Why Is Sesame Street Such A Controversial Lightning Rod?

[Drtooth]

Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of good in the 1950's. It's just been ruined by certain groups, usually of people who were kids in the 1950's and don't want to ruin their childhood by poking at it's seedy underbelly. They love to use shows like Leave it to Beaver to say that it was a simpler time, when everyone was told to conform, everyone was afraid of black people, and more afraid still of the Russians doing something. Innocent, how? There's never been an innocent time in history.

 

[MelissaY1]

You're exhibiting why I hate the term P.C.

It's become a catch all term for Moral Guardians/Uptight Groups and by extension any reason why things aren't the imaginary dirty dingy Wild West they think their lives used to be. It's spread by casual racists to subliminally make it okay for them to be racist by confusing "Don't call people the N word" with "we can't eat Peanuts in schools anymore!" It spreads like a virus to common sense people who want a bone to pick with societal uptightness. And often, politics has nothing to do with it. We need a new term.

That guy who created Vegitales (I forget which one... it was on a podcast) said something that's the wisest thing I've ever heard. Paraphrasing, as a society we've reached the point where we're both overly easy and incredibly hard to offend.

Suffice to say, it wasn't "political correctness" that got Katy Perry kicked off of Sesame Street. It was old nannies and grannies and religious prudes who have nothing to do but get morally outraged about nothing so they can inflict the old fogey doctrine of "Things are not like they were when I was young, so it's terrible." I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of religious groups kept e-mail forwarding the video so they could directly complain about how society slipped into some imaginary Sexual event horizon (and as this is a family site, I can't even finish that sentiment). Decidedly unPC, if you ask me.

If you don't believe me... well, I don't recommend this usually, but look up any "banned racist cartoon" on Youtube and read the comments. They'll be full of people who aren't at all racist ranting about how we can't have blackface in cartoons anymore in frightening terms. usually blaming all the "Libbruls" for taking away their right to hate. Oh, Did they mention that they aren't racist? Like 20 times before saying something racist?

Same people.

Yeah but with the Katy Perry ordeal, of course there was some politics involved, otherwise, Sesame Workshop would've just gone ahead and aired the bit with her, but instead they listened to all these parental groups, etc. and if they didn't, it would've escalated, government would've gotten involved, and who funds public television??

 

[MelissaY1]

This is a very very interesting point. We definitely seem to be in this strange parallel universe where things got super "safe", yet other things got unsafe.

For instance, in many many many PG kids and family films of the 1980s, you could have endless swearing(including the F word) Yet now, PG films can barely have any swearing.
Yet again, today's PG-13's are pretty much R rated movies in a lot of ways violence and theme wise.

Tv comedies of the 1980's were rather tame, and when sex was approached it was a cautionary tale or tongue and cheek referenced. Yet today, with "TV 14" shows like CBS 2 Broke Girls, even the most graphic sexual acts are explored and referenced.
As well, basic cable tv shows like Walking Dead can have Hard R/NC-17 like violence.
(but they can't show boobies!) Compare to pre late 70's shows, where married couples were depicted in separate beds.

Society has also become both open yet not open. In the 1950's a mixed race couple known as Lucy and Desi were shown on tv, even celebrated. But mixed race was illegal in many states and many viewed mixed race as wrong. It was not really until All In The Family where the topic of deep seeded racism was explored. Yet today, there still has never been a tv show, comedy or otherwise where a white/black couple are depicted together. However, we now have a number of comedies and dramas depicting gay couples as normal people and not charactatures.

I believe it was an error for Steven Spielberg to augment and change his beloved film ET(in a different way that many of us were upset over Luca's augmentation of the original Star Wars trilogy of course), because it came from this self projected sense of political sensitivity. But there are many examples, like the warning on the Old School Sesame dvds, where people of today have this bizarre sense of deciding what they want to nanny.

