I just saw the film “a beautiful day in the Neighborhood” with Tom Hanks in the role of Fred Rogers. The film is about the famous interview that took the Esquire journalist Tom Junod (in the film is named Lloyd Vogel) from the famous TV persona Fred Rogers.
But who is Fred Rogers? Is this person for real? Fred Rogers was a TV personality, a puppeteer, a musician and writer for the show”Mr. Rogers neighborhood” which run in the American television for 895 episodes. Can you imagine how many years did his show air and how many kids hearts did he influence? His show was a kids program but I think anyone could watch it and learn about feelings. “Feelings are mentionable and manageable and the show has done a great service for mental health,” as he said.
While watching the film I got impressed by the slow pace of the film was shot. The sequences of the film were slow, simple, focusing to the feelings of the characters in a very delicate manner, it was almost like meditating. I think the director of the film followed the pace of the show of Fred Rogers “Mr. Rogers neighborhood”. If you watch one episode https://www.misterrogers.org/(visit his site https://www.misterrogers.org/), you will notice the rituals that Fred Rogers follow in every single story-episode. He opened the door of his home-studio, taking off his jacket, hanging it in the closet and putting on a cosy sweater, then sitting down to take off his shoes and put his snickers on while at the same time singing “always wanting have a neighbor just like you..”. And after that he was ready to introduce to the public the subject he was going to talk about, speaking softly and in very slow, attentive way, almost like he was talking to one specific person, to one unique child’s soul. It was like if Fred Rogers wanted to point out that he had a grown- up life of his own somewhere else, but he had set aside it this time to pay full attention to the child’s concerns, willing to meet the child halfway.
I am finishing the article with a quote from Fred Rogers: “Although children’s “outsides” may have changed a lot, their inner needs have remained very much the same. Society seems to be pushing children to grow faster, but their developmental tasks have remained constant. Childhood lies at the very heart of who we are and who we become.” And a quote that a child said about him: “I like you so much, it feels like hearts are coming out of my head!”
Simply a great movie about a great man talking about feelings!
