Hacker Cinema
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
2018 · Film · documentary · 95 min
Directed by Morgan Neville
For more than thirty years, and through his television program, Fred Rogers (1928-2003), host, producer, writer and pianist, accompanied by his puppets and his many friends, spoke directly to young children about some of life's most important issues.
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9 comments on Hacker News
There must be something in the water this week for kids who grew up in that era -- posted earlier about Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street documentaries
"Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street" & "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" & a few of my own take-aways on both https://meanbusiness.com/2024/01/22/sesame-street-the-neighborhood/
The documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" was even better than the movie, highly recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwktRDG_aQ
> Accepting that others are vital to our self-perception is a corrective to the limitations of the Cartesian view.
This brought to mind John Calvin's Institutes. In the first chapter he suggests that knowledge consists primarily of two parts: knowledge of self and knowledge of God, and oddly, the best way to know oneself is to know God:
> If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun. Thus too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence.
In particular the concept of the Image of God has profound consequences for the way you think about dignity and human personhood.
I recently watched Won't You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about Fred Rogers, and was struck by the way he treats an interacts with people, not as means to some end, but as ends in themselves, with real dignity and respect.
It was counter-cultural at the time, but boy is it strange now. It feels like everything is outrage and disingenuousness. We treat people like tokens of their tribe, with pure contempt and toss them aside like their worthless and inhuman.
Maybe Calvin was on to something.
"Won't You Be My Neighbor" is an outstanding documentary with a beautiful message. Especially in turbulent political times.
There was a documentary about him released this year I highly recommend called Won't You Be My Neighbor.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Won%27t_You_Be_My_Neighbor%3F_(film)
As far as examples, here's an episode about divorce that I remember helping me deal with my parents' divorce when I was little.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xxbsV1XTFcA
Or here's his speech to Congress fighting for funding for public television (it's more complicated than just funding for public television, but that's the basic idea).
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7ljRr0AA
Or one of my favorites, his acceptance speech for his lifetime achievement Emmy Award.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Upm9LnuCBUM
Having just watched "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", it's really interesting to read this piece. It overlaps the content of that documentary, but also explores other parts of Rogers' story that weren't covered in the film.
It's a really touching movie. I came away struck by the quiet radicalism of Rogers' mission to simply validate other human beings, especially children. He seemed to have honed the ability to climb the wall we put up to protect ourselves once we learn that we're on our own in this world, as that world invariably let's us down by ignoring us and invaliditating our dignity.
Big Fred Rogers fan here. I saw "Won't You Be My Neighbor" in a theatre last week and it cemented my belief that his love and dedication to childhood development is just as necessary today as it was in the 60s and 70s when I watched it. Balance for the "animated barrages" of amusement, as Rogers called them.
So does anyone know how to view/buy/rent a large (complete?) collection of all those wonderful old episodes? I would like to re-watch these with young family members. I'd happily buy a big Blu-ray or DVD set but I didn't see such a thing available on PBS' site.
I recently watched the biography, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"
I can remember watching Mister Rogers on TV a bit when I was younger, but only through reruns (I'm a child of the '90s), and not very regularly. Until recently, he was a faint memory in the back of my mind. He comes up now and again when there are terrible events (as the article mentions), but I wouldn't say he was a defining figure in my early development.
After seeing the movie, I can only wish that I had had more of him and his show in my life. He was truly dedicated to producing emotionally educational television for children. I think we could do with more of that these days. Children's shows just aren't what they used to be.
I think I'd give the biography a 9 out of 10. Not because it's some incredible feat of cinematic achievement, but because the message is so crucially important. Do yourself a favor and go see it.
I'm sure the timing of this article is not coincidentally aligned with the release of the Mr. Roger documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? :) I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's wonderful.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwktRDG_aQ