By David Futrelle
Mr. Rogers, who passed away in 2003, is having a strange but heartwarming posthumous comeback. A kindly father figure for generations of preschoolers, Rogers was recently the subject of a documentary that made grownups weep. Tom Hanks is playing him in a forthcoming feature film. He was even hailed as something of a bisexual icon after old comments of his acknowledging he was attracted to men as well as women resurfaced.
Some people aren’t so happy about Mr. Rogers’ return to the spotlight — among them Daily Wire video host Andrew Klavan, who recently denounced Rogers as the poster boy for the sort of “metrosexual wimpiness” that Klavan thinks is destroying masculinity. It’s John Wayne, not Fred Rogers, who Klavan thinks is the true epitome of manliness.
Now, Mr. Rogers was no metrosexual; his fashion sense was almost defiantly bland, and he wore a variation on the same outfit every single day, as Klavan is certainly aware. Klavan calls him a “metrosexual” only because he knows that he would be pilloried for saying the word I suspect he really wants to use: a three-letter slur starting with “f” and ending with “g.”
Klavan would rather that the boys and men of America look up to a sort of Rambo-ized version of Jesus Christ himself — whom Klavan describes as
a steely man of integrity who was willing to sacrifice everything to say what needed to be said, and do what needed to be done.
Among regular humans, it was John Wayne who apparently came closest to Klavan’s platonic ideal of the “real man.” The world is a dangerous place, Klavam warns, and we’re in desperate need of “tough” men with guns to protect us all from evil. “If you really want to have a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” Klavan declares, “call John Wayne and tell him to bring his guns.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable in a neighborhood full of Mr. Rogerses than I would in one patrolled continually by John Wayne wannabes with assault rifles. We don’t need protection by these sorts of guys; we need protection from them.
Indeed, the sort of toxic masculinity that Klavan celebrates is one of the greatest dangers the world faces today. Here in the US, our terrible, illegitimate president is the worst sort of toxic male, a perpetual overcompensator whose own masculinity is so fragile and broken than he pardons literal war criminals to make himself look tough to the troops and retweets photoshopped pictures of himself reimagined as Rocky.
It’s no wonder so many people are holding up Mr. Rogers’ gentle masculinity as a sort of antidote to this gross macho bullshit. Mr. Rogers was the father who didn’t get angry, the one who returned home every day at the same time, replacing his jacket with a cardigan and his dress shoes with sneakers in a ritual designed to be reassuring to small children in its everyday sameness.
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was easy to mock, and I did my share of mocking once I passed out of its core demographic. But when I was a very little kid I was enthralled — reassured by Mr. Rogers, delighted by Henrietta Pussycat and her habit of working “meow meow” into everything she said, entranced by Lady Aberlin. (I think I had a little crush.)
I have no desire to go back and watch the show now; I’d be the fist to admit that, as Klavan sneers, it’s “intolerable” to watch “unless you happen to be a 3-year-old.” It’s too earnest, too wholesome for my cynical middle-aged self.
But when I was a little kid I watched it religiously — and I’d like to think that for all of my cynical crankiness a little of Mr. Rogers’ gentleness rubbed off on me.
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I find it very telling that many conservatives love to quote the John Wayne line “Never apologize, it’s a sign of weakness” because that line is so revealing in ways that they don’t realize.
First off, apologizing is not a sign of weakness, but strength. It represents a willingness to examine your actions for fault, rather than insist that you never make mistakes. It is necessary for growth.
Second, the line reveals a core fear of being seen as weak, and behaving in unhealthy ways to avoid being seen as weak. That sounds to me far more like a sign of weakness than apologizing.
Technical point: Jimmy Carter served in the Navy after WW2; he was still studying at the Naval Academy when WW2 ended.
It’s part of what gives me hope for the future is that folks of the generation that grew up with Fred Rogers recognize just how fundamental he was as an example of kindness and gentleness. Exactly the things that Charlie Chaplin demanded we need more of in his Great Dictator speech.
But since we’re talking about kids shows… I think it was maybe a year ago I wanted to look up some of the ones that I grew up with on public television back in the day. It’s one of the few things I’m grateful for YouTube existing, because practically any obscure thing that appeared on television has been uploaded.
Of course, there was always Sesame Street, which was there and broadly forgettable as far as individual skits went, but there were a couple that stuck in my brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqJjrtDFGpI
I showed this to my folks once and they were blown away by all the celebrities and how young they were.
But that was American stuff. Canadian kids had other… stranger things to watch.
