Fred Rogers Documentary 'Won't You Be My Neighbor' Reveals How Host Left an Impact on His Young Audience
Lots of American children from late 1960s to early 2000s recognize Fred Rogers as the host of the popular children's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." But more details behind the man had been explored in the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor."
The film, directed by Morgan Neville, focused on the man who was not afraid to talk about any kind of topics under the sun based on a child's perspective.
Vox reported that the documentary movie began with a black-and-white footage of Rogers playing piano in 1967. Then a musical metaphor was used to explain that one of the objectives of the host and series creator is to guide his young audience through "the modulations of life."
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This includes all kinds of emotions that they will experience, including the difficult ones in situations like parents' divorce, facing bullies, confusion about what they want to achieve in the future, or dealing with scary events in the society. He even incorporated national events during that time like the death of Robert F. Kennedy to discuss the concept of assassination to its young audience.
The documentary also showed how Rogers tackled important topics such as racism. One of the portions of the film showed the host soaking his feet in a wading pool located outside his home, then invite a black policeman to do the same to cool down his feet.
In today's context, seeing two men from different races waddling their feet in the same pool is nothing extraordinary. However, "Won't You Be My Neighbor" presented the scene from the children's show with images from the period when black children were being driven out of a public pool. This only proved that Rogers had a clear intention of showing an important lesson during that time.
The report also claimed that while the documentary itself does not show anything extraordinary or exposed a deep dark secret that Rogers had been hiding from the public for a long time, it can still leave a major impact on anyone who watched it.
Some of the critics who already watched the film prior to its June 8 premiere in cinemas believed that the iconic children's show host is essentially the same person that he portrayed on TV. It also proved that all the lessons that he tried to impart in almost 1,000 episodes of the children's show are still applicable up to this day.
Although some of the people close to him who appeared in the documentary also shared their struggles when he was still around. According to Rolling Stone, one of Rogers' son confessed that he had a hard time growing up under the guidance of "the second Christ."
Los Angeles Times also noted that "Won't You Be My Neighbor" imparted that the success of Rogers did not happen overnight. However, he managed to become an important part of a lot of people's childhood because of his experience as a Presbyterian minister, a person with a child development background, as well as someone with a wide television experience.
