We’re not crying, you are
In trying times, it’s bittersweet to remember Mr. Rogers
Does anyone deserve hagiography? If biographers are ethically bound to provide as well-rounded a portrait of their subjects as possible, what happens when they profile people who are virtually flawless?
Saintly figures like Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Jesus make the job of biography challenging — and so, it turns out, does Fred Rogers. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville rounds out his film on the legendary performer in Won’t You Be My Neighbor? by exploring the psychology of the gentle Presbyterian minister who found his spiritual calling as a televised best friend for millions of children from the late 1960s until 2001, on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
This psychological and philosophical approach to Rogers was likely inspired by the man himself — the film informs us that the minister was not only well-versed but a participating thinker in the psychology of childhood development in the 1970s. Neville documents Rogers’ life without resorting to effusive praise, and in turn, makes a wonderfully empathetic film that doesn’t become sentimental — it captures the same principles that Rogers espoused.
Neville understands the need to explore why Rogers was so radiant and positive, his authentic persona so disarming it seemed impossible to believe. Indeed, one segment deals with backlash over his show, including comedy sketches that imitated Mister Rogers Neighborhood, various rumours about how he was supposedly a Navy seal escaping a dark past, and how Rogers’ attempts to teach children about political events, such as Robert Kennedy’s assassination and 9/11, affected him personally.
Previous interview footage with Rogers (who passed away in 2003), some dating back to the 1960s with black-and-white film, make us privy to his personal psychology. In an interview, the entertainer says that from a young age music was an outlet for him to process negative feelings.
The weakest part of the film is his decision to juxtapose the media visuals with simplistic animation. An adorable cuddly tiger (not unlike Bill Watterson’s Hobbes), is intended to represent both the puppet Daniel from the series, as well as Rogers’ inner child. On one hand, it works, as the film articulates how Daniel and other puppets functioned as alter egos for the entertainer to express things he couldn’t say himself. But the animation simplifies and makes too neat a visual motif for the breadth of Rogers’ life.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? panders to the mainstream with its use of documentary tropes, but despite the conventional approach, the film conveys the unique profundity that Rogers possessed and gave as a gift to generations of children.