Like Jeremy… or Barnaby… or Colargol… or whatever this stop-motion bear’s name was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZrpGooi8GI&list=PL509Flg87ytUwCvYERz9WsonemAB-Gbc6
That was my morning thing on TVO.
There there was the nightmare fuel puppets of Today’s Special:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cxLfIs051c
And who could forget alien robot Zardip and his endless search for healthy wellness?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT-GwnETTbA
Polka Dot Door. Report Canada. Sharon, Lois and Bram. And of course, when we got to French class in 4th grade came the legendary Telefrancais.
@Allandrel
Conservatives are weak. That’s the only explanation. They use fascism as a cover.
(Meant to add but missed edit window)
Fascism is an ideology for the cowardly. It’s saying “we’re the best, but we’re also victims, so let’s whine about our fake victimhood and use it as an excuse to hurt others.”
It’s also a self-contradictory ideology. If you are the “master race,” why are other groups able to usurp you? Wouldn’t that make them the “master race”? Or, maybe, just maybe, the whole “master race” concept is BS, like the concept of race as a whole?
Speaking of gentle (and any excuse to slip stuff like this in); it might be a terrible time to be human in the States; but it seems to be getting slightly better for animals.
https://aldf.org/article/court-rejects-attempt-to-block-california-law-banning-cruelest-farming-practices/
Although obviously animal welfare is no substitute for animal rights.
When my eldest was about the right age for Mr. Rogers and he sat there, transfixed, I told my husband at the time that my son loved him, but that I could just barely stand to have him on.
I’ll never forget what my ex said: “He’s not trying to be your friend.”
That changed my perspective. Once I looked at it that way I loved his show.
Except Opera Day. Couldn’t stand Opera Day.
He was a great man.
“I have no desire to go back and watch the show now; I’d be the fist to admit that, as Klavan sneers, it’s “intolerable” to watch “unless you happen to be a 3-year-old.” It’s too earnest, too wholesome for my cynical middle-aged self.”
Okay, but…have you tried?
I watch it a lot. It helped me tremendously when my depression and anxiety were so bad they almost killed me. Now, I watch an episode every day while doing yoga. I still learn a ton. I still laugh and cry a lot.
I think it’s a big problem that things are “too” earnest and wholesome for us now and that such feelings are “intolerable.”
I recently learned about one occasion when Fred Rogers got very angry; but it was not on his show and it wasn’t directed at children. It was directed at the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1990; three men associated with the KKK had someone impersonate Rogers’ voice and record a series of tapes which they would play for children, to try to indoctrinate them with heterosexism & white-supremacist racism.
A civil rights group learned about it. They told Rogers; who was rightly extremely angry. He immediately sued the KKK & the individual men concerned and shut down that entire operation: https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/21/us/3-to-stop-racist-talks-in-mister-rogers-tone.html .
I remember Mister Rogers all right. The more you delve into the backstory and psychology, the more you realize that he understood exactly what he was doing. And my mother was a kindergarten teacher: ‘play nice’ was a big part of my upbringing.
@Katamount:
I didn’t grow up in Ontario, so no TVO, but I still grew up with Mister Dressup and The Friendly Giant. And, of course, Fred Rogers and Ernie Coombs (Mister Dressup) had worked together when they were both starting out, Coombs having been one of the earlier puppeteers.
Granted, after moving to Ontario, I would discover things like Nic et Pic…
Buttercup Q. Skullpants, Ivory Bill Woodpecker:
Carter was one of the Navy nuclear technicians who helped stop the reactor meltdown at Chalk River in 1952. They had to monitor him for radiation for months afterwards.
@Katamount:
Aw, I loved that bear as a kid! There were no tie-in toys (because it was a European-made series that was already decades old at that point), so I would try to make models of him from styrofoam.
The Friendly Giant was pretty good. When I look it up on YouTube, the main thing I notice is how much live Baroque, Classical and Jazz music was included. Bob Homme must have had a lot of musician friends.
Re: Wayne’s walk, he was trying to imitate the bowlegged swagger common to people who spend most of their lives on horseback. And also wear high-heeled boots, something the non-equestrian Wayne wasn’t fully accustomed to.
@Jenora Feuer
Mr. Dressup I remember quite well. The Friendly Giant was a bit before my time, but my parents remember him.
I also wanted to mention a couple other children’s entertainers that are still going today. One is Fred Penner, who I adored as a kid likely do to the passing resemblance to my father (short brown hair and a beard). Penner got his start on Sharon, Lois and Bram’s The Elephant Show with his version of “The Cat Came Back”, but then got his own show Fred Penner’s Place, which lasted from 1985-1997. At 73 years of age, Penner still does live shows and indicated he has no plans of retiring.
