My Life as a Furry Red Monster - Kevin Clash [31]
Racism, or any kind of prejudice, is not an attitude that children are born with. It is a learned behavior, and children, unfortunately, are often subjected to it when they are most impressionable. It’s all but impossible for young children or young adults to understand why prejudice exists in our free society, but before you know it, they’ve absorbed those attitudes. Undoing the damage can be difficult.
I remember that when I was a child, my mom grew upset when someone stared at us in a public place, as if we weren’t supposed to be there (as if we were supposed to “step down”). Mom’s anger stemmed from what she’d dealt with as a young child, watching her parents struggle against racist attitudes that were reinforced by legal segregation. I still remember seeing the riots on television—white people beating on black people—and feeling angry. It was a very confusing time to be a child; as kids, we were feeding off the anxieties of the adults around us and the images on TV, which brought the tensions right into our living rooms.
Elmo lovingly celebrates the differences between all people (and monsters), but he’s still a little kid and, like any child, he can easily fall under the influence of others. One Sesame Street episode in particular drove that point home to me, and I hope we were successful in teaching kids an important lesson on tolerance.
The running theme centered on the story of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs. The show was “brought to you by the letter U,” and Rosita built a large U out of blocks. Then the Big Bad Wolf comes along and blows it down. Rosita is upset that her letter U is ruined, but Elmo encourages her to rebuild it. With a little help from Elmo and the others, she puts the U back together. A few moments later, the Big Bad Wolf’s cousin Leonard happens along.
No one wants him around—he’s another wolf, after all—and they don’t want to play with him or let him near the letter U for fear that he will blow it down, too. Leonard tries to explain that despite that fact he’s a wolf, he’s not like his cousin at all. With a sly bit of humor that adults will appreciate, Leonard goes so far as to explain that he’s into tai chi, not huffing and puffing.
Elmo is among those who are initially skeptical, and he protests against Leonard’s presence. But the group comes to see that Leonard is genuinely different from his cousin. He enthusiastically joins in the musical number “If You’ve Seen One Wolf, You’ve Not Seen Them All.” Lesson learned, the Muppet cast laughs when, in their exuberance, they themselves knock the letter U down.
Another sketch modeled for children, in a metaphorical way, is a solution to intolerance. It didn’t preach, but rather demonstrated to children, and reminded adults, that we are more the same than different.
In the sketch, Elmo wants to have a parade. He writes a song called “The Little Red Furry Monster Parade…Hooray! Hooray!” Elmo parades about, singing his song, when Zoe shows up and asks if she can join in. Elmo looks at her and says, “You’re furry and little, but you’re not red.” Zoe replies, “Well, I would have loved to be in your parade, but I guess I can’t be.” Elmo thinks for a second and announces that he has a solution; he will change the song to “The Little Red, Furry and Orange Monster Day Parade.”
Elmo and Zoe parade around singing, when Baby Bear shows up and asks if he can join. Elmo says, “Well, you’re furry, but you’re not a monster, you’re a bear. And you’re not orange or red.” Baby Bear is very disappointed and Elmo says, “Wait, wait, we can change the song!” This cycle keeps repeating with each Muppet that comes along, until it grows into a fifty-Muppet chorus.
Finally, Elmo says, “Why don’t we just call it ‘The Everybody Day Parade!’ ” Nobody is left out of the parade. Every Muppet, like every human being, is different. And the Muppets and their young audience learn that the best parades in life are composed of very different, very colorful individuals.
One of Elmo’s guests in particular