Sesame Street’s producers, reacting to the “obesity epidemic,” have decided that the Cookie Monster should moderate his eating habits; a new song for C.M. will have the title “A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food.” When I read the story, I didn’t give it much thought; just another example of mindless anti-fat hysteria.<\/p>\n
But as Jason at Positive Liberty points out, this isn’t just mindlessness; it’s bad art<\/a>:<\/p>\n You know, even when I was a kid I think I understood the point of Cookie Monster, which was that you’re not supposed to be like him<\/em>.<\/p>\n I know this is pedantic for most of you, but look at the original Sesame Street characters. They all had faults that kids were meant to learn about and avoid: Oscar the Grouch was dirty; Cookie Monster ate junk food; Big Bird could be a bit naive. Kids learned by watching that these traits aren’t always the best ones to have–but that they aren’t the end of the world, either. And we liked the characters anyway.<\/p>\n Dimensionality. Complexity. Literature<\/em>, or as much as a four-year-old can understand of it. And they’re squashing it flat. Behold the damage that can be done by a momentary phobia passing through the pundit class.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I wish I didn’t suspect that it’s somehow patronizing for an uptight white guy like me to say “word,” because if I didn’t, then right here would be the perfect place for me to say “word.”<\/p>\n On the other hand, isn’t it sort of racist for me to keep myself from using obviously useful and eloquent words like “dis” and “word” just because I don’t want to seem patronizing?<\/p>\n So, then. Er.<\/p>\n Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sesame Street’s producers, reacting to the “obesity epidemic,” have decided that the Cookie Monster should moderate his eating habits; a new song for C.M. will have the title “A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food.” When I read the story, I … Continue reading