
Some of us have fins
Some of us are furry
And some of us have skins
We swim and hop and slither
And leap and soar and run
And we all live together
On a planet of the sun

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

We live in the desert
We live inside a tree
We live high in the mountains
Or deep beneath the sea
We live in tents and cabins
In houses just for one
And we all live together
On a planet of the sun

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

Floating down a river
Swinging through the trees
Climbing up a mountain
Going with the breeze
All of us can have a happy healthy place to be
If we can float and swim and climb in earthling harmony

We are all earthlings
We are all earthlings
Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun

Spinning around together
On a planet of the sun
posted by Rosie @ 11/16/2006 09:01:00 AM

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