I've just seen the latest Sesame Street documentary,
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. Inspired by the book
Street Gang by Michael Davis, the film chronicles the history of the children's television program Sesame Street and the artists, writers, producers, and educators who created it.
I found the film riveting. It was informative, insightful, heartwarming, and celebrated my beloved program with Incredible finesse. I laughed and teared up multiple times throughout the course of the feature.
It was fascinating to learn about all the pioneering research that was performed while developing the show to be the very first television program designed to help educate inner city minority children aged 3-5 who were so underserved by their communities and to utilize the psychological tools used in television marketing to earn these kids attention at a time when most other children's programming was designed to talk down to them or to sell them something. Sesame Street was arguably the first show to "sell" kids knowledge.
Sesame Street faced incredible challenges early on, notably due to its commitment to racial integration, and the documentary covered the adversity of networks refusing to air it for that very reason as well as the push-back they received for Matt Robinson's Roosevelt Franklin character.
It was beautiful to see interview footage with Joe Raposo to hear how he developed classic children's songs like Kermit's "Bein' Green" with its existential depth and so many other touchtones of the show. The deaths of Will Lee, (who played the character of Mr. Hooper), and Jim Henson were also discussed with incredible grace. And the easter eggs during and after the credits were a fun treat.
I’ve seen every major Sesame Street documentary retrospective produced to date and this latest film is by far the best-executed and my favorite.
Street Gang is a wonderful tribute to a show of unparalleled and continuing influence.
