Be the Grouch

Drythe has something good to say about Oscar here. She is right about Sesame Street doing a better job with a range of human emotions than most children’s shows these days. On most shows, emotions seem to be flat and sanitary, simple and without a lot of passion (good or bad). When was the last time you saw a show for young people that included a kid really popping their cork in anger? When, any of you who are around kids regularly, was the last time you saw an actual kid pop his or her cork in anger? Uh huh.

Even the saccharin sweet Sesame Street characters have complicated feelings. Elmo (red monster) and Zoe (orange monster in tutu) are good friends and play together often. Zoe has a pet rock named, wait for it, Rocco, and she takes Rocco’s feelings very seriously. Rocco has to get his turn on the swings and put in his two cents about what they play. Elmo loves Zoe, but he gets very frustrated with the rock. It is, as Elmo finally yells at Zoe, Just a Rock!!! This interchange deals with Elmo’s initial annoyance, which builds to frustration and finally erupts into anger, and then, with the intervention of a kind adult, the reconciliation of the two monster friends. Now, yes, it’s oversimplified and tidy, but, as Drythe points out, the story happens in about twenty minutes. And if you’ve ever seen two siblings squabble about how to play and what to play, you know that fights often take a similar course, and that few minutes after an eruption of hurt feelings, yelling, and tears, they often are right back to giggling and rolling on the floor.

Oscar is another example of a character who consistently portrays emotions on the grouchy end of the spectrum. And as I pointed out before, he’s not a “bad guy,” nor is anyone else on Sesame Street. When was the last time you saw a “bad guy” on a children’s show? When was the last time you had a face-to-face with your nemesis on the street? Oscar is gruff, grouchy, direct, somewhat intolerant, but he’s also loving, generous, stable, resourceful. He gently reads a bedtime story and tucks in Slimy every night. He chuckles and says he just loves to see the little guy sleep.

I can think of a lot of other storylines on Sesame Street that have addressed jealousy (Baby Bear with his new sister), fear (Abby Cadabby (sp?) getting ready for her first day of school, the big wind that destroyed Big Bird’s nest), obsession (Telly and his triangle collection), silliness (The Honker, Duckie, Dinger Jamboree—say that five times fast, I dare ya), not to mention the treatment of specific life events. Elmo’s dad is deployed to Iraq. Families grow. Parents go to work. Friends fight. People die (anyone remember when Mr. Hooper died? Sigh.) And I don’t even see the show regularly.

The preternaturally calm adults are still there. Though, to be fair, the grown-ups do sometimes get annoyed, flustered, and impatient, though in muted ways. They are sometimes busy. But they do try their best to be supportive of the little characters around them.

As a sort of aside, one of the genius things that the show did from the very first episode in 1969, make the monsters lovable. I can recall a time when Sonar X7 was dreaming or worried about monsters, and I reminded him that Elmo and Cookie Monster were monsters, so we knew that all monsters aren’t bad or scary. It was such a handy tool in reassuring him to be able to think of the good monsters he knew and loved.

Ha. So, I started off this post thinking, Drythe has a good point, Sesame Street is doing ok with emotion. And as I’ve gone on, I’ve talked myself into believing that the show is really doing a great job. And now you should go write a letter to your federal representatives and tell them that you want to continue to support public broadcasting in our country (if I recall, a funding vote on public broadcasting in the U.S. is coming up soon). Participate in this civic enterprise because you can.