Growing up, I always thought “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was goofy, corny and childish.
I was wrong.
After seeing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” the new documentary about Fred Rogers, I have recast my impressions of the show. Although it’s still goofy and corny, it’s childlike, not childish. That’s its charm, and it’s the reason it could take the most serious subjects and make them understandable to young children.
Shawn RyanTime and again in the documentary, Rogers, who died of stomach cancer in 2003, is a fierce defender of young children and their right to be treated with respect and love.
I was double-digits in age when the show debuted in 1968, so I wasn’t its target audience, which generally ran from preschool to about second grade. I only caught fleeting glimpses of it on TV, so I had no idea that “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” took on the Vietnam War, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, racism, divorce and death, among other topics.