Another children’s entertainer who got his start on The Elephant Show was Eric Nagler, who was kinda the resident multi-instrumentalist. He was also an American ex-pat, who came to Canada as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War and put down roots in Toronto. What made Nagler memorable to me was his energy, his big thick beard and his improvised instruments, some of which were rather unique. I recall having this old VHS tape when I was little:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-rHk6HOjjY
Playing the Star Wars theme on a musical saw always stuck in my brain. Also his cornstalk violin.
This may seem silly, but I date the time when John Wayne lost all credibility to me on any and all levels to that time I saw The Conqueror on TV way back when. He played Genghis Khan in that movie. Let that one sink in for a bit. That said, precious little of what I learned about him afterwards did anything to mitigate my judgement then – if anything, it showed I hadn’t been quite harsh enough.
Also, how much of a clumsy oaf do you have to be not to be able to ride a horse when you’re a Hollywood actor, who tends to play cowboys no less!? I’ve got motor problems and I can manage a few minutes of galloping (or could, at least – haven’t done any horseback riding in almost two decades. Fuck I’m getting old.*). Methinks it was for other reasons, probably (wink, wink).
But yeah, if you think John Wayne (callous, crass, arrogant, casually racist and sexist, demeaning to those with differing views, fast to claim a romanticized “warrior” mythologized ethos (watch a western, any western, except maybe Brokeback Mountain) while quite consciously dodging THE war of his time (to be clear, I’m not necessarily against draft dodging, it’s just that claiming to be a tough guy who can fight and shoot with the best of ’em and that war is a good thing when other people fight it you’re a giant hypocritical cowardly douche), and above all else, FAKE because otherwise even the shallow people he associated with would have seen him for the paper tiger he was) is a better example of what it is to be a Man than Fred Rogers, then you got problems.
* – I reached 40 this year.
Re: children’s entertainers
IIRC Raffi is still performing occasionally. He’s best known for his song “Baby Beluga.” He’s also Canadian (but born in Egypt).
@Paireon
I used to ride horses, and I would love to get back into it if I had the time and money to have a horse, and I’d say that you could train a person to ride one better than Wayne in a few hours. FFS, if your cowboy can’t ride a horse, find a new cowboy.
Permission to self promote….
https://advocates-for-animals.com/blog/242
403 error on the image. Oops.
I never watched Mr. Rogers growing up. Dad, hyperconservative that he was, never liked Fred Rogers and his peace-nik ways, so that was that.
Dad was a big fan of cowboy movies, though. And yet he didn’t like John Wayne either. I never thought to ask why. Too late now.
But any mention of John Wayne needs this quote from an interview with Playboy in 1971:
There’s more of that interview quoted at Snopes. It’s worth reading, if you need an example of White Privilege in full bloom.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/john-wayne-native-americans/
@Michael Suttkus, II
In that same interview, he stated some opinions on African-Americans as well.
I quote (TW racism):
Raffi is definitely still going!
Fred Penner actually did a club tour a few years back, playing for college aged kids who grew up with his music.
The Conqueror is not only notorious for Wayne and other actors in yellowface, it is also notorious for how many of the cast and crew died of cancer. Outdoor scenes were filmed in St George, Utah, which is downwind of the Nevada National Security Site. Multiple above ground nuclear tests were conducted there, and the fallout tended to pass over St. George. There is debate if this actually contributed to the cancers that afflicted the crew, but many believe it did.
I love Fred Rogers. I was broken-hearted when he died. It seems like appreciation for him has only grown since his death. I wish he could see and know how widely and well loved he is. His 1984 interview with Terry Gross is a treasure.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1178498
Growing up near Detroit, we got CBC, so we watched Mr. Dressup and The Friendly Giant. “Now look up. Wayyyyyy up.” We also got Sesame Street with French segments in it. Really great.
I’m always amused by people trying to bad-mouth Mr. Rogers. They’re only going to end up bringing a shitstorm down on themselves. Fred Rogers is the one person in the world who has absolute, universal respect from everyone.
You know, I’m actually a little surprised that we’re nearly done the first page on an article about Mr. Rogers winning against uber-macho types and nobody else has mentioned Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny yet. Then again, it was rather a niche thing of its time.
@AsAboveSoBelow:
I have a friend from Ottawa who is apparently a minor hero in parts of Detroit for providing some folks down there with copies of obscure Canadian children’s shows that some of them had seen on cheap antennas twenty or thirty years ago but had never been able to find again since.
Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny matchup:
Mister Rogers vs. Bob Ross.
I’d watch it.