Exactly, Beaker, they couldn't even use the word "pregnant" on "I Love Lucy" it was "expecting", they slept in separate beds, etc. Norman Lear definitely made a turn around in pop culture with his sitcoms, and they were some of the best written shows on television, PERIOD. That's what made Sesame Street as ground breaking as it was: catering to mixed language children in urban neighborhoods, having a racially mixed cast of actors, etc. Heaven FORBID they try to put a show on network television today like "All in the Family" it wouldn't last 2 seconds. That's why I don't watch any network shows anymore, all cable for me these days because I don't like the way everything is clean and shiny for everyone today.

That whole Spielberg/E.T. thing bothered me tremendously as E.T. was one of my favorite movies growing up and still is (saw it when it originally came out in theaters), but to give credit to Spielberg, at least when he put it on DVD, he put out BOTH the original and revised one. Unlike a certain director of a famous franchise who redoes his movies every few years on DVD that you can't find an original copy of the film anymore...

 

[Drtooth]

It's basically a semantics thing. Sexualized things are somehow not considered PC or UnPC. PC (as far as I can boil it down to, due to the complete lack of specifics for the term) usually stems from not offending more progressive groups, and progressive groups usually have no problem with sex. It's more of a term regarding race and religion, and sex usually offends those who complain about those PC specifics.

It was by far more an issue of more conservative leanings, and the whole "won't somebody think of the Children." myth. Again, semantics. PC is becoming a term everyone uses but no one knows the meaning of.

If Sesame Street pulled a Christmas themed skit, that would be far more appropriate for the term "PC." More in the case of what actually happened with the show, well... those disclaimers for the Old School sets due to kids playing in garbage dumps... that's PC.

What happened with Katy Perry, again, is old people who get offended by anything progressive, as it leads to a fictitious slippery slope of things that did exist back when they were kids/teens/young adults that they weren't prithee to, and therefore don't believe that it existed.

Personally, I'm far more offended that they keep shoving yoga onto the show. Yoga is something yuppies do for various reasons I don't want to rant about. But it's essentially a bunch of well to do, predominantly Caucasian 20 somethings basXXrdizing and Flanderizing the rich culture of another country for selfish reasons. When they even had the episode with Leela teaching Telly and Elmo yoga, they glossed over any reference to the Indian cultural aspects. To me, that's the epiphany that Sesame Street has been Gentrified and the inner city, underprivileged roots of the show have been yanked out. All that needs to be done is to add a 5 dollar cupcake shop and a Starbucks.

 

[MelissaY1]

It's basically a semantics thing. Sexualized things are somehow not considered PC or UnPC. PC (as far as I can boil it down to, due to the complete lack of specifics for the term) usually stems from not offending more progressive groups, and progressive groups usually have no problem with sex. It's more of a term regarding race and religion, and sex usually offends those who complain about those PC specifics.

It was by far more an issue of more conservative leanings, and the whole "won't somebody think of the Children." myth. Again, semantics. PC is becoming a term everyone uses but no one knows the meaning of.

If Sesame Street pulled a Christmas themed skit, that would be far more appropriate for the term "PC." More in the case of what actually happened with the show, well... those disclaimers for the Old School sets due to kids playing in garbage dumps... that's PC.

What happened with Katy Perry, again, is old people who get offended by anything progressive, as it leads to a fictitious slippery slope of things that did exist back when they were kids/teens/young adults that they weren't prithee to, and therefore don't believe that it existed.

Personally, I'm far more offended that they keep shoving yoga onto the show. Yoga is something yuppies do for various reasons I don't want to rant about. But it's essentially a bunch of well to do, predominantly Caucasian 20 somethings basXXrdizing and Flanderizing the rich culture of another country for selfish reasons. When they even had the episode with Leela teaching Telly and Elmo yoga, they glossed over any reference to the Indian cultural aspects. To me, that's the epiphany that Sesame Street has been Gentrified and the inner city, underprivileged roots of the show have been yanked out. All that needs to be done is to add a 5 dollar cupcake shop and a Starbucks.

