Last week I watched a movie I had never heard of, & I loved it. " A beautiful day in the neighbourhood ". I sat through the 1st 15 mins in a sense of wonder and bewilderment.. & then I thought to myself..arre, this is an economic way to make a movie ! The 'set' of the living room literally looked like a 'set' ; instead of showing the city, they simply used some toy bridges and toy buildings to create a story ; and it felt like Tom Hanks was directly talking to me ! Not to another actor but directly to me !
Photo credit : Sony Pictures
Turns out - This show did exist for real, Mr. Rogers existed for real ! The movie infact is a semi biopic on the meeting between Mr. Fred Rogers & a cynical, award winning journalist - Tom Junod - who was given an assignment to profile him.
Mr. Rogers conceptualised his show "Mister Rogers' neighbourhood " with an aim to help children deal with their feelings in a positive manner. Oh how I wish me & my brother had the chance to watch this particular TV show as kids. Not that I have any complaints, infact the 1st 10 years of my life are a perfect example of an absolutely wonderful childhood :):) But in general I found the concept of this ingenious kid's show a great way to help children understand and handle their emotions better.
There are a few episodes / snippets on youtube which you can consider watching.
https://youtu.be/FtsLoA1nBDQ
( there are many ways to say I love you )
https://youtu.be/gEeEEc_djco
(I like you as you are )
https://youtu.be/VXlXGxV8Qf8
( a full episode from season 3 of the show )
I also loved watching the few video interviews of Mr. Fred Rogers which I could find, esp his speech to the senator with an appeal to increase govt funding for national public television.
https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA
& finally, here is the piece that Tom wrote for the Esquire magazine :
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1998/11/1/can-you-say-hero
Mister Rogers' neighbourhood ran on US tv for 33 years, from 1968 to 2001 ! In each episode he showed the kids how various things work, for eg I saw an episode about the postal department, which was shot at - the postal department ! Then there would his puppets, which would speak about different feelings that kids feel. He even covered difficult topics like death, divorce, and recognised that children's mental health needs nourishment too. He used to sing songs and talk directly to the camera - with the intention of making each kid watching feel that he was speaking directly to him !
P.s. : I would be so glad to find all the recorded episodes :) Please let me know in the comments if any of you do locate these episodes on any website / streaming platform. Thank you :)
The movie is about a children's tv show , it's host Mr. Rogers - played by the wonderful Tom Hanks , another character of a journalist and..our feelings. Yours, mine, everone's. Its a beautiful movie which will help all of us..kids / parents / adults / old people. I was so surprised and impressed by the imagination of the creators to have thought of this whole set up - not only the unusual set, but even the unusual character of Mr. Rogers . Its (very) rare to come across such an authentic person. I was so moved by him. By his honesty & kindness. The only other time I have felt this way was when I met Dalai Lama, at Dharamshala.
Turns out - This show did exist for real, Mr. Rogers existed for real ! The movie infact is a semi biopic on the meeting between Mr. Fred Rogers & a cynical, award winning journalist - Tom Junod - who was given an assignment to profile him.
 |
| Photo Credit : Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood / PBS |
Mr. Rogers conceptualised his show "Mister Rogers' neighbourhood " with an aim to help children deal with their feelings in a positive manner. Oh how I wish me & my brother had the chance to watch this particular TV show as kids. Not that I have any complaints, infact the 1st 10 years of my life are a perfect example of an absolutely wonderful childhood :):) But in general I found the concept of this ingenious kid's show a great way to help children understand and handle their emotions better.
There are a few episodes / snippets on youtube which you can consider watching.
https://youtu.be/FtsLoA1nBDQ
( there are many ways to say I love you )
https://youtu.be/gEeEEc_djco
(I like you as you are )
https://youtu.be/VXlXGxV8Qf8
( a full episode from season 3 of the show )
https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA
& finally, here is the piece that Tom wrote for the Esquire magazine :
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1998/11/1/can-you-say-hero
 |
| The original cover |
Mister Rogers' neighbourhood ran on US tv for 33 years, from 1968 to 2001 ! In each episode he showed the kids how various things work, for eg I saw an episode about the postal department, which was shot at - the postal department ! Then there would his puppets, which would speak about different feelings that kids feel. He even covered difficult topics like death, divorce, and recognised that children's mental health needs nourishment too. He used to sing songs and talk directly to the camera - with the intention of making each kid watching feel that he was speaking directly to him !
P.s. : I would be so glad to find all the recorded episodes :) Please let me know in the comments if any of you do locate these episodes on any website / streaming platform. Thank you :)
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