Won't You Be My Neighbor?

I saw the Mr. Rogers documentary and learned some things I didn't know about him, like his 143 quirk, where he thought he needed to maintain that weight because the phrase "I love you" is made up of 1,4,and 3 letters. It was nice to see some clips of him with Koko too, and to see his family members being interviewed. I was rather surprised by the topics that his show covered in the early weeks, about war, walls, and assassination. It was 1968, but he didn't choose to avoid those topics of conversation for kids. He wanted to provide guidance and reassurance to kids who were afraid. Also, I didn't know that Rogers stopped the Neighborhood show for a while to try a show for adults. I'm glad he came back.

I also learned about Francois Clemmons being gay, but Fred Rogers told him he could not come out, and he got married to stay in the closet. Still, they remained friends and continued to work together; Francois said he still felt loved, and that Fred was like a surrogate father to him. I mean, I get it, this was decades ago, when people still thought gay people were scandalous and couldn't be on a children's show. There were sponsors to think about, and PBS at risk. It's like how Rogers was a lifelong Republican; back then being Christian and Republican didn't mean you had to be a rightwing looney. (In fact the documentary mentions some 1990s backlash accusing Rogers of making children feel entitled and overly special.) He felt very deeply about his philosophy about children needing their emotions to be taken seriously. I'm glad too that Rogers washed his feet in the pool with Clemmons to make a point about civil rights in the era of segregated pools. It's sad to hear that he was very disheartened about 9/11 and almost thought his doing a PSA about it was pointless. But I do appreciate that even though Rogers was a minister, he never tried to preach to children about religion; he knew his message would be more universal if he didn't approach kids as a minister and try to convert them. I appreciate that, because America has many religions and some agnostics and athiests.

I hear that Tom Hanks is going to play Rogers in a movie. I wonder if it will be any good or if they will sanitize his life too much.