The World According to Sesame Street

[Brooklyn]

Has anyone seen this documentary yet? If so, how is it?

http://www.participantproductions.com/films/DVD+Video/63/TheWorldAccordingtoSesameStreet

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

It depends. If your interested in the co-productions, then yes, watch it. If your expecting a documentary on things around the actual co-productions ala "Of Muppets and Men," don't watch it. As insightful and interesting a documentary it is, it's very slow-moving and most of it dosen't involve the actual co-productions but their reasons for being.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I got to see it when it premiered at The Museum of TV and Radio. I thought it was very well put together and very moving. It's true that it's not like "Of Muppets and Men", there isn't much about the puppets or puppeteers we know about (though are a few shots of them training new puppeteers).

However, I believe the documentary is worth seeing anyway. You learn so much about the different countries and what their difficulties are, and how they're desperately hoping Sesame Street will be able to help them. It really represents the potential a show like Sesame Street can have. If it's going to survive, it needs to spread its message of communication and peace. It might be too late for the parents, but perhaps we can reach the kids now. The show brings out so many emotions, sometimes the audience laughed for 5 minutes, other times they cried.

For me, the best scene is when the puppeteers from Bangladesh receive their puppets for the very first time. You can tell they're so excited and happy. You can imagine that it must have been the same way for the American puppeteers back in the day. At the Museum, the film's editor was there and she said that was the first scene she chose to work on.

On a slightly more cynical note, I felt the documentary also demonstrated how naive and complacent we are in the U.S. We really don't understand that other countries don't have the luxuries we take for granted every day. Some of these countries have been at war for years and we don't realize how deep the resentment and fear and bitterness is. And sometimes it comes out in the documentary just how clueless we can be, even when we're trying to help. At least that's what I noticed, lol.

 

[frogboy4]

Excellent Documentary

If you are interested in seeing how Muppets are made or the inner-workings of a Muppet television production this is not the film for you. There are others out there like "Of Muppets and Men" to fill that need.

If you are interested in the spirit and reason for Sesame Street and the international productions the film will be very satisfying. Heralde is right. We take so much for granted here in the United States and in the United Kingdom as well. There are many more hoops to jump through when creating Sesame in other countries. Their problems are larger than whether Elmo's World runs long or if Cookie Monster is eating his veggies.

There is wide-spread poverty, long-held prejudices and tight-fisted bureaucracies to contend with. I find the documentary to be one of the most important Sesame-related projects I have ever seen. Keep in mind that this is not a film for small children.

 

[CensoredAlso]

If you are interested in the spirit and reason for Sesame Street and the international productions the film will be very satisfying. Heralde is right. We take so much for granted here in the United States and in the United Kingdom as well. There are many more hoops to jump through when creating Sesame in other countries. Their problems are larger than whether Elmo's World runs long or if Cookie Monster is eating his veggies.

Lol, very true! Helps to keep things in perspective.

There is wide-spread poverty, long-held prejudices and tight-fisted bureaucracies to contend with. I find the documentary to be one of the most important Sesame-related projects I have ever seen. Keep in mind that this is not a film for small children.

Completely agree, this needed to be made. It gives people another view of Sesame Street, besides parents fighting over toys.

 

[Drtooth]

It's a very heart wrenching experiance. It basically does the same as the Peyo/Unicef ad that has bombs going off in the Smurf village. It says that there are kids living in these terrible situations, be they forced into poverty by their corrupt governments, or they're forced into violence and haterid by...well... their corrupt governments! that's what.

The segment where they're in Kosovo or Bosnia (I forget which one) and they were talking about doing a segment reguarding kids finding unexploded grenades.... that just really is a shocking jolt of reality. Kids have to grow up in this world where heads of state impose scapegoating of other people who have to share that land, and the adults keep spreading that state sponsered hate from generation to generation.

I applaud what SW is trying to do, even though large members of each hate group denounce it as "imperialistic." I refer of course to Rechov Sesame. But they're out there, sending people to these dangerous places, trying to spread the message of peace, a Message Jim Henson would be proud of, to these kids, so they don't grow up pawns of the government.

I will say, it would have been cool if they went into the Japanese co-production...just to lighten it up a little.

 

[D'Snowth]

The first time it aired on my PBS station, they were having technical difficulties, so the special went off after the first five or ten minutes or so.

Then when the encore presentation was on, I didn't realize until after it was a little too late, so I didn't catch it until Ed Christy was demonstrating how some of the Muppets worked to the end. I don't even remember much of the special, and I haven't been able to find a copy of the DVD anywhere, so I can't really say much about it, I'm afraid.

 

[frogboy4]

I found a copy of it at my local Virgin Megastore so it's probably on Amazon as well. All this talk of it makes me want to see it again. It really is inspiring to see what the folk at Sesame Workshop do day-to-day. Unlike many televised charitable efforts, the Workshop's goal is clear and present even when the cameras aren't rolling.

On another note, it's amusing that Big Bird is mostly withheld from international casts because he can be perceived as symbol of American imperialism. I always thought that spot belonged to a certain little red fellow. He he. I find Big Bird to still be the most soulful and honest resident of Sesame Street.

 

[MelissaY1]

Like heralde I also saw this at it's premiere at the Museum of T.V. and Radio in NYC and I still find it a very awe inspiring film. Just seeing what the filmmakers and production crew went through to get these shows off the ground all for the sake of kids is very heartwarming.

Some of these countries wanted nothing to do with these shows or didn't "get it". Most interesting was watching the segment on the Kosovo watching the two sides bicker yet a few of them managed to get in one room and plan out what their version of the show was going to entail.

It's also a real eye opener to see how kids are raised to hate certain groups for no other reason then that's what they were taught and hence why we have so many problems in the world today. But it was really fascinating and I tear up by the end every time.

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's also a real eye opener to see how kids are raised to hate certain groups for no other reason then that's what they were taught and hence why we have so many problems in the world today. But it was really fascinating and I tear up by the end every time.

Very true, although the fact that one side is constantly bombing the other (and vice versa) probably doesn't make the kids sympathetic either. I guess they're hoping that a Sesame Street show will inspire the kids that there must be a better way to live.