Discuss A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
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It's not really about Mr Rogers
posted by Jacinto CupboardSTAFFMOD on May 19, 2020 at 12:31 AM
'It's not really about Mr Rogers. It's so you. It's good.'
Yes, yes, and no it isn't.
The core story about the journalist might have made a passable daytime TV movie 30 years ago, but is an incredible waste here. There really was a missed opportunity to tell a story about Mr Rogers; an interesting and unusual man with an equally interesting story. And even when we do get Rogers in the frame, the storytelling is so immersed in artificiality, both conceptual and literal, it wallows in its own contrivances.
Advertising standards in many countries now prevent depictions of grown men as incompetent around the house or as overgrown children. That there is a (probably unintentional) irony in this movie given the framing, doesn't make modern depictions of grown men as emotionally stunted any less objectionable than having women in bikinis straddled over cars. Sure these things exist in real life. But we are also able to call them out as unnecessary perpetuations of clumsy stereotypes too.
I'm sick to death of seeing movie depictions of grown men struggling with daddy issues. By all means make or watch those movies if that is your bag, but ffs don't wrap it inside something else to trick us into buying it.
Reply by znexyish
on May 19, 2020 at 1:52 PM
I did feel cheated when I realized it was about the writer much more than Fred. It was based on a magazine story that was like that after all. The style didnt bother me but it did stand out as a gimmick to distract me from the lame story. I do think that a lot of men relate to this stuff. Still a yuppie magazine writer with daddy issues annoyed me too. However I found it pleasant enough.
Check out this documentary made earlier for a better take on Rogers life.
Won't you be my Neighbor - 2016
Reply by Jacinto Cupboard
on May 19, 2020 at 7:58 PM
@znexyish Good of you to mention the documentary, which I will try to watch soon. Not being from North America I was only passingly familiar with Rogers, most likely from media reports when he died. So I did read a little about him before watching this movie.
Reply by Fergoose
on October 23, 2022 at 3:52 PM
I know nothing about Fred, but I thought the film was largely about him in identifying that some adults as well as just kids need to maybe take a moment and think about things. The journalist was just a schmuck who would have remained unhappy if Fred hadn't persevered with him. He could have been anyone whereas Fred was the driver behind the story.
I agree that modern US films completely overdo the whole 'men and women would find life so much more rewarding if only they reconciled with an inadequate parent they haven't had anything to do with for decades' angle. I imagine the vast majority of adults who arent particularly close to one parent live their life in a way that is completely unaffected by that fact. Many primates grow up to routinely not have a close relationship with both parents in adulthood so it always strikes me as a bit bizarre that films keep pushing this angle.
6/10