Back to the serious stuff-- Fraggling!

I avoided blogging during the heavy election season, because after all, I am quite opinionated about much of it. 

So, as my draft blogs tended to lean towards things that could, whether intended or not, become political, I just stayed away from the whole thing. Considering my entire readership consists of me, and maybe two friends, I presume the damage would have been negligible. Still, why piss off my two good readers? Thanks, you two.

Now we can get back to being serious about things that are NOT so serious... like my newly rekindled love affair with the Fraggles. 

I have always, always always always, claimed Jim Henson and Dr. Suess as two of my heroes-- if you think there's not a huge need for bravery in fearless creativity, you need to try some yourself. It's a tough world out there to allow oneself to be fearlessly creative-- I know that I hold myself back in a million damaging ways, and it's wonderful to suddenly find inspiration renewed in this series. 

The Fraggles are a show I watched... a little bit... when I was younger. I remember enjoying them, but I remember small images, not full storylines. I remember the dog, the man, and the fact that the fraggles lived and sang underneath them. I remember the names, the voices and I remember hating the Trash Heap. I was disturbed by its masculine/feminine thing ("it should be a man!!" I kept thinking, but the voice was feminine! Very easily bothered young child, I was. I won't even go into what I thought about Boy George.) 

However, now that I'm older... and a huge fan and connoisseur of muppets and muppetry skills, along with voiceover skills, the Fraggles have become a rich and bold source of inspiration. I was enjoying them from a nostalgic perspective, until suddenly two fraggles-- Red and Boober-- were trapped in rock fall, losing air, and facing.. quite earnestly... death. It was so emotional, so full of realism for two little Fraggles, that I stopped what I was doing and allowed myself to become deeply engrossed in the story. I thought about the children's shows of today-- Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc. etc. and thought-- you know, here are real issues, faced by real people, and while kids themselves may not find themselves trapped in a life and death situation like this, they certainly face moving locations, or being isolated, or finding themselves with nobody who understands them-- and here's a show dealing directly with these issues in a hugely emotional and inspiring way. Directly. And in a non-threatening way, because after all, these are Fraggles, not real people. 

Fantastic. 

In the last season, the Fraggles deal with pollution-- oh boy, a political hot button apparently-- but they were most certainly anti-fracking. The polluted water that was being placed in the rock was killing them. Boober prayed-- yes, prayed-- although not to a higher being, but only to "outer space" as he understood it-- specifically to the silly people who populate "Outer Space"-- and left an offering. Prayer and an offering in order to end the pollution that was killing his people. Wow. WOW. Could a children's show even get AWAY with that today? 

I don't have much more point to make than this: we are entertaining-- and yet-- dumbing down our children. We are treating them like little Fraggles, instead of actual human beings. We need to give them shows that are emotionally rich. Politically charged, so to speak. Challenging. That deal with REAL emotions, and REAL circumstances. The Fraggles did it. And they did it through song, dance, humor and bold creativity. They reinforced their ideas through several means- human/dog, Gorgs, Doozers and Fraggles. Multi-faceted approaches to problems. Different perspectives. Intelligent -- no, brilliant critical thinking with some occasional magic thrown in. 

How can we get shows like that back on the air? What would it take? How can we get them to sell and if I'm missing a show that does as much as the Fraggles did, what is it? Because I think these Fraggles are as relevant-- if not more so-- right now, than ever before. Thank you Netflix for allowing me to rekindle my nostalgia-- and reinforce what it means to be boldly creative. 

May I do justice with my life to what I've learned from my heroes. And Amen.