As a child of the 1970s, I was raised on a steady diet of television. Whether it be The Banana Splits in the morning, SuperFriends on Saturdays, or Speed Racer after school, I was always watching TV. I have vague recollections about enjoying those shows but I don’t remember a lot about them. One show that always stuck with me, though, is Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I was always taken by the kind, gentle persona that emanated from the screen. I never knew much about the man himself, but his television presence always filled me with wonder and joy in an inexplicable way.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is both an exploration and a celebration of what Fred Rogers brought to the lives of so many children. Director Morgan Neville’s film follows Rogers from his initial experience with children’s television as a puppeteer on WQED’s The Children’s Corner through the creation of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. It details the way that Rogers saw television as a means to communicate directly with children and help them understand the world rather than simply a means to serve up mindless entertainment. It also documents his advocacy for public broadcasting, especially in a showdown with Senator John Pastore in Congress in 1968 that secured $20 million in funding for PBS.
Seeing Mister Rogers on the screen again made me feel like we need him now more than ever. I can only imagine what he would have to say about the things happening in our world today. Clips from the first season of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood included in the film show that he didn’t shy away from topics of war, death, and other scary stuff that most children’s shows would deem untouchable. That is what made his show so special. He would listen to his audience – the children – and if things troubled them, he would try to explain those things in a way that made them understandable and relatable. He never condescended to them.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? also shows that as kind and gentle as Rogers was, his efforts to make everyone feel loved and special made some people angry. Right-wing talk show hosts are shown saying that Rogers created a sense of entitlement for an entire generation. One calls him a “truly evil person” and another says something paraphrased as “being special requires you to work hard and no one is special without earning it.” Not everyone got the point of Rogers’ show which was, simply, no matter who you are, you’re worthy of being loved and loving others.
Rogers was aware that people thought he was a “square” and that they dismissed his show as simplistic and old-fashioned. He was frustrated that people didn’t see the depth of what he was trying to do. The documentary doesn’t dig up any dirt on Rogers but it does answer some questions that many people have asked over the years. Was he gay? No. Was he really like that in person? Yes. Was he a former Navy SEAL who wore sweaters to cover up his tattoos? No. Stories from his wife, two sons, the cast and crew of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and people that he met through the years effectively flesh him out as a human being.
Mister Rogers was many things but Won’t You Be My Neighbor? shows him as a staunch advocate of acceptance, love, and kindness. If there’s a message that needs to be spread throughout the world today, it’s the message he started broadcasting in 1968: You are special, just by being you.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Buy on Amazon!
