Mister Rogers' Positive Influence on Children
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
The comforting words of this familiar childhood jingle bring memories flooding back and invite us to join the loving and patient man who once taught us that everyone is special and unique. Over several decades, strong morals and values have filled each 30-minute segment of the popular children’s television show. The skills of Fred Rogers as a loving creator and host, combined with the activities and educational settings of the show and the content of his messages -- are all evidence that “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” is a positive influence on children.
“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has been a success throughout its airing of over 45 years. In its long success, few contradictions surface when discussing the positive influences of the famous children’s television show. However, many spoofs have been created about “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and general complaints about the show and Rogers’ personality have been created also.
Some television critics have abused “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Several statements declare he is a wimp because of his general caring approach on the show. Not only have television critics made negative remarks, but the children’s show has also been made fun of on late night television shows such as “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson as well as Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live (Bianculli 43). On a different level of criticism, the older siblings of those who watch the show develop negative opinions of “Mister ...
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Rogers, Fred. You Are Special: Words of Wisdom from America’s Most Beloved Neighbor. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.
Rowe, Claudia. “Some Things Never Change, and Thank Heavens Mister Rogers is One of Them.” Biography 4:3 (Mar 2000), 102-107. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen Public Library. 6 November 2001.
Trotter, Andrew. “Media.” Education Week 22 Nov. 2000: 5.
Valkenburg, P.M. and S.C. Janssen. “What do Children Value in Entertainment Programs?: A Cross Cultural Investigation.” Journal of Communication 49:2 (Spr 1999), 4-25.
Zoba, Wendy Murray. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Christianity Today. 6 Mar 2000: 38-47.
NOTE: Citations for Family Communication website are as follows: (“Mister” What Is)
“Mister” = Reference source What Is = Link where information is found located on left bar of website.
In an interview in 1974, Producer and show creator Norman Lear said of his television sitcom, All in the Family: “People laugh harder at the things they care the most about.” ("Day at Night: Norman Lear, renowned TV producer ("All in the Family")." ) If that is true then the viewers most certainly must have cared about the topics being addressed on the show because All in the Family topped the Neilsen ratings, ranking number-one, from 1971 to 1976. As with any successful producer, Lear’s and co-producer Bud Yorkin’s primary goal was to get ratings. The fact that All in The Family arguably became one of the most influential television sitcoms ever aired was just a bonus. The show became a soap box for its creators, producers and writers to broadcast their political views as well as provide them with a vehicle to combat what they saw as social injustice. By featuring relevant themes of social significance such as death, divorce, racism, rape, and homosexuality, each week, the program put the spot light on topics previously discussed in hushed tones behind closed doors. While high ratings may have been the first priority, the producers definitely had an additional agenda to try to bring about social change by stimulating dialog and debate within families, neighborhoods, local hangouts, anywhere Americans would congregate.
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"Seinfeld" was always present in my home during its nine-year run on Thursday nights as "Must See TV," and the social commentary was welcome humor. However, not everyone was thrilled by Seinfeld's prominence in American society and the subject matter with which Seinfeld dealt. Many Christians, Jews and other minorities had problems with the show's portrayal of their respective groups. Despite criticism from ethnic and religious groups, Jerry Seinfeld and his show were possibly the best sources of social commentary that America's mainstream had to offer. The show is missed in today's current television line-up and no post-"Seinfeld" sitcom has come to the same level of cultural criticism.
When one thinks of China it is common to conjure up images of rice fields and of the great wall, but also of crowded cities teeming with people and bicycles and cars. One rarely thinks of a nation populated mostly by men and boys, with a noticeable yet surreal absence of women. While this is a bit of an exaggeration, it has been noted over the past several decades that there is an alarmingly imbalanced sex-ratio. The policy has clearly contributed to the nation’s unnatural gender imbalance, as couples use legal and illegal means to ensure that their only child is a son. There are 117 men to each 100 women in China (Goodkind, 2004). In the 1979, when the one-child policy was enacted, the intention was not to create this imbalance, but to control the population of a rapidly growing nation. Unfortunately the one-child policy as it stands, illustrates a cultural favoritism toward males, and degradation of women to a lower social status in which they have little control of their reproductive rights.
The Stickiness Factor says that the messenger matters, but so does the quality of that message. It needs, what Gladwell calls, “stickiness.” Gladwell explains how two children’s television shows started a social epidemic by using factors of “stickiness.” Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues used different m...
The author of “Shopping at J-Mart with the Williams”, Lindsay Coleman, discusses race, ethnicity, and belonging in South Park. She talks about how South Park joins the “long tradition of decidedly impolite, racially charged comedy” (Coleman 131) through rhetoric. Coleman goes on to give specific examples of racially based actions in different episodes to show the commonality of this rhetoric in South Park. She explains how typical black stereotypes are portrayed in some episodes to help highlight South Park’s use of racial comedy. She also explores the role reversal of race through “social condition” (Coleman 131). In America, most people associate wealth with white men/women, but in South Park, the black men and women are the wealthy people.
The Andy Griffith Show, was a television sitcom that aired in the 1960s. Watching it from the perspective of someone in today’s society, a number of norms stood out to me. The norms of that time have changed dramatically as well as the ways they were enforced.
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
(http://www.africana.com/tt_178.htm) As television news shows began to report seriously on racism and the fight for civil rights television's entertainment programs became even more white. Since its birth, the medium had avoided controversy. During the 1960s, as protests rose against both racism and the Vietnam War programming became less and less realistic. For example, some of the most popular shows on television at that time were Witches, Genies, and other Escapist Fantasy. As the cultural critic J. Fred McDonald pointed out, comedies such as Petticoat Junction and The Andy Griffith Show both set in the South portrayed all-white worlds in which prejudice did not exist.
...rst two letters of the name Pluto-was chosen as the planet’s astronomical symbol. Unfortunately, we learn later that Lowell’s Planet X theory is incorrect. In 1978, Pluto’s mass was found with the discovery of Charon, Pluto’s moon. Pluto, being a small planet, would have weak gravity. Therefore, this diminutive gravity could not affect the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. It was also revealed later that the strange orbits of Uranus and Neptune were due to the erroneous value of Neptune’s mass.
Homer Jay Simpson, the patriarch of the Simpson household on the Fox series “The Simpsons” is a childish, lazy man, whose hobbies include eating donuts, drinking Duff Beer, watching television, and sleeping. A victim of the “Simpsons gene” which allows for only Simpson women to possess the trait of intelligence, Homer is unfortunately as “dumb as a chimp” according to his father, Abe Simpson. However, it is mainly through the analysis of his simplistic thoughts and nature, that one can gain a real perspective on Homer’s complex personality.