I was upset when the Fix It Shop and Mr. Hooper's Store changed into more modern looking store fronts, I'd be traumatized if they went THAT commercial with the street set. Yoga on Sesame...interesting...makes me glad I don't catch the show these days

 

[jvcarroll]

I still reject the premise that Sesame Street is a lightning rod for controversy. I mean, what controversies? Count them. It's just a part of the social consciousness like everything else. Maybe they've been under fire recently because a presidential candidate needed to distract people away from the fact that he was pretty much an empty hat. However, Sesame has embraced first ladies and political figures from all parts of the spectrum.

At nearly 44 years old, Sesame Street has to be one of the most scandal-free projects in entertainment history.

 

[D'Snowth]

I was upset when the Fix It Shop and Mr. Hooper's Store changed into more modern looking store fronts, I'd be traumatized if they went THAT commercial with the street set.

Well, they HAVE to modernize them every so often, so that kids watching the show will be able to identify the street as a street they might find in the real world... little soda shops run by elderly Jewish guys, and Mom and Pop-type of shops were the norm back in the 70s and kids of the 70s would recognize them; those are mostly gone these days, and today's kids wouldn't instantly recognize such. Landromats are everywhere these days, as are convenient stores, so the modernizations had to take place. Sure, WE as adult fans are upset because it's not the street we grew up with, but the show isn't for or is about us, it's for and about the kids.

 

[D'Snowth]

I still reject the premise that Sesame Street is a lightning rod for controversy. I mean, what controversies? Count them.

It's always met some form of opposition, even back in the early years. When feminism was coming into vogue, the show was protested because of how Susan was portrayed as a stay-at-home mother who always had milk and cookies on hand; Sonia Manzano even said the feminist movement was why Maria, at one point, got work as a construction worker.

Then there was also Mississippi's outright ban of the show altogether because of the integrated cast, since they still embraced segregation.

And, of course, every few years, there's always some presidential administration that wants to ax PBS altogether, even dating all the way back to the Nixon administration.

I wouldn't agree that it's a lightning rod for controversy either, but that's not to say that it isn't without it's share of it either.

 

[jvcarroll]

It's always met some form of opposition, even back in the early years. When feminism was coming into vogue, the show was protested because of how Susan was portrayed as a stay-at-home mother who always had milk and cookies on hand; Sonia Manzano even said the feminist movement was why Maria, at one point, got work as a construction worker.

Then there was also Mississippi's outright ban of the show altogether because of the integrated cast, since they still embraced segregation.

And, of course, every few years, there's always some presidential administration that wants to ax PBS altogether, even dating all the way back to the Nixon administration.

I wouldn't agree that it's a lightning rod for controversy either, but that's not to say that it isn't without it's share of it either.

Yeah, I agree to some extent. It's in the public consciousness because it's part of our social fabric. What you've cited is an interesting part of Sesame history and they always seem to react appropriately. Still, the program has experienced very little real controversy compared to almost anything else. It's almost amazing that way.

 

[beaker]

Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of good in the 1950's. It's just been ruined by certain groups, usually of people who were kids in the 1950's and don't want to ruin their childhood by poking at it's seedy underbelly. They love to use shows like Leave it to Beaver to say that it was a simpler time, when everyone was told to conform, everyone was afraid of black people, and more afraid still of the Russians doing something. Innocent, how? There's never been an innocent time in history.

The 1940's certainly were not innocent, given every single person in America was impacted in some way by World War 2. In the 1960's America was scarred by endless racial violence, the assassinations of beloved heroes such as the two Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. As well as nightly footage of Vietnam and the sinking feeling of it all.

However, if one were to take an informal poll, especially of people under 50, I bet a lot of people would say the 1980's felt innocent. Yeah, AIDS/crack/contras/poverty/etc.
But as a kid growing up in the 80's, the 80's felt a lot more whimsical, colorful and magical than the 1990's...which just felt like one endless teen angst video(which was awesome